University  of  California  •  Berkeley 
Gift  of 

Cathrine  Coates 


ALraizo  Chappel 


NATIONAL    HISTORY     ^ 


OT  THE 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION, 

Ciiril,  UJilitarg  anfr  $JahL     ^ 


POUNDED   ON 


OFFICIAL    AND    OTHER    AUTHENTIC   DOCUMENTS, 


BY 


EVERT    A.    DUYCKESTCK, 

Author  of  "  National  Portrait  Gallery  of  Eminent  Americans"  "  Cyclopedia  of  American  Literature"  Etc. 


toitfc  JigMs-f  itusljtir  SUel 


BATTLE    SCENES    BY    SEA    AND    LAND,  AND  FULL-LENGTH  PORTRAITS  0/NAVAL  AND 
MILITARY  HEROES,  PROM   ORIGINAL  PAINTINGS, 

BY  ALONZO  CHAPPEL  AND  THOMAS  MST. 


IN   THREE    VOLUMES. -VOLUME   I. 


NEW  YORK: 
JOHNSON,     FRY    AND    COMPANY, 


27    BEEKMAN    STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1861, 

BY  JOHNSON,   FRY   &  COMPANY, 
lu  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


THE  Publishers  submit  this  record  of  the  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION  with  a  few 
words  of  acknowledgment  to  their  Subscribers  for  their  support  during  its 
progress.  Undertaken  at  an  early  period  of  the  conflict,  when  its  duration 
could  not  be  calculated,  the  work  has  been  steadily  prosecuted,  chapter  by 
chapter  contemporaneously  with  the  rapid  march  of  events.  Relying  mostly 
upon  original  documents  which  will  always  retain  their  value,  the  narrative 
has  been  proportioned  to  the  importance  and  length  of  the  struggle  ;  while 
the  Artists  have  presented  in  a  series  of  more  than  seventy  engravings,  the 
most  remarkable  incidents  and  most  important  personages  who  have  figured  in 
the  national  history  during  this  unprecedented  struggle.  In  attaining  this 
result,  the  Publishers  have  had  to  encounter  many  mechanical  difficulties 
growing  out  of  the  interruptions  of  labor,  and  the  increased  price  of  materials, 
consequent  upon  the  war  ;  but  they  have  never  suffered  these  embarrassments  to 
interfere  with  the  steady  progress  of  the  work. 

One  thing  has  been  constantly  kept  in  view,  to  exhibit  as  far  as  opportunity 
at  the  time  allowed,  the  merits  of  the  conflict  as  set  forth  in  important  State  pa- 
pers and  other  public  documents  by  the  parties  on  either  hand.  Thus  by  the 
side  of  the  messages  of  President  Lincoln  will  be  found  those  of  the  leader  of  the 
Rebel  Confederacy,  and,  where  such  materials  were  accessible,  the  dispatches 
and  reports  of  rival  commanders.  Nor  has  it  been  attempted  generally  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  the  merits  or  pretensions  of  individuals,  officers  or  statesmen, 
in  the  thronged  arena  of  the  conflict.  It  has  been  thought  sufficient  to  exhibit 
prominent  facts  and  results,  leaving  the  decisions  and  awards  of  fame  to  the 
judgment  of  the  reader.  But  one  thing,  it  is  believed,  has  never  been  lost  sight 
of — the  paramount  claims  of  national  allegiance  and  unqualified  patriotism. 
This  is  a  test  upon  which  all  lovers  of  their  country  will  be  agreed ;  that  whatever 
allowances  may  be  made  for  minor  differences,  they  must  all  yield  to  the  safety 
and  welfare  of  the  whole  where  the  interests  of  the  nation  are  at  stake,  in  the 
maintenance  and  preservation  of  the  UNION. 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    1 


CHAPTER.  PAGE 

I.— INTRODUCTORY 5 

II.— RISE  AND   PROGRESS   OP   SECESSION 20 

III.— PRELIMINARIES   TO   SUMTER 37 

IV.— SECESSION  IN  CONGRESS 60 

V.— THE   SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY 65 

VI.— INAUGURATION   OF   LINCOLN 78 

VIL— FORT   SUMTER 95 

VIII.— PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  PROCLAMATION 120 

IX.— RESPONSE   OF   THE  NATION 131 

X.— SEIZURE   OF   HARPER'S  FERRY  AND   THE  NORFOLK  NAVY  YARD 149 

XI— THROUGH  BALTIMORE 1C2 

XII.— GENERAL  BUTLER'S   DEPARTMENT   OF   ANNAPOLIS 174 

XIII.— THE  ADVANCE   ACROSS   THE  POTOMAC 189 

XIV.— AFFAIRS   ON  THE   POTOMAC 202 

XV.— MOVEMENTS   OF  THE   CONFEDERATES 214 

XVI.— THE   DEATH  OF   SENATOR  DOUGLAS 230 

XVII.— AFFAIRS   AT  BALTIMORE 238 

XVIII.— GENERAL   BUTLER   AT   FORTRESS   MONROE 252 

XIX.— WESTERN   VIRGINIA 274 

XX.— EASTERN   TENNESSEE 293 

XXL— PROCEEDINGS   IN  MISSOURI 305 

XXIL— THE  POSITION  OF   KENTUCKY 324 

XXIII.— GENERAL   McCLELLAN   IN  WESTERN  VIRGINIA 342 

XXIV.— MEETING   OF  THE   NATIONAL '  CONGRESS   IN   JULY .351 

XXV.— THE   MOVEMENT   TOWARD  MANASSAS 3C7 

XXVI.— THE   BATTLE   OF  BULL   RUN 384 

XXVII.— INCIDENTS  OF  TflE   ENGAGEMENT 408 

XX VIII.— FOREIGN  RELATIONS 432 

XXIX.— THE  CONFEDERATE   GOVERNMENT   AT   RICHMOND..             46-? 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTBR.  PAGS 

XXX.— THE   SOUTHERN  PRIVATEERS ^ 479 

XXXL— EXTRA   SESSION  OF  THE   NATIONAL   CONGRESS 490 

XXXII.— THE   BATTLE  OF  CARTHAGE,   MO.,  JULY   5,   1861 502 

XXXIII.— GENERAL    LYON'S    MISSOURI    CAMPAIGN.      BATTLE    OF    WILSON'S    CREEK,   AU- 
GUST  10,    1861 514 

XXXIV.— THE   DEFENCE   OF  LEXINGTON,   SEPTEMBER   12-20,    1861    5;U 

XXXV.— HATTER  AS  ISLAND 538 

XXXVI.— THE   CAMPAIGN  IN  SOUTH-WESTERN   VIRGINIA 556 

XXXVII— GENERAL  FREMONT'S   MISSOURI   CAMPAIGN 578 

XXXVIII.— MILITARY   AND    NAVAL    ENGAGEMENTS   AT    SANTA    ROSAS    ISLAND   AND    THE 

'PASSES   OF   THE  MISSISSIPPI,   SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER,    1861 602 

TOL  I. 


TO 


THE    ARMY    AND    NAVY 


OF 


THE    UNITED    STATES 


<sr\  » 

SDgis 


WAR    FOR    THE    UNION 


18    RESPECTFULLY    DEDICATED. 


THOU,    TOO,    SAIL   ON,    O  SHIT  OF   STATE! 

SAIL   ON,   O  UNION,   STRONG  AND   GREAT  I 

HUMANITY — WITH  ALL  ITS  FEARS, 

WITH  ALL  THE  HOPES   OF  FUTURE   YEARS — 

IS  HANGING  BREATHLESS   ON   THY   FATE  1 

WE   KNOW  WHAT  MASTER  LAID   THY  KEEL, 

WHAT  WORKMEN   WROUGHT   THY  RIBS   OF   STEEL ; 

WHO   MADE   EACH  MAST,    AND   SAIL,    AND   ROPE, 

WHAT   ANVILS   RANG,    WHAT   HAMMERS   BEAT1. 

IN   WHAT  A  FORGE   AND   WHAT   A   HEAT 

WERE   SHAPED   THE   ANCHORS   OF   THY  HOPE. 

FEAR  NOT  EACH   SUDDEN   SOUND   AND   SHOCK, 

'TIS   OF   THE   WAVE   AND   NOT   THE   ROCKC 

'TIS  BUT  THE   FLAPPING  OF  THE   SAIL, 

AND  NOT   A   RENT  MADE  BY  THE   GALE. 

IN   SPITE   OF   ROCK   AND  TEMPEST'S   ROAB, 

IN   SPITE   OF   FALSE   LIGHTS   ON   THE   SHORE, 

SAIL   ON,    NOR  FEAR   TO   BREAST   THE   SEA  I 

OUR   HEARTS,   OUR  HOPES,    ARE   ALL   WITH  THEE; 

OUR  HEARTS,    OUR   HOPES,    OUR  PRAYERS,    OUR  TEARS, 

OUR  FAITH  TRIUMPHANT   O'ER  OUR  FEARS, 

ARE  ALL  WITH  THEE, — ARE   ALL  WITH  THEE. 


THE 


WAR    FOR    THE    UNION, 


CHAPTEE    I. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


"HOWEVER  disagreeable  it  may  be," 
is  the  language  of  the  American  his- 
torian, Minot,  in  commencing  his  nar- 
rative of  the  Insurrections  in  Massa- 
chusetts in  1786,  and  the  Rebellion 
Consequent  Thereon,  "  to  review  the 
troubles  of  our  country,  every  patriot 
will  look  upon  it  as  his  duty,  not  to  let 
them  pass  without  notice.  The  period 
of  misfortune  is  the  most  fruitful  source 
of  instruction.  By  investigating  the 
causes  of  national  commotions,  by  trac- 
ing their  progress  and  by  carefully 
marking  the  means  through  which  they 
are  brought  to  a  conclusion,  well  estab- 
lished principles  may  be  deduced,  for 
preserving  the  future  tranquility  of  the 
commonwealth."  It  is  in  the  calm,  im- 
partial spirit  of  this  remark  that  we 
would  proceed  to  narrate,  simply  and 
clearly  as  we  may,  the  development  of 
the  present  most  extraordinary  conflict, 
a  rebellion  or  attempted  revolution,  gi- 
gantic in  its  extent,  terrible  in  the  fe- 
rocity with  which  it  has  been  carried  on, 
and  memorable  to  all  time  for  its  trial 
of  principles  and  modes  of  government, 
in  which  the  whole  modern  world  is 
interested,  and  upon  the  maintenance 
of  which  the  welfare  of  millions  of  peo- 


ple is  immediately  dependent.  In  many 
lights,  truly,  a  most  sad  and  humiliating 
struggle  ;  in  others,  radiant  with  the 
purest  glory  of  national  devotion  and 
self-sacrifice. 

The  time  has,  of  course,  not  yet  come 
for  a  complete  record  of  these  occur- 
rences to  be  written.  The  movement 
began  hi  secrecy ;  many  of  its  hidden 
contrivances  and  resources  will  probably 
never  be  fully  known  ;  others  may  be 
disclosed  only  by  the  revelations  of  pri- 
vate manuscripts  and  correspondence  in 
another  age.  Even  a  knowledge  of  what 
was  publicly  transacted,  so  wide  has  been 
the  area  and  so  numerous  and  compli- 
cated have  been  the  incidents,  must  await 
the  slow  and  patient  labors  of  long-con- 
tinued research.  Who  can  now  enter 
into  the  secrets  of  the  opposing  cabi- 
nets, or  unravel  the  intricate  web  of 
statesmanship  ?  The  very  operations 
of  war,  which  would  appear  to  be  of 
a  tangible  character,  have  always  their 
disputes  and  contradictions.  With  the 
best  of  evidence  before  us  it  is  most  dif- 
ficult to  determine  the  facts  of  a  battle — 
what  was  actually  performed  and  suffer- 
ed, let  alone  determining  the  motives  and 
plans  of  the  combatants.  Military  critics 

(5) 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


yet  dispute  over  conflicts  which  hundreds 
of  annalists  and  commentators  have  la- 
bored to  elucidate.  How  then  must  it 
be  when  the  smoke  and  dust  of  the  en- 
counter have  scarce  rolled  away  from 
the  plain  ? 

Enough,  however,  lies  open  to  the 
view  to  supply  the  reader  with  the  more 
prominent  features  of  these  extraordi- 
nary passing  events  ;  to  gratify  his  cu- 
riosity in  many  most  interesting  partic- 
ulars ;  to  afford  fruitful  opportunity  for 
meditation  in  even  a  cursory  review  of 
the  chronicle.  We  shall  meet  with 
many  deeds  of  exalted  heroism,  worthy 
a  better  field  than  the  painful  theatre 
of  civil  war  ;  with  many  exhibitions  of 
manners  and  character  which  we  might 
survey  with  more  satisfaction,  perhaps, 
were  our  fellow  citizens  not  the  actors, 
and  our  beloved  country  the  scene. 

To  understand  properly  the  origin 
and  causes  of  this  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Southern  States  to  assert  and 
maintain  their  independence  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  we  must 
ascend  to  the  beginning  of  our  national 
history.  We  shall  there  find  at  the  out- 
set certain  differences  and  conditions, 
marking  the  two  portions  of  the  coun- 
try, the  North  and  the  South,  which  at 
no  subsequent  period,  perhaps,  have 
been  wholly  inoperative.  They  are  to 
be  referred,  generally,  to  climate  and 
the  social  relations  springing  frun  the 
peculiar  institution  of  slavery.  The 
South,  as  an  agricultural  producing  re- 
gion, with  its  fields  tilled  and  its  products 
gathered  by  slave  labor,  a  privileged  class 
of  its  inhabitants  enjoying  the  benefits 
of  wealth  thus  obtained,  presented  many 
contrasts  to  the  less  favored  regions  of 
the  North,  where  competence,  and  even  a 
bare  subsistence  could  be  gained  in  most 


instances  only  by  patient  toil  and  long 
continued  self-denial.  When  the  men  of 
these  opposite  regions  first  met  in  the 
conventions  and  congresses  preliminary 
to  the  formation  of  the  national  confed- 
eracy, the  effects  of  these  diversities  were 
exhibited  in  taste  and  temper.  John 
Adams,  then  making  his  way  rapidly 
upward  in  the  world,  a  curious  and  poli- 
tic student  of  men's  manners,  and  keenly 
sensitive  to  social  discriminations,  has  left 
us  in  his  diaries  and  correspondence 
various  anecdotes  and  observations  of 
these  differences.  As  he  travels  south- 
ward from  New  England,  he  notices  in 
Virginia  the  increased  style  and  expense 
of  living,  and  more  than  once  records  the 
perils  to  which  the  infant  Union  was  sub- 
jected in  the  opposite  temperaments  and 
interests  of  the  representatives  of  the 
North  and  the  South.  There  is  in  particu- 
lar a  curious  illustration  of  the  relative 
social  aspects  of  the  two  regions,  in  a 
letter  which  he  wrote  in  1775,  to  Joseph 
Hawley,  in  reference  to  the  pay  given  by 
Congress  to  the  privates  of  the  army. 
His  correspondent,  at  the  East,  urged 
that  this  remuneration  be  increased,  a 
recommendation  to  which  Adams  replies 
that  the  gentlemen  of  the  army  from  the 
southward  thought  it  already  too  high, 
and  that  of  the  officers  too  low.  He 
says  that  "many  an  anxious  day  and 
night "  has  been  spent  upon  this  subject ; 
and  adds  the  general  reflection,  "  we 
cannot  suddenly  alter  the  temper,  prin- 
ciples, opinions  and  prejudices  of  men. 
The  characters  of  gentlemen  in  the  four 
New  England  colonies  differ  as  nrich 
from  those  in  the  others,  as  that  of  the 
common  people  differs  ;  that  is,  as  much 
as  several  distinct  nations  almost.  Gen- 
tlemen, men  of  sense,  or  any  kind  of 
education,  in  the  other  colonies,  are  much 


THE  NORTH  AND  THE  SOUTH. 


fewer  in  proportion  than  in  New  England. 
Gentlemen  in  the  colonies  have  large 
plantations  of  slaves,  and  the  common 
people  among  them  are  very  ^ignorant 
and  very  poor.  These  gentlemen  are 
accustomed,  habituated  to  higher  notions 
of  themselves,  and  the  distinction  be- 
tween them  and  the  common  people  than 
we  are.  And  an  instantaneous  alteration 
of  the  character  of  a  colony,  and  that 
temper  and  those  sentiments  which  its 
inhabitants  imbibed  with  their  mothers' 
milk,  and  which  have  grown  with  their 
growth,  and  strengthened  with  their 
strength,  cannot  be  made  without  a  mir- 
acle. I  dread  the  consequences  of  this 
dissimilitude  of  character,  and  without 
the  utmost  caution  on  both  sides,  and  the 
most  considerate  forbearance  with  one 
another,  and  prudent  condescension  on 
both  sides,  they  will  certainly  be  fatal. 
An  alteration  of  the  Southern  Constitu- 
tions, which  must  certainly  take  place  if 
this  war  continues,  will  gradually  bring 
all  the  continent  nearer  and  nearer  to 
each  other  in  all  repects."  * 

This,  certainly,  is  a  very  noticeable  pas- 
sage which  has  lost  none  of  its  political 
significance  after  the  lapse  of  three-quar- 
ters of  a  century.  That  alteration  of  the 
Southern  Constitutions  is  yet  needed  to 
complete  that  essential  condition  of  a  per- 
fect union,  which  has  never  been  better 
defined  than  in  those  very  words,  "  grad- 
ually bringing  all  the  continent  nearer 
and  nearer  to  each  other  in  all  respects." 

The  war  of  the  Revolution  did  much  to 
accomplish  this.  The  men  of  the  South 
shed  their  blood  in  the  battle-fields  of  the 
North,  and  the  men  of  the  North  in  the 
battle-fields  of  the  South,  in  a  common 
cause  ;  and  the  fraternity  of  the  trench, 


*  Letter  to  Joseph  Hawley,  Philadelphia;  25th  Novem- 
ber, 1775.     Adama'  Works,  ix  366-7. 


the  rampart  and  the  deadly  encounter 
with  the  foe  was  not  lost  upon  them.  It 
was  a  great  lesson  of  brotherhood  when 
Morgan  and  his  riflemen  hastened  on  foot 
on  their  extraordinary  march  to  the  field 
of  Saratoga,  or  when  Lincoln  and  Green 
with  their  companions  found  themselves 
by  the  side  of  Sumter  and  Marion,  in  de- 
fence of  the  plantations  of  the  South.  It 
was  a  still  greater  when  WASHINGTON, 
aptly  chosen  from  the  middle  region  of 
the  country,  a  representative  of  the  pur- 
est and  best  traditions  of  the  South, 
patiently  and  magnanimously  spent  his 
life  in  reconciling  all  contradictions,  to 
mould  and  establish  a  great  nation.  The 
fates  seemed  to  hold  an  impartial  balance 
as  the  struggle  for  independence  begun 
on  Northern  soil  ended  in  the  sunny  re- 
gion of  the  South. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  this  cement 
of  blood  in  the  common  struggle  of  the 
Revolution,  the  North  and  the  South 
were  not  as  yet  sufficiently  one  people 
to  enter  without  an  effort  upon  the  more 
perfect  union  of  the  Constitution.  The 
historian  of  that  great  charter  of  our 
liberties,  while  enumerating  the  embar- 
rassments which  beset  its  adoption,  in- 
cludes also,  as  "a  very  serious  cause  for 
discouragement,  the  sectional  jealousy 
and  State  pride  which  had  been  con- 
stantly growing  from  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  to  the  time  when  the 
States  were  called  upon  to  meet  each 
other  upon  broader  grounds,  and  to 
make  even  larger  sacrifices  than  at  any 
former  period.  It  is  difficult,"  be  adds, 
in  a  philosophic  spirit,  and  with  a 
prescience  of  coming  events,  "  to  trace 
to  all  its  causes  the  feeling  which  has  at 
times  arrayed  the  different  extremities 
of  this  Union  against  each  other.  It 
was  very  early  developed,  after  the  dif- 


WAR  FOR  THE  UN10JS. 


ferent  provinces  were  obliged  to  act  to- 
gether for  their  great  mutual  objects  of 
political  independence  ;  but,  even  in  its 
highest  paroxysms,  it  has  always  at  last 
found  an  antidote  in  the  deeper  feelings 
and  more  sober  calculations  of  a  con- 
sistent patriotism.  Perhaps  its  preva- 
lence and  activity  may  with  more  truth 
be  ascribed,  in  every  generation,  to  the 
ambition  of  men  who  find  in  it  a  con- 
venient instrument  of  local  influence, 
rather  than  to  any  other  cause.  It  is 
certain  that  when  it  has  raged  most  vio- 
lently, this  has  been  its  chief  aggra- 
vating element.  The  differences  of 
neither  manners,  institutions,  climate, 
nor  pursuits,  would  at  any  time  have 
been  sufficient  to  create  the  perils  to 
which  the  Union  of  the  States  has  occa- 
sionally been  exposed,  without  the  mis- 
chievous agency  of  men  whose  personal 
objects  are,  for  the  time,  subserved  by 
the  existence  of  such  peculiarities.  The 
proof  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact, 
that  the  seasonable  sagacity  of  the  peo- 
ple has  always  detected  the  motives  of 
those  who  have  sought  to  employ  .their 
passions,  and  has  compelled  them  at  last 
to  give  way  to  that  better  order  of  men 
who  have  appealed  to  their  reason."  * 

Alas !  since  this  was  written  the  ar- 
gument has  been  put  to  a  ruder  issue, 
and  a  sterner  arbiter  has  been  brought 
in  than  the  voice  of  sober  judgment. 
But  at  the  beginning  and  throughout  the 
unhappy  contest  we  may  look  to  find  the 
same  parties.  The  antagonism  commenced 
in  faction,  and  the  insane  will  of  the  few 
must  depend  for  reconciliation  in  the 
end  on  the  well  grounded  sober  second 
thought  of  the  many.  Posterity,  we  may 
hope,  profiting  by  our  misfortunes,  will 

•  History  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  by 
George  Ticknor  Curtis,  i.  372.     New  York,  1854. 


be  too  wise  again  to  renew  the  conflict 
on  such  a  stage,  with  such  weapons. 
No  questions  of  domestic  rights  and 
policy  can  arise  among  us  which  may 
not  be  peaceably  and  satisfactorily  ad- 
justed by  fair  minded  men  for  the  wel- 
fare of  all  under  the  liberal  provisions 
and  beneficent  working  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. 

To  expect  that  any  large  bodies  of  men 
will  live  together  under  a  general  gov- 
ernment, actuated  by  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom, without  the  existence  of  party  dif- 
ferences and  opinions,  is  to  look  for  wha.t 
has  never  yet  existed  under  any  politi- 
cal system,  and  what  it  would,  perhaps, 
be  unphilosophical  to  desire.  Uniformity 
of  sentiment  on  all  subjects  in  which  a 
considerable  number  of  men  are  called 
to  act  together,  can  exist  only  with  a  de- 
gree of  indifference  which  would  be  more 
alarming  than  opposition.  We  may  have 
stagnation  and  apparent  uniformity  ;  but 
a  living,  vital  system  will  be  the  result 
of  contending  energies.  Party  we  must 
expect  to  have  under  the  best  possible 
conditions  of  government.  No  society, 
worthy  to  take  rank  with  the  nations  of  the 
world,  may  hope  to  be  without  it.  The 
various  interests  of  such  a  community 
cannot  be  made  so  homogeneous  that  some 
cause  of  contention  will  not  arise.  If 
we  could  bring  our  wills  and  inclinations 
to  uniformity,  the  very  constitution  of 
nature  would  still  produce  diversity.  If 
our  Northern  and  Southern  States  were 
to  be  definitely  separated  from  one  an- 
other, in  each  portion  there  would  yet 
be  differences.  The  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests,  city  and  country, 
free  trade  and  protection,  capital  and  la- 
bor, would  be  asserting  their  distinctive 
claims  with  more  or  less  of  hostility. 
There  would  be  a  foreign  policy  and  a 


POLITICAL  ADJUSTMENTS. 


domestic  policy  ;  a  policy  of  taxation,  an 
inequality  in  the  means  of  meeting  it ; 
a  rivalry  between  the  seaboard  and  the 
interior,  between  army  and  navy,  be- 
tween one  mUhod  of  internal  improve- 
ment and  another.  While,  if  we  should 
admit  into  the  arena  the  discussion  of 
new  forms  of  government,  or  make  re- 
ligion in  any  way  a  state  question,  the 
opportunities  of  controversy  would  be 
indefinitely  and  intensely  multiplied. 

Now,  the  first  principle  of  all  combi- 
nations in  society  whatever,  is  that  men 
must  regulate  their  differences  by  adjust- 
ment and  concession  in  some  way.  It  is 
the  most  imperative  of  all  social  and  po- 
litical doctrines,  without  which  neither  a 
family,  a  club  of  friends,  a  city,  a  state, 
an  empire,  in  fact,  any  form  of  human 
organization  whatever,  can  exist.  The 
full  recognition  of  this  paramount  truth 
is  the  great  distinction  between  wisdom 
and  charlatanism  in  statesmanship.  It  is 
the  difference  between  theory  and  prac- 
tice, between  mathematics  and  morals— 
the  acceptance  of  a  fate  which  is  a  law 
to  the  whole  world.  When  material 
forces  simply  are  to  be  dealt  with,  pro- 
vided their  qualities  are  well  understood, 
a  result  only  of  long  experience,  they 
may  be  handled  according  to  a  definite, 
fixed  rule  or  prescription.  A  formula 
of  the  chemist  or  the  mechanician  may 
be  carried  out  to  the  letter.  Not  so  with 
human  dealing.  There  our  action  and 
progress  must  be  politic.  We  must, 
within  certain  limits,  be  pliable  and 
yielding,  and  leaving  ideal  abstractions 
and  inflexible  resolutions,  get  all  the 
good  we  can  under  the  circumstances. 
Wisely,  treating  of  this  very  subject,  and 
in  connection  too  with  American  affairs, 
said  the  great  English  statesman,  Edmund 
Burke,  "All  government,  indeed  every 
2 


human  benefit  and  enjoyment,  every  vir- 
tue and  every  prudent  act.  is  founded  on 
compromise  and  barter.  We  balance  in- 
conveniences ;  we  give  and  take  ;  we  re- 
mit some  rights  that  we  may  enjoy  others ; 
and  we  choose  rather  to  be  happy  citizens 
than  subtle  disputants."  But  he  adds, 
however,  that  while  we  may  part  with 
some  civil  liberties,  "for  the  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  the  communion  and 
fellowship  of  a  great  empire,"  we  must 
take  care  that  "the  thing  bought  bear 
some  proportion  to  the  purchase  paid."* 
Applying  these  principles  to  the  regula- 
tion of  our  political  affairs  on  this  con- 
tinent, we  find  them  already  recognized 
in  that  great  instrument,  one  of  the  sub- 
tlest contrivances  of  human  wisdom,  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  That 
organizes  a  government  of  balanced  pow- 
ers and  mutual  duties.  It  prescribes 
limitations  where  they  are  necessary,  and 
leaves  action  free  in  the  path  of  progress. 
It  has  been  found  hitherto,  and  will  be 
found  again,  that  where  its  provisions  are 
honestly  received  and  maintained,  we 
shall  have  a  free,  liberal  and  enlightened 
government. 

Is  there  anything  which  necessarily 
interferes  with  this  ?  Has  the  Constitu- 
tion failed  to  meet  any  question  which 
has  arisen,  either  of  domestic  or  foreign 
policy  ?  On  the  contrary,  under  its  guid- 
ance and  protection  we  have  advanced 
in  honor  and  influence  abroad,  in  wealth 
and  happiness  at  home.  Why,  then, 
have  not  all  alike  acknowledged  its  ad- 
vantages, and  been  faithful  in  their  alle- 
giance ? 

In  answer  to  this  question,  which  in- 
volves the  considerations  of  the  essential 
conditions  of  union  in  the  government 
of  the  whole  number  of  states,  we  may 

*  Speech  on  Conciliation  with  America,  March  22,  1775. 


10 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


with  satisfaction  turn  from  the  tumult 
and  confusion  of  the  hour,  to  the  calm, 
accurately-pronounced  judgment  of  De 
Tocqueville.  He  is  universally  accredi- 
ted as  a  philosophical  observer,  of  nice 
powers  of  discrimination  in  all  that  re- 
lates to  the  constitution  and  government 
of  political  bodies,  and  the  qualifications 
for  their  well  being.  He  has  shown  a 
remarkable  sagacity  and  insight  in  his 
treatment  of  the  affairs  of  America,  and 
he  wrote,  moreover,  at  a  time  when  the 
subject  was  fairly  open  to  his  view,  am- 
ply illuminated  by  the  experience  of 
half  a  century  of  the  history  of  the 
country,  and  quite  unobscured  by  any 
mists  of  passion  or  prejudice  belonging 
to  the  day.  From  1835  to  1840,  when 
M.  De  Tocqueville  was  engaged  in  com- 
mitting to  writing  his  great  work  on 
American  Democracy,  the  results  of  his 
observations  made  a  few  years  previously 
in  the  United  States,  the  nation  was  pros- 
perous and  in  repose.  The  cloud  which 
had  gathered  on  the  political  horizon,  in 
a  small  region  of  South  Carolina,  in  the 
Nullification  proceedings  of  1832,  had 
been  dissipated  ;  and  the  political  ma- 
chinery of  the  general  and  state  govern- 
ments was  working  with  its  accustomed 
ease  and  regularity.  What  were  then 
his  observations  and  deductions  ?  Look- 
ing first  to  the  material  interests  de- 
pending upon  the  permanent  existence 
of  the  Union,  he  found  a  powerful  plea 
for  its  safety  in  the  advantages  gained 
by  the  States  in  strength  in  maintaining 
their  commercial  and  public  rights  with 
other  nations  ;  while  at  home  he  saw,  in 
the  continuance  of  the  confederacy,  the 
absence  of  those  evils  of  custom-houses, 
standing  armies,  taxes,  and  burdensome 
restrictions  of  all  kinds,  sure  to  arise 
on  the  Continent,  on  the  breaking  up 


of  the  national  government.  Nor  did 
he  find  any  physical  causes  calculated 
to  favor  such  a  dissolution.  The  Alle- 
ghanies  presented  no  formidable  dif- 
ficulty, and  the  differences  of  soil  and 
climate,  with  their  corresponding  varie- 
ties of  production,  so  far  from  creating 
hostilities,  were  rightly  considered  bonds 
of  union.  He  observed  the  almost  ex- 
clusive agricultural  employments  of  the 
Southern  States  ;  the  equally  engrossing 
commercial  and  manufacturing  pursuits 
of  the  North,  and  the  mingled  agricultu- 
ral and  manufacturing  industry  of  the 
West.  But  he  saw  no  opposition  in  these 
diverse  forms  of  wealth.  He  perceived 
no  unhappy  disagreement  between  the 
production  of  tobacco,  of  cotton,  or  rice, 
and  that  of  wheat  or  Indian  corn  ;  nor 
did  he  see  why  one  region  might  not  yield 
with  propriety  what  another  with  equal 
felicity  should  distribute  to  the  world, 
The  central  regions  of  the  West  could 
have  no  ships,  and  the  South  might  cer- 
tainly benefit  by  the  hardy  commercial 
adventure  of  the  North.  As  for  slavery, 
so  far  from  looking  upon  it  at  that  time  as 
a  means  of  disintegration,  he  saw  the 
South  dependent  upon  the  North  for  pro- 
tection against  the  possible  dangers  of 
an  alarmingly  increasing  negro  popula- 
tion, dangerous  to  the  safety  of  the 
whites  in  the  minority. 

Turning  from  material,  he  regarded 
those  moral  instincts  which,  stronger  than 
all  physical  ties,  are  the  bonds  of  good 
citizenship  in  civil  societies.  He  found 
in  the  United  States  a  remarkable  agree- 
ment on  those  leading  social  and  politi- 
cal principles,  which  make  men  to  be  of 
one  mind  in  a  house.  "A  government,'' 
says  he,  "  retains  its  sway  over  a  great 
number  of  citizens,  far  less  by  the  volun- 
tary and  rational  consent  of  the  multi- 


ELEMENTS   OF  UNION. 


11 


tude,  than  by  that  instinctive  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  involuntary  agreement, 
which  results  from  similarity  of  feelings 
and  Tf  semblances  of  opinion."  The  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States,  though  cherishing 
a  great  variety  of  sects,  in  general,  he 
remarked,  exhibited  great  uniformity  of 
belief.  Emphatically  they  had  but  one 
notion  of  politics,  that  of  self-govern- 
ment, with  all  its  claims  or  pretensions 
to  wisdom,  justice  and  virtue  ;  while  na- 
tional pride,  lifting  them  above  the  mon- 
archies of  the  old  world,  which  regarded 
them  with  distrust,  bound  them  together 
as  one  people.  "  They  perceive  that,  for 
the  present,"  said  he,  "  their  own  demo- 
cratic institutions  succeed,  while  those  of 
other  countries  fail ;  hence  they  conceive 
an  overweening  opinion  of  their  superior- 
ity, and  they  are  not  very  remote  from 
believing  themselves  to  belong  to  a  dis- 
tinct race  of  mankind." 

These,  it  must  be  admitted,  are  pow- 
erful links  of  agreement,  both  of  interest 
and  sympathy.  But  man  is  not  always 
steadily  governed  by  his  interests,  and 
his  sympathies  on  great  subjects  may 
be  disturbed  by  very  inferior  motives. 
The  philosophical  De  Tocqueville  saw 
some  of  these  at  work.  Glancing  at  the 
danger  of  some  one  portion  of  the  coun- 
try getting  so  powerful  as  to  do  without 
the  rest,  and  the  difficulties  which  might 
result  in  some  undefined  way  from  the 
vast  and  unwieldy  growth  of  a  people  rap- 
idly spreading  on  a  huge  continent,  with 
singular  sagacity,  as  the  event  has  proved, 
he  dwelt  at  length  on  the  jealousy  which 
might  arise  from  the  comparative  inferior- 
ity of  a  portion — a  comparison,  by  the 
way,  which  ought  never  to  arise  where 
inevitable  sectional  differences  should  be 
lost  in  the  general  welfare  of  the  whole. 
That  cause  of  embarrassment  he  found  at 


the  South,  which  at  that  time,  under  the 
impulses  given  to  European  emigration, 
was  rapidly  yielding  in  population  to  the 
hitherto  unpeopled  West.  The  institu- 
tion of  slavery  he  saw  also,  not  so  much 
producing  a  diversity  of  interest,  as  a 
difference  of  manners  ;  opposing  the  feel- 
ings and  sentiments  attached  to  a  com- 
paratively idle,  luxurious  mode  of  living 
to  the  thoughts  and  habits  induced  by 
the  stern  industry  and  resolute  persis- 
tence of  the  occupants  of  regions  in  some 
respects  less  favored  by  nature. 

"The  inhabitants  of  the  Southern 
States  are,  of  all  the  Americans,"  is  the 
language  of  this  acute  writer,  "those 
who  are  most  interested  in  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  Union  ;  they  would  assur- 
edly suffer  most  from  being  left  to  them- 
selves ;  and  yet  they  are  the  only  citi- 
zens who  threaten  to  break  the  tie  of 
confederation.  But  it  is  easy  to  perceive 
that  the  South,  which  has  given  four 
presidents,  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madi- 
son, and  Monroe,  to  the  Union  ;  which 
perceives  that  it  is  losing  its  cederal  in- 
fluence, and  that  the  number  of  its  rep- 
resentatives in  Congress  is  diminishing 
from  year  to  year,  while  those  of  the 
Northern  and  Western  States  are  in- 
creasing ;  the  South,  which  is  peopled 
with  ardent  and  irascible  beings,  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  irritated  and 
alarmed.  The  citizens  reflect  upon  their 
present  position,  and  remember  their 
past  influence,  with  the  melancholy  un- 
easiness of  men  who  suspect  oppression  : 
if  they  discover  a  law  of  the  Union 
which  is  not  unequivocally  favorable 
to  their  interests,  they  protest  against 
it  as  an  abuse  of  force  ;  and  if  their 
ardent  remonstrances  are  not  listened 
to,  they  threaten  to  quit  an  associa- 
tion which  loads  them  with  burdens 


12 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


while  it  deprives  them  of  their  due 
profits." 

Even  in  this  the  philosophic  observer 
saw  nothing  so  very  alarming,  provided 
time  were  given,  and  with  time,  the  sense 
of  justice  and  moderation  which  comes 
with  reflection,  to  settle  and  compose 
such  fears.  He  perceived,  however,  an 
unfavorable  influence  at  work,  in  that 
respect,  growing  out  of  the  very  extent 
and  rapidity  of  the  national  prosperity. 
If  the  development  were  less  rapid  there 
would  not,  he  thought,  be  so  much  occa- 
sion for  alarm.  "  The  progress  of  society 
in  America  is  precipitate,  and  almost 
revolutionary.  The  same  citizen  may 
have  lived  to  see  his  State  take  the  lead 
in  the  Union,  and  afterward  become  pow- 
erless in  the  federal  assemblies  ;  and  an 
Anglo- American  republic  has  been  known 
to  grow  as  rapidly  as  a  man,  passing  from 
birth  and  infancy  to  maturity  in  the 
course  of  thirty  years.  It  must  not  be 
imagined,  however,  that  the  States  which 
lose  their  preponderance,  also  lose  their 
population  or  their  riches  ;  no  stop  is  put 
to  their  prosperity,  and  they  even  go  on 
to  increase  more  rapidly  than  any  king- 
dom in  Europe.  But  they  believe  them- 
selves to  be  impoverished,  because  their 
wealth  does  not  augment  as  rapidly  as 
that  of  their  neighbors  ;  and  they  think 
that  their  power  is  lost  because  they  sud- 
denly come  into  collision  with  a  power 
greater  than  their  own.  Thus  they  are 
more  hurt  in  their  feelings  and  their  pas- 
sions than  in  their  interests.  But  this  is 
amply  sufficient  to  endanger  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  Union." 

How  wise  is  all  this!  What  a  key 
does  it  afford  to  the  present  unhappy  con- 
test. It  may  not  unlock  all  the  recesses 
of  this  intricate  question  which,  assuming 
the  vast  form  of  an  attempted  revolution, 


must  needs  have  many  explanations  of 
interest  and  passion  ;  b'it  it  is  certainly 
sufficiently  comprehensive  of  the  main 
issue.  The  South,  jealous  of  declining 
influence,  and  indisposed  from  pride  or 
prejudice  to  look  for  new  elements  of 
strength,  which  might  have  been  found 
within  the  Union,  sought  power  and  au- 
thority outside  of  it,  in  a  revolutionary 
attempt  at  its  destruction. 

Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill,  the  eminent 
English  author  of  the  System  of  Logic, 
universally  acknowledged  one  of  the 
most  acute  writers  of  the  times  on  mat- 
ters relating  to  political  and  social  sci- 
ence, has,  in  a  chapter  of  his  recent  work 
on  Representative  Government,  consid- 
ered the  essential  conditions  of  a  suc- 
cessful federation.  He  finds  them  to  be 
three -fold  :  a  mutual  sympathy  ;  an 
amount  of  power  in  none  of  the  states 
great  enough  to  maintain  itself  alone 
against  encroachment ;  an  equilibrium  of 
strength,  involving  mutual  dependence 
of  the  component  parts.  Taking  the 
United  States  separately,  and  not  by 
large  geographical  divisions,  we  may 
safely  apply  the  two  latter  tests.  None 
of  them  is  powerful  enough  to  array  it- 
self in  arms  against  any  serious  foreign 
aggression,  and  no  one  is  strong  or 
wealthy  enough  not  to  feel  the  need  of 
one  or  more  of  the  others.  As  for  the 
first  and  most  important  consideration, 
it  is  resolved  by  Mr.  Mill,  somewhat  in 
the  style  of  thought  of  De  Tocqueville, 
into  the  sympathies  of  race,  language, 
religion,  and  above  all,  of  political  insti- 
tutions. To  name  these  conditions  is  at 
once  to  suggest  their  applicability  to  the 
United  States.  We  need  not  stop  to  il- 
lustrate them.  But  while  we  draw  from 
them  the  most  hopeful  auguries  for  the 
future,  we  may  pause  to  note  the  single 


r 


PHYSICAL  BONDS   OP  UNION. 


13 


exception  taken  by  this  intelligent  ob- 
server. "  In  America,"  says  lie  "  where 
all  the  conditions  for  the  maintenance  of 
union  existed  at  the  highest  point,  with 
the  sole  Irawback  of  difference  of  insti- 
tutions in  the  single  but  most  important 
article  of  slavery,  this  one  difference  has 
gone  so  far,  in  alienating  from  each  oth- 
er's sympathies,  the  two  divisions  of  the 
Union,  as  to  be  now  actually  effecting  the 
disruption  of  a  tie  of  so  much  value  to 
them  both."* 

The  argument  for  Union  afforded  in 
the  physical  geography  of  the  country, 
the  bonds  and  ties  of  its  great  arteries 
of  river  communication,  needs  only  a 
glance  at  the  map  to  be  demonstrated. 
Its  force  was  felt  by  the  first  founders  of 
the  nation.  No  one  saw  it  better  than 
Jefferson,  who,  with  prophetic  instinct, 
gave  the  nation  Louisiana.  No  dweller 
on  the  Ohio,  the  Missouri,  the  Mississippi 
or  their  numerous  tributaries  need  be  told 
of  it.  Yet  we  may  cite  with  satisfaction 
the  noble  expression  of  this  great  natu- 
ral and  political  truth  uttered  by  Dr. 
Lieber  in  a  letter  to  the  President  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New  York. 
"Nature,"  says  he,  "gave  us  a  land 
abounding  in  all  the  means  of  sustaining 
life  and  industry — food  and  fuel.  She 
cast  a  net  work  of  fluvial  high  roads  over 
the  whole.  Our  history  is  marked  by  no 
feature  more  distinctly  than  by  the  early 
complete  freedom  of  river  navigation, 
for  which  other  nations  have  struggled 
in  vain  for  many  long  centuries  ;  and 
this  Insurrection  with  a  Federal  confes- 
sion of  judgment,  steps  in  and  means  to 
snap  the  silver  thread.  The  Mississippi 
belongs  to  you,  sir,  as  much  as  to  any 
man  in  Louisiana,  and  it  is  mine  as.  much 

*  Considerations  on  Representative  Government.     By 
John  Stuart  Mill.     Chap.  xvii.     Lond.  1861. 


as  it  is  yours.  It  belongs  to  the  country 
by  Divine  right,  if  jus  divinum  ever 
existed  in  any  case  ;  and  let  us  trust  in 
Clod,  that  the  country  will  never  allow  it 
to  be  wrested  from  us.  Every  considera- 
tion, from  the  consciousness  of  a  high 
mission  impressed  upon  us  by  our  Maker 
to  that  of  the  commonest  economy,  urges 
us  to  hold  fast  to  the  unstinted  freedom 
of  our  fluvial  and  all  other  communica- 
tion."* 

Turning  from  this  cursory  glance  at 
the  elementary  conditions  of  the  Union 
and  its  preservation,  we  may  briefly  re- 
view a  few  of  the  historical  antecedents 
which  stand  out  prominently  in  more  or 
less  relation  to  this  great  Revolt.  They 
may  be  referred  generally,  with  sufficient 
accuracy  for  our  purpose,  to  the  mainten- 
ance on  important  occasions  of  the  doc- 
trine of  State  Rights,  and  to  the  legisla- 
tion on  the  subject  of  Slavery.  The  first 
prominent  assertion  of  the  former  after 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  arose  in 
the  administration  of  John  Adams,  in  an 
opposition  to  certain  measures  of  the 
government,  and  found  expression  in 
those  pregnant  texts  for  future  political 
orators  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Reso- 
lutions of  1798.  Both  of  these  were 
levelled  against  what  are  called  the  Alien 
and  Sedition  acts,  which  were  passed  by 
Congress  with  the  view  oLdefending  the 
government  against  the  machinations  of 
foreigners,  and  any  conspiracies  or  fur- 
therance of  them  by  malicious  writings. 
The  Administration  of  Adams,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  then  opposed  with  great 
violence  by  a  faction  in  the  interest  of 
France,  and  it  was  held,  doubtless,  by 
the  legislators  who  passed  the  acts,  that 
the  extraordinary  perils  of  the  day  jus- 

*  Letter  of  Dr.  Francis  Lieber  to  the  President  of  Cham 
ber  of  Commerce,  New  York,  October,  1861. 


14 


WAK  FOR  THE  UNION. 


tified  them.     Not  so,  however,  thought 
that  watchful    guardian  of   the   public 
liberties,  Thomas  Jefferson,  whose  zeal 
on  the  occasion  was  sharpened  by  the 
fervor  of  political  animosity.     He  pre- 
pared the  draft  of  a  series  of  resolutions 
to  be  presented  to  the  Kentucky  Legis- 
lature, in  which  a  theory  of  the  govern- 
ment was   laid   down,    and   a  practice 
enjoined  which  would  virtually  set  aside 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Supreme  Court  on 
questions  where   power  given    by   the 
Constitution  to  the  government  was  sup- 
posed to  be  transcended,  and  make  the 
individual  States  sovereign  judges  over 
the  whole.     The  Resolutions,  as  actually 
presented  in  a  less  destructive,  modified 
form,  asserted  the  limited  powers  of  the 
government  under  the  "  compact "  of  the 
Constitution,  and  maintained  "  that  as  in 
all  other  cases  of  compact,  among  parties 
having  no  common  judge,  each  party  has 
an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well 
of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  meas- 
ure of  redress."     This  was  certainly  a 
broad  generalization,  but,  if  we  may  in- 
terpret it  by  the  light  of  the  accompany- 
ing   resolutions,    it  was    by  no   means 
intended  to  cover  the  modern  doctrine 
of  secession.     The  object  of  the  Resolu- 
tions was  to  agitate  and  procure  a  repeal 
of  the  obnoxious  acts.     The  utmost  that 
was  said,  was  "  that  these  and  successive 
Acts  of  the  same  character,  unless  arrest- 
ed on  the  threshold,  may  tend  to  drive 
these  States  into,"  not,  be  it  remarked, 
peaceable  secession,  but  "  revolution  and 
blood."    The  spirit  of  the  whole  was  a 
jealous    maintenance    of   the    reserved 
rights  of  the  States  against  any  usurpa- 
tion  of  authority  by  the  general  gov- 
ernment.    That  Jefferson  himself,  their 
author,  would,  if  he  had  been  required 
to  pronounce  a  settled  opinion  on  the 


subject,  have  deprecated  any  division  of 
the  Union  on  any  grounds  short  of  an 
absolute  necessity  for  revolution,  may  be 
judged  from  the  words  of  a  letter  which 
he  wrote  some  months  before,  to  John 
Taylor  of  Caroline,  when  that  extreme 
theorist  thought  it  was  time  "  to  estimate 
the  separate  map  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  with  a  view  to  their  separate 
existence."    Not  so,  said  Jefferson,   ir 
reply,  after  reviewing  the  evils  which 
the  country  was  supposed  to  be  suffering 
from  the  New  England  domination  : — 
"If,  on  a  temporary  superiority  of  the 
one  party,  the  other  is  to  resort  to  a  scis- 
sion of  the  Union,  no  Federal  govern- 
ment can  ever  exist.     If  to  rid  ourselves 
of  the  present  rule  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  we   break   the  Union,  wiL 
the  evil  stop  there  ?    Suppose  the  New 
England  States  cut  off,  will  our  natures 
be  changed  ?     Are  we  riot  men  still  to 
the  South  of  that,  and  with  all  the  pas- 
sions of  men  ?    Immediately  we  shall  see 
a  Pennsylvania  and  a  Virginia  party 
arise  in  the  residuary  confederacy,  and 
the  public  mind  will  be  distracted  with 
the  same  party  spirit.     What  a  game, 
too,  will  the  one  party  have  in   their 
hands  by  eternally  threatening  the  other 
that  unless  they  do  so  and  so  they  will 
join  their  Northern  neighbors  ?     If  we 
reduce  our  Union  to  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  immediately  the  conflict  will  be 
established  between  the  representatives 
of  these  two  States,  and  they  will  end  by 
breaking  into  their  simple  units.   Seeing, 
therefore,  that  an  association  of  men  who 
will  not  quarrel  with  each  other,  is  a 
thing  which  never  yet  existed,  from  the 
greatest  confederacy  of  nations  down  to 
a  town  meeting  or  a  vestry — seeing  that 
we  must  have  somebody  to  quarrel  with, 
I  had  rather  keep  our  New  England  as- 


STATE   RIGHTS  DOCTRINES. 


15 


sociates  for  that  purpose  than  to  see  our 
bickering  transferred  to  each  other."  * 

The  Virginia  resolutions,  drawn  up 
by  James  Madison,  and  presented  in 
the  State  Legislature  in  December,  a 
month  after  the  Kentucky  resolutions, 
may  be  considered  explanatory  of  the 
latter.  In  marked  language  they  ex- 
pressly assert  "  that  this  Assembly  most 
solemnly  declares  a  warm  attachment  to 
the  Union  of  the  States,"  and  maintain 
the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution  for 
the  preservation  of  that  Union.  For 
that  end,  an  alarm  of  danger  was  indeed 
Bounded,  but  with  no  other  sentiment 
than  "  the  truest  anxiety  for  establishing 
and  perpetuating  the  union  of  all."  The 
other  States  were  called  upon  to  join 
Virginia  in  pronouncing  the  acts  uncon- 
stitutional, and  to  take  the  necessary 
measures  to  co-operate  "  in  maintaining 
unimpaired  the  authorities,  rights,  and 
liberties  reserved  to  the  States  respect- 
ively, or  to  the  people."  The  resolu- 
tions were  undoubtedly  of  a  suspicious 
and  dangerous  character,  but  they  were 
far  from  countenancing  any  doctrine  of 
secession,  still  further  from  putting  any 
such  doctrine  in  practice.  Their  object 
was  political  agitation  within  the  limits 
of  the  Constitution,  for  its  preservation. 

They  were  often  appealed  to,  in  sub- 
sequent days,  as  the  creed  of  the  State 
Rights  party,  and  much  that  they  con- 
tain is  incontrovertible  ;  they  were, 
doubtless,  mischievous  in  the  tendency 
of  certain  expressions  ;  they  perhaps 
trifled  with  nullification  ;  but  we  have 
too  much  respect  for  their  authors,  Thom- 
as Jefferson  and  James  Madison,  to  sup- 
pose for  a  moment  that  they  inculcated 
so  absurd  a  political  doctrine  as  the  se- 
cession of  a  State  from  the  Union,  fede- 

*  Hildreth's  Hisr.  of  the  United  States.  2d  series,  H.  234. 


ral  compact,  or  whatever  it  may  be 
called,  at  will.  When  that  question  came 
up  thirty-four  years  after,  one  of  the 
parties,  Madison,  emphatically  the  guar- 
dian and  interpreter  of  the  Constitution, 
gave  no  unequivocal  opinion  upon  the 
subject.* 

No  action  injurious  to  the  government 
followed  these  much  talked  of  resolutions. 
The  occasion  which  called  them  forth 
soon  passed  away ;  the  obnoxious  acts 
ceased  from  their  own  limitation.  Jef- 
ferson came  into  power,  and  his  party, 
of  course,  were  satisfied  with  the  ordin- 
ary working  of  the  Constitution. 

The  next  demonstration  of  this  nature 
on  the  part  of  the  States,  arose  in  New 
England,  and  grew  out  of  dissatisfaction 
with  the  war  of  1812.  The  embargo 
destroyed  the  commerce  of  that  region, 
and  there  were  local  jealousies  and  other 
distrusts  of  the  employment  of  the  mil- 
itia. The  eastern  States  were  disposed 
to  claim  exclusive  control  over  the  latter 
raised  within  their  borders.  They  were 
reluctant  to  furnish  money  and  men  for 
what  they  thought  an  unprofitable  war- 
fare. A  Convention  was  called  at  Hart- 
ford to  discuss  these  grievances.  It  gave 
birth  to  a  Report  which  reflected  the 
spirit  of  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia  res- 
olutions in  some  of  its  sentences,  but 
which  by  no  means  countenanced  rebel- 
lion. The  resolves  which  were  adopted, 
were  limited  to  recommendations  to  the 
legislatures  of  the  States  represented,  to 
protect  their  citizens  from  the  opera- 
tion of  acts  unauthorized  by  the  Consti- 
tution, subjecting  them  to  forcible  drafts, 
conscriptions,  or  impressments,  and  ad- 
vice to  the  States  to  protr-ct  and  defend 

*  Letter  to  Daniel  Webster  on  his  speech  in  t'ue  United 
States  Senate,  "  The  Constitution  not  a  Compact. "  in  reply 
to  Calhoun.  Everett's  Memoir  of  Webster.  Webster'! 
Works,  I.  cvii 


16 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


themselves.  There  were  also  amend- 
ments to  the  Constitution  proposed,  ap- 
portioning representation  and  taxation  on 
the  basis  of  the  white  population,  limiting 
the  powers  of  Congress  with  reference  to 
embargoes  and  the  war-making  power, 
forbidding  naturalized  citizens  to  be  el- 
igible to  any  civil  office  under  the  United 
States,  and  the  president  to  be  elected 
twice  or  for  two  terms,  or  to  be  chosen 
from  the  same  State  twice  in  succession. 
The  convention  which  made  these  sugges- 
tions met  in  secret,  prepared  them  with 
diffidence,  and  had  but  little  encourage- 
ment in  any  quarter.  The  proceedings 
came  to  nothing.  It  was  but  a  local  and 
temporary  agitation.  The  war  passed 
over,  and  the  suggestions  and  amend- 
ments were  not  thought  of  again.  The 
Hartford  Convention,  greatly  exagger- 
ated, remained  only  a  name  of  terror, 
occasionally  brought  forward  to  discredit 
politicians  who,  rightfully  or  wrongfully, 
were  made  to  bear  the  penalty  of  an  un- 
popular act.  The  bare  suspicion  of  dis- 
loyalty to  the  government  was  a  fatal 
brand  to  a  man  endeavoring  to  rise  in 
public  life. 

Nearly  twenty  years  passed  away  when 
the  voice  of  disaffection  was  again  heard 
at  the  South.  This  time  the  tariff  acts  of 
1828  and  1832  were  the  grievances  com- 
plained of.  They  were  in  the  interest 
of  the  North  and  a  burden  to  the  South, 
it  was  alleged,  and  were  pronounced 
unconstitutional.  The  South  Carolina 
Legislature,  under  the  inspiration  of  Cal- 
houn,  asserted  the  State  Rights  doc- 
trines in  their  extreme  form.  The 
State,  it  was  resolved,  should,  when  it 
had  determined  for  itself  that  the  Con- 
stitution was  infi-inged,  repudiate  the  acts 
of  the  government.  This  was  Nullifica- . 
tion.  A.  Convention  of  Delegates  niet  in 


November,  1832,  and  adopted  an  ordin- 
ance applying  the  principle.  The  tariff 
acts  were  declared  null  and  void,  and 
any  attempt  of  the  United  States  to  en- 
force them,  it  was  resolved  should  be  a 
signal  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
when  the  State  of  South  Carolina  would 
forthwith  proceed  to  organize  a  separate 
government.  This  revolutionary  declara- 
tion was  met  the  following  month  by  the 
most  energetic  proceeding  on  the  part  of 
the  government,  to  maintain  its  military 
authority  at  Charleston,  and  the  Pro- 
clamation of  President  Jackson,  which 
with  great  clearness  and  an  unanswerable 
line  of  argument,  maintained  the  power 
assumed  by  the  State  to  be  "incompati- 
ble with  the  existence  of  the  Union,  con- 
tradicted expressly  by  the  letter  of  the 
Constitution,  unauthorized  by  its  spirit, 
inconsistent  with  every  principle  on 
which  it  was  founded,  and  destructive 
of  the  great  object  for  which  it  was 
formed." 

The  Proclamation,  as  is  well  known, 
was  written  by  Edward  Livingston,  but 
its  sentiments  and  ideas  were  fresh  from 
the  heart  of  Jackson.  It  was  prepared 
under  his  supervision,  and  received  it« 
most  earnest  appeals  from  his  patriotic 
energy.  "Let  it,"  said  he,  as  he  wrote 
at  midnight,  submitting  the  conclusion  tc 
his  friend  for  his  amendment  and  revi- 
sion, "let  it  receive  your  best  flight  of 
eloquence  to  strike  to  the  heart  and 
speak  to  the  feelings  of  my  deluded 
countrymen  of  South  Carolina.  The 
Union  must  be  preserved,  without  blood 
if  this  be  possible  ;  but  it  must  be  pre- 
served at  all  hazards  and  at  any  price."* 


*  Andrew  Jackson  to  Edward  Livingston,  December  4, 1832 
11  o'clock  p.  M.  This  letter  was  read  by  Mr.  George  Ban- 
croft at  the  Cooper  Institute  at  a  meeting  in  November,  1861, 
called  for  the  aid  of  the  suffering  patriots  of  North  Carolina. 
The  original  letter  was  placed  in  his  hands  by  the  only  sur 
viving  child  of  Mr.  Livingston. 


NULLIFICATION. 


17 


Jackson  was  not  a  man  to  be  content 
with  words.  A  Proclamation  with  him 
was  always  the  prelude  to  vigorous  action. 
It  was  backed  in  this  case  by  a  force 
quite  adequate  to  collect  the  revenue 
and  maintain  the  laws.  The  conse- 
quence of  this  decision  was,  that  the  reve- 
uue  was  still  collected  and  South  Carolina 
postponed  her  desperate  remedy.  Cal- 
houn  came  on  to  Washington  to  take  his 
seat  in  the  Senate.  The  President  was 
disposed  to  arrest  him  for  treason,  and  it 
is  said,  afterward  regretted  that  he  had 
not  done  so.  The  Force  Bill  to  make 
provision  for  the  collection  of  the  reve- 
nue was  introduced.  Mr.  Calhoun  then 
made  his  stand,  submitting  a  series  of 
resolutions  announcing  his  favorite  doc- 
trine of  the  separate  sovereignty  of  the 
States,  the  constitutional  compact  which 
united  them  as  States,  and  the  right  of 
each  to  determine  for  itself  when  its 
privileges  were  violated,  and  to  choose 
its  own  measures  of  redress.  He  main- 
tained these  resolutions  in*  an  elaborate 
speech,  marked  by  the  speaker's  charac- 
teristic clearness  and  subtilty,  which  was 
replied  to  with  at  least  equal  ability  by 
Webster,  in  an  oration  refuting  the 
"compact"  theory  of  State  sovereign- 
ties, and  establishing  the  authority  of  the 
Constitution  as  a  government  proper, 
founded  on  the  adoption  of  the  people, 
and  creating  direct  relations  between  it- 
self and  individuals  ;  that,  as  a  necessary 
consequence,  no  State  authority  could 
dissolve  these  relations,  that  nothing 
<  ould  dissolve  them  but  revolution,  and 
that  there  could  of  course  be  no  such 
thing  as  secession  without  revolution. 

Subsequent  events  have  proved  the  force 
of  the  orator's  argument.  His  theories 
and  warnings  have  unhappily  been  writ- 
ten in  letters  of  living  light  in  the  actions 
8 


of  rebellion  ;  they  have  been  stamped  in 
characters  of  fire  upon  the  country  ;  thou- 
sands of  desolated  abodes  are  monuments 
of  his  judgment ;  a  myriad  of  graves  re- 
cord his  sagacity.  "To  begin  with  Nullifi- 
cation," said  he,  "with  the  avowed  intent, 
nevertheless,  not  to  proceed  to  secession, 
dismemberment  and  general  revolution, 
is  as  if  we  were  to  take  the  plunge  of 
Niagara,  and  cry  out  that  he  would  stop 
half  way  down.  In  the  one  case  as  in 
the  other,  the  rash  adventurer  must  go 
to  the  bottom  of  the  dark  abyss  below, 
were  it  not  that  that  abyss  has  no  dis- 
covered bottom."  His  conclusion,  en- 
forcing the  necessity  of  preserving  the 
Constitution  and  Union  at  every  cost, 
was  equally  prophetic.  He,  indeed,  was 
spared  the  practical  application  of  his 
own  doctrine.  The  energy  of  Jackson 
and  the  moderation  of  Clay  for  a  time 
arrested  the  dark  fate  which  the  rebel- 
lious State  courted  for  herself.  In  our 
time  she  has  claimed  and  secured  the 
awful  Nemesis.  When  men  pondered  for 
a  moment,  awe-struck  and  inert,  the 
words  of  Webster,  though  dead,  yet 
speaking;,  came  to  their  ears.  "If  the 
Constitution  cannot  be  maintained  with- 
out meeting  these  scenes  of  commotion 
and  contest,  however  unwelcome,  they 
must  come.  We  cannot,  we  must  not, 
we  dare  not,  omit  to  do  that  which,  in 
our  judgment,  the  safety  of  the  Union 
requires." 

In  1860,  in  the  concluding  acts  of  the 
thirty-sixth  Congress,  when  the  seceding 
Southern  members  were  aiming  their 
Parthian  arrows  at  the  gentle  mother 
which  had  given  them  protection  and  a 
name,  a  noble-hearted  defender  of  his 
country,  destined  shortly  to  seal  his  de- 
votion on  the  battle-field  with  his  life, 
stood  up  in  his  place  to  parry  the  deadly 


18 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION. 


assault.  The  honest,  forcible  convictions 
of  Senator  Baker  of  Oregon,  in  reply  to 
the  casuistry  of  Senator  Benjamin  of 
Louisiana — a  leader  presently  of  the 
rebel  government — were  uttered  in  the 
language  of  Webster.  The  weapons, 
"  forg'd  for  proof  eterne,"  with  which  he 
fought,  were  borrowed  from  that  celestial 
armory.* 

"I  have  had  a  laborious  task  here," 
wrote  Jackson,  from  Washington  to  a 
clergyman,  the  Rev.  Andrew  J.  Craw- 
ford, in  a  slaveholding  State,  when  the 
contest  with  South  Carolina  was  over, 
"  but  nullification  is  dead  ;  and  its  actora 
and  courtiers  will  only  be  remembered 
by  the  people  to  be  execrated  for  their 
wicked  designs,  to  sever  and  destroy  the 
only  good  government  on  the  globe,  and 
that  prosperity  and  happiness  we  enjoy 
over  every  other  portion  of  the  world. 
Hainan's  gallows  ought  to  be  the  fate 
of  all  such  ambitious  men,  who  would 
involve  their  country  in  civil  war  and 
all  the  evils  in  its  train,  that  they 
might  reign  and  ride  on  its  whirlwinds 
and  direct  the  storm.  The  free  people 
of  these  United  States  have  spoken,  and 
consigned  these  wicked  demagogues  to 
their  proper  doom.  Take  care  of  your 
nullifiers  ;  you  have  them  among  you  ; 
let  them  meet  with  the  indignant  frowns 
of  every  man  who  loves  his  country. 
The  tariff,  it  is  now  known,  was  a  mere 
pretext.  .  .  .  The  next  pretext  wiU  be 
the  negro  or  slavery  question."* 

The  maintenance  of  the  State  Rights 
theory,  in  the  extreme  doctrine  of  Nulli- 
fication and  its  kindred  progeny,  thus 
furnished  a  certain  support,  a  set  of  prin- 
ciples as  it  were,  which  might  be  brought 

*  Senator  Baker's  Speech  in  the  Senate,  January  2, 1861. 
f  Manuscript  Letter  of  Gen.   Jackson.   May    1,    1833, 
Mted  by  Mr.  Sumner  in  the  Senate,  December  10,  1860. 


into  service,  when  it  was  thought  neces- 
sary to  intimidate  or  coerce  the  political 
action  of  the  majority. 

It  remains  to  consider  briefly  the  state 
of  facts,  or  the  subject  matter,  which  was 
to  furnish  food  for  the  development,  on 
so  grand  a  scale,  of  this  malevolent  the- 
ory.     This,  as  Jackson  predicted,  was 
the  question  of  slavery.     From  the  be- 
ginning  of  the   government  there   had 
been  jealousies  and  anxieties  on  this  head. 
The  interests  and  growing  moral  convic- 
tions of  the  North,  and  the  views  of 
many  influential  leaders  at  the  South, 
were  opposed  to  the  institution  from  the 
beginning  ;  but  in  the  formation  of  the 
government  it  was  left  untouched  in  the 
several  States,  and  by  a  species  of  com- 
promise, recognized  to  a  certain  extent 
in  the  Constitution.    It  was  made  a  basis 
of  representation,  and  it  was  protected 
outside   of   its   State   municipal    limits, 
within  which    it  was   never   interfered 
with,  by  the   provision  which  required 
the  return  of-  fugitives  from  labor.     Be- 
yond this,  in  the  practice  of  the  govern- 
ment, it  was  considered  and  treated  as  a 
subject  within  the  control  and  legislation 
of  Congress.     Thus  in  the  Congress  of 
1789,  the  first  under  the  Constitution, 
the  ordinance  passed  by  the  Congress  of 
the  Confederation  in  1787,  prohibiting 
lavery  in  the  territory  northwest  of  the 
river  Ohio,  was  unanimously  re-affirmed. 
It  was  again  the  subject  of  legislation  to 
some  extent,  in  the  organization  of  the 
Territory  of  Mississippi,   derived   from 
the  State  of  Georgia,  and  became  nota- 
bly such  when  the  purchase  of  Louisiana 
added  a  vast  region  to  the  country.    The 
question  was  brought  to  a  direct  issue  on 
the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  State  in 
1819.      A  strong  Northern  party  was 
desirous,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit 


CONGRESSIONAL  LEGISLATION. 


19 


and  motives  of  the  ordinance  governing 
the  Northwestern  Territory  of  the  original 
States,  to  exclude  slavery  from  this  ad- 
ditional western  region.  The  battle  was 
long  and  fiercely  fought,  calling  forth 
many  of  those  arguments  and  appeals 
on  both  sides  which  have  of  late  become 
so  familiar  to  the  country.  The  moral 
evil  of  slavery,  and  the  duties  to  restrict 
it,  were  pressed  with  great  earnestness 
by  pae  party,  while  the  other  maintained 
it  was  beyond  the  province  of  Congres- 
sional legislation.  After  long  agitation, 
the  subject  was  settled  by  a  compromise. 
Missouri  was  admitted  as  a  slave  State, 
while,  with  the  exception  of  her  domain, 
all  the  territory  north  of  the  line  of  36 
degrees,  30  minutes,  being  the  northern 
line  of  Arkansas,  was  to  be  free.  It  fol- 
lowed by  natural  inference,  that  the  oc- 
cupants of  all  territory  south  of  the  line, 
might  exercise  their  discretion  on  the 
subject ;  and,  at  a  proper  time,  be  admit- 
ted into  the  Union  as  States,  with  or 
without  the  adoption  of  slavery  in  their 
several  Constitutions,  as  they  preferred. 
SucL  was  the  opinion  and  practice  of 
the  nation,  till  the  year  1845  introduced 
a  new  element  into  the  question.  Texas 
was  then  annexed,  an  event  which  was 
.immediately  followed  by  the  war  with 
Mexico.  The  termination  of  that  conflict 
brought  a  vast  additional  area  to  the 

O 

country,  lying  between  the  northern 
boundaries  of  California  and  the  far 
southern  limits  of  New  Mexico,  drawn 
from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Pacific. 
New  legislation  was  required.  By  the 
Congressional  legislation  of  1850,  Cali- 
fornia was  admitted  as  a  free  State,  the 
Territories  of  New  Mexico  and  Utah 
were  organized,  the  slave  trade  was  abol^ 
ished  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the 
South  received  new  guarantees  for  the 


enjoyment  of  her  slave  propertjr,  in  a 
stringent  Fugitive  Slave  Act  drawn  up 
by  Senator  Mason.  The  series  of  meas- 
ures, taken  together,  were  considered  as 
a  compromise  on  the  vexed  question  of 
slavery,  and  as  such  were  advocated  by 
their  author,  Henry  Clay,  and  secured 
the  support  of  Benton,  Webster,  and 
others.  In  the  North  they  were  gene- 
rally accepted  ;  in  the  South  they  were 
received  with  distrust,  which  might  have 
led  through  disaffection  to  open  revolt, 
had  the  extreme  councils  of  some  of  the 
leaders,  like  Quitman,  been  adopted  by 
the  people.  South  Carolina  and  Missis 
sippiwere,  indeed,  fast  ripening  for  re- 
bellion, but  the  hour  had  not  yet  come,  to 
strike.  Mr.  Clay's  was  not  a  good  name 
to  conjure  evil  spirits.  They  would  not 
come  at  that  call.  The  conspirators 
waited  another  word  of  incantation.  The 
love  of  the  Union  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  was  not  yet  lightly  to  be  dis- 
lodged. 

With  the  passage  of  Mr.  Clay's  resolu- 
tions, it  was  hoped  the  much-agitated  sub- 
ject would  be  laid  at  rest,  and  the  coun- 
try enjoy  the  longed  for  repose  ;  and 
this,  perhaps,  might  have  been  the  case, 
had  the  wise  councils  of  the  disinterested 
advocates  ~of  the  Compromise  continued 
to  govern  their  successors.  Four  years 
after,  when  Clay  had  closed  his  mortal 
career,  his  last  memorable  public  service 
being  the  advocacy  of  the  measures  just 
alluded  to  ;  and  Webster,  with  an  inter- 
val of  a  few  months  only,  had  followed 
him  to  the  grave,  the  mouldering  fires 
were  stirred  again  in  their  ashes,  and  the 
flames  burst  forth  with  renewed  vigor. 
^Eke  organization  of  the  Territories  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska,  brought  the  old 
discussion  once  more  to  the .  legislative 
halls  at  Washington.  The  adjustmeni 


20 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


of  that  matter,  in  the  passage  of  the 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  Act,  in  1854,  by 
which,  the  duty  of  Congress  in  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Territories  during  their  pu- 
pilage being  suspended,  the  whole  ques- 
tion was  left  to  be  decided  by  chance  or 
conflict  as  it  might  happen, — the  pro- 
vision of  the  admission  of  these  States, 
with  or  without  slavery,  as  the  terms  of 
their  Constitution  at  the  time  of  their  ap- 
plication should  dictate — this  abandon- 
ment of  the  principles  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  re-opened  once  more  the 
whole  fatal  strife.  The  debate  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  Senate  Chamber  to  the 
battle-field  ;  emigrants  from  the  free  and 
from  the  slave  States  met  on  the  soil  of 
Kansas,  in  rival  attempts  to  occupy  the 
ground  in  favor  of  their  different  modes 
of  society.  Through  wrangling,  pe£- 
plexity,  fraud,  and  bloodshed  the  work 
of  colonization  was  carried  on.  The 
boasted  Squatter  Sovereignty,  as  the 
bastard  system  of  Senator  Douglas  was  in- 
gloriously  and  not  inappropriately  called, 
proved  not  the  so-much  desired  solution 
of  a  difficult  question  in  peace  and  har- 
mony, or  the  expected  cessation  of  polit- 
ical antagonism  ;  but  on  the  contrary, 
the  introduction  of  the  wildest  confusion 


and  embarrassments,  confounding  the 
councils  of  the  President,  Congress,  hosts 
of  Committeemen,  troops  of  Governors 
and  army  officials.  Out  of  the  sickening 
contest  came,  in  the  end,  the  free  State 
of  Kansas  ;  but  its  birth  heralded  a  wide 
spread  civil  war,  which  had  taken  its 
first  lessons  of  crime  and  desolation  on 
that  blood-stained  soil. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  war 
with  Mexico,  were  thus  indirectly  the 
source  of  the  political  agitations  which 
placed  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  Presidency  in 
1860.  A  war  undertaken  for  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery,  ended  in  its  limitation. 
The  territory  was  gained,  and  its  first 
production  was  the  Democratic  Free-soil 
party  of  1848.  Texas,  the  Mexican  war, 
the  Wilmot  proviso,  the  Clay  compro- 
mises, Douglas'  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
Act,  the  rehearsal  of  strife  and  battle 
in  the  infant  Territory,  the  rise  and 
rapid  development  of  the  Republican 
party,  the  canvass  of  Fremont,  the  elec- 
tion of  Lincoln,  are  so  many  events  in 
direct  sequence  marking  the  progress  of 
that  great  rivalry  of  ideas  and  institu- 
tions which,  existing  from  the  beginning, 
often  laid  to  rest  and  never  extinguished, 
culminated  in  the  Great  Rebellion  of  1 861. 


CHAPTER    II. 


RISE  AND    PROGRESS   OP   SECESSION. 


THE  introduction  to  this  opening  drama 
was  the  election  for  the  Presidency. 
The  canvass  of  1860  brought  four  candi- 
dates into  the  field,  representing  differ- 
ent shades  of  political  opinion,  turning 
more  or  less  directly  on  the  free-soil  agi- 
tation which  had  vexed  the  country  since 


the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
Of  these,  Mr.  John  C.  Breckonridge,  of 
Kentucky,  was  the  candidate  of  a  minor- 
ity of  the  Democratic  party,  the  ultra 
pro-slavery  party  of  the  South  ;  and 
stood  pledged  by  the  resolutions  of  his 
supporters  in  the  conventions,  at  Ch&r« 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION. 


21 


Icston  in  April  and  at  Baltimore  in  June, 
to  the  fullest  protection  of  the  institu- 
tion. Not  only,  by  the  terms  of  those 
resolutions,  had  Congress  or  the  Territo- 
rial Legislature  no  power  to  abolish  or 
prohibit  the  introduction  of  slavery  in 
the  Territories,  or  impair  its  assumed 
rights,  but  it  was  declared  to  be  the  duty 
of  the  Federal  Government,  if  necessa- 
ry, to  afford  to  such  property  active  pro- 
tection. Diametrically  opposed  to  this 
doctrine  stood  the  declarations  under 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  accepted  his  nomina- 
tion, from  the  Republican  National  Con- 
vention at  Chicago,  in  May.  The  "plat- 
form "  of  that  body  explicitly  set  forth, 
in  language  made  remarkable  by  subse- 
quent events,  "  that  the  new  dogma  that 
the  Constitution,  of  its  own  force,  carries 
slavery  into  any  or  all  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States,  is  a  dangerous  politi- 
cal heresy,  at  variance  with  the  explicit 
provisions  of  that  instrument  itself,  with 
contemporaneous  exposition,  and  with 
legislative  and  judicial  precedent,  is  rev- 
olutionary in  its  tendency,  and  subver- 
sive of  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the 
country."  It  was  also  farther  declared, 
"  that  the  normal  condition  of  all  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  United  States  is  that  of 
freedom  ;  that  as  our  republican  fathers, 
when  they  had  abolished  slavery  in  all 
our  national  territory,  ordained  that  no 
person  should  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty, 
or  property  without  due  process  of  law, 
it  becomes  our  duty,  by  legislation,  when- 
ever such  legislation  is  necessary,  to 
maintain  the  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion against  all  attempts  to  violate  it ; 
and  we  deny  the  authority  of  Congress, 
of  a  Territorial  Legislature,  or  of  any 
individuals,  to  give  legal  existence  to 
slavery  in  any  Territory  of  the  United 
States.'  Intermediate  between  these 


declarations  on  the  Territorial  question, 
came  in  Mr.  Douglas,  the  nominee  of  the 
majority  of  the  Democratic  Convention 
at  Baltimore,  who  was  understood  to  ad- 
vocate a  doctrine  of  non-intervention  by 
Congress,  or  "  popular  sovereignty."  A 
fourth  body  of  delegates,  professing  to  rep- 
resent a  certain  "Constitutional  Union" 
conservatism,  met  also  at  Baltimore  in 
May,  and  with  the  simple  declaration, 
"that  it  is  both  the  part  of  patriotism  and 
duty  to  recognize  no  political  principles 
other  than  the  Constitution  of  the  coun- 
try, the  Union  of  the  States,  and  the  en- 
forcement of  the  laws,"  pledged  them- 
selves to  "  maintain,  protect,  and  defend 
those  great  principles  of  public  liberty 
and  national  safety."  Their  nominee  for 
the  Presidency  was  Mr.  John  Bell,  of 
Tennessee,  with  Mr.  Edward  Everett  for 
the  Yice  Presidency. 

With  principles  thus  pronounced,  the 
case  was  given  to  the  country  in  Novem- 
ber, when  it  appeared  that  of  the  entire 
popular  vote,  4.662,170,  Mr.  Lincoln  re- 
ceived 1.857,610  ;  Mr.  Douglas,  1.365, 
976  ;  Mr.  Breckenridge,  847,953  ;  and 
Mr.  Bell,  590,631.  Every  free  State, 
except  New  Jersey,  where  the  vote  was 
divided,  voted  for  Lincoln,  giving  him 
seventeen  out  of  the  thirty-three  States 
which  then  composed  the  Union.  In 
nine  of  the  slave  States,  besides  South 
Carolina,  he  had  no  electoral  ticket.  Al- 
abama, Arkansas,  Delaware,  Florida, 
Georgia,  Louisiana,  Maryland,  Missis- 
sippi, North  and  South  Carolina,  Texas, 
cast  their  vote  for  Breckenridge  ;  Bell 
received  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Vir- 
ginia ;  Douglas,  Missouri.  The  electoral 
vote  stood  for  Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  180  ; 
for  Breckenridge  arid  Lane,  72  ;  for  Bell 
and  Everett,  39  ;  for  Douglas  and  John- 
son, 12. 


22 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Such  was  the  expression  of  the  popu- 
lar voice,  after  a  canvass  conducted  with 
earnestness  on  both  sides,  and,  apart 
from  the  intrigues  and  divisions  of  the 
politicians  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
their  Charleston  Convention,  with  re- 
markable moderation  and  freedom  from 
acerbity.  It  appeared  the  calm,  sober, 
regular  assertion  of  the  judgment  of  the 
country  on  a  question  of  national  policy 
which  had  been  long  discussed  and  fully 
investigated.  The  Republican  speakers 
had,  indeed,  been  denied  a  hearing  at 
the  South  ;  but  of  this,  while  they  felt 
its  inconvenience  and  injustice,  they  made 
no  complaint,  for  they  were  successful 
without  it.  The  public  had  yet  to  learn 
what  such  exclusiveness  foreboded  ;  they 
did  not  read  in  it  incipient  treason  and 
rebellion,  or  if  the  suspicion  crossed  the 
mind,  it  was  rejected  as  uncharitable  and 
incredible.  On  the  other  hand,  Southern 
orators  like  Yancey,  openly  threatening 
rebellion,  and  partizans  of  their  way  of 
thinking,  had  spoken  freely  in  Northern 
cities  ;  and  their  language,  however  un- 
palatable, had  been  listened  to  with  res- 
pect. The  defeated  party  had  nothing 
to  complain  of  on  that  score.  If  their 
divisions  had  elected  Lincoln,  it  was  ob- 
viously their  own  fault.  They  were  not 
such  children  in  political  science,  as  to 
be  taught  the  propriety  of  submission  to 
the  authoritative  declarations  of  the  bal- 
lot-box. 

The  vote,  if  we  interpret  it  by  the 
professions  of  the  Republicans,  —  and 
they  were  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  their 
promises  till  they  should  refute  them  by 
their  actions, — said  that,  while  the  influ- 
ence of  the  new  government  was  to  be 
on  the  side  of  freedom,  yet  that  every 
principle  of  the  Constitution  was  to  be 
maintained.  The  party,  absorbing  largely 


the  old  elements  of  Whiggism,  cer- 
tainly did  not  present  a  revolutionary 
aspect.  It  rather  appeared  to  lean  to 
conservatism.  Its  candidate  had  been 
chosen  as  eminently  a  safe,  prudent 
leader.  Indeed,  in  the  delicate  relations 
of  the  times,  the  country  would  not  have 
tolerated  a  violent  agitator  or  disturber 
of  its  peace.  The  intention  of  the  vic- 
torious party,  if  we  regard  the  declara- 
tions of  its  interpreters,  was  to  adhere  to 
and  maintain  the  sound  constitutional 
doctrines  of  the  fathers  of  the  Republic. 
If  any  resistance  was  to  be  offered  to 
slavery,  it  was  not  to  the  privileges  con- 
ceded to  it  by  the  Constitution,  but  to 
its  extension  into  new  fields  of  which 
Congress  was  the  guardian. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  whose  election  was  so  of- 
ten made  the  pretence  of  hostility, — 
as  if  the  whole  Government  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  President, — had  open- 
ly pronounced  his  sentinents  on  the 
chief  measures  in  agitation  in  the  coun- 
try in  reference  to  slavery  ;  and  in  each 
instance  had  shown  not  only  the  highest 
deference  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,  but  a  prudent  regard  to  the  peace 
and  welfare  of  the  country.  He  had  de- 
clared, in  the  most  emphatic  manner, 
that  he  considered  the  people  of  the 
Southern  States  entitled  to  a  Congres- 
sional Fugitive  Slave  Law  ;  though  he 
thought  the  one  in  existence  might  be 
amended,  while  he  had  no  intention  of 
impairing  its  efficiency.  He  would  not, 
he  said,  "  introduce  it  as  a  new  subject 
of  agitation  upon  the  general  question  of 
slavery."  He  would  even,  he  admitted, 
much  as  he  should  dislike  the  necessity, 
acknowledge  the  claim  of  a  new  State  to 
be  admitted  with  a  slave  constitution, 
though  he  would  have  the  noxious  ele- 
ment of  slavery  kept  away  from  it  while 


MR.  LINCOLN'S  DECLARATIONS. 


23 


in  a  territorial  condition.  In  regard  to 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  while,  with  Henry  Clay,  he 
thought  it  desirable  to  "  sweep  from  our 
Capital  that  foul  blot  upon  our  nation," 
he  held  that  if  it  were  done,  it  should  be 
in  accordance  with  several  conservative 
provisions,  namely,  that  the  abolition 
should  be  gradual,  that  it  should  be  on  a 
vote  of  the  majority  of  qualified  voters 
in  the  District,  and  that  compensation 
should  be  made  to  unwilling  owners.  Of 
the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  between 
the  different  States,  he  had  formed  no 
opinion,  for  he  had  not  sufficiently  studied 
the  constitutional  question  ;  but,  if  he 
were  to  make  up  his  mind  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  he  would  not  press  it  without 
regard  to  the  wishes  and  welfare  of  the 
parties  immediately  interested.  Such, 
in  effect,  were  the  declarations  to  which 
he  pledged  himself  in  the  summer  of 
1858,  in  his  electioneering  contest  with 
Douglas  in  Illinois  ;  arid  the  record  was 
often  appealed  to  while  he  was  a  candi- 
date for  the  Presidency. 

There  was,  however,  another  declara- 
tion which  fell  from  his  lips  the  same 
season,  which,  as  it  was  frequently  quoted 
by  his  opponents  and  has  since,  by  the 
progress  of  events,  attained  a  sort  of  his- 
torical significance  may  be  worth  pre- 
senting in  this  relation.  It  was  made 
in  a  speech  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  at  the 
close  of  the  Republican  State  Conven- 
tion in  June.  "  We  are  now,"  said  he, 
"  far  into  the  fifth  year,  since  a  policy 
was  initiated  with  the  avowed  object  and 
confident  promise  of  putting  an  end  to 
slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation 
of  that  policy,  that  agitation  has  not  only 
not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  augmented. 
In  my  opinion  it  will  not  cease  until  a  cri- 
sis shall  have  been  reached  and  passed. 


'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand.7  I  believe  this  government  can- 
not endure  permanently  half  slave  and 
half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to 
be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the  house 
to  fall — but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to 
be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing, 
or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents 
of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread 
of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind 
shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction  ;  or  its  ad- 
vocates will  push  it  forward,  till  it  shall 
become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old 
as  well  as  new — North  as  well  as  South." 
This  was  indeed  a  notable  expression  of 
opinion,  a  most  sagacious  glance  of  a  keen 
sighted  observer  on  what  was  passing 
before  him,  a  species  of  prophecy,  as  it 
turned  out ;  but  it  did  not  necessarily  im- 
ply any  disposition  to  hasten  either  event' 
by  a  revolutionary  course  of  conduct. 

More  important,  however,  than  any 
of  these  declarations  of  a  local  political 
conflict  several  years  old,  as  an  inter- 
pretation of  Mr.  Lincoln's  views  and  feel- 
ings in  relation  to  the  existing  state  of 
affairs,  was  the  language  of  the  address 
which  he  delivered  in  the  city  of  New 
York  not  long  before  his  nomination, 
and  which  was  largely  circulated  as  an 
indication  of  his  policy.  Its  leading  design, 
rigorously  carried  out  with  equal  learn- 
ing and  acumen,  was  to  test  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Republican  party  by  the 
practice  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Constitution. 
"  Let  all,"  said  he,  adopting  a  text  thrown 
out  in  one  of  the  speeches  of  Senator 
Douglas,  "who  believe  that  'our  fathers, 
who  framed  the  Government  under  which 
we  live,  understood  this  question  just  as 
well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now,' 
speak  as  they  spcke  and  act  as  they 
acted  upon  it.  This  is  all  that  Repub- 


24 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


licans  ask — all  Republicans  desire — in 
relation  to  slavery.  As  those  fathers 
marked  it,  so  let  it  again  be  marked,  as 
an  evil  not  to  be  extended,  but  to  be  tol- 
erated and  protected  only  because  of  and 
so  far  as  its  actual  presence  among  us 
makes  that  toleration  and  protection  a 
necessity.  Let  all  the  guaranties  those 
fathers  gave  it,  be,  not  grudgingly,  but 
fully  and  fairly  maintained.  For  this 
Republicans  contend,  and  with  this,  so 
far  as  I  know  or  believe,  they  will  be 
content.  ...  It  is  exceedingly  desirable 
that  all  parts  of  this  great  Confederacy 
shall  be  at  peace  and  in  harmony,  one 
with  another.  Let  us  Republicans  do  our 
part  to  have  it  so.  Even  though  much 
provoked,  let  us  do  nothing  through  pas- 
sion and  ill  temper.  Even  though  the 
.Southern  people  will  not  do  so  much  as 
listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider  their 
demands,  and  yield  to,  them  if  in  our 
deliberate  view  of  our  duty,  we  possi- 
bly can."* 

The  amiable  and  conservative  charac- 
ter of  these  declarations  had  to  be  ad- 
mitted by  all  fair-minded  disputants,  who 
would  then  be  driven  to  point  out  the 
probability  of  the  influence  of  such  a  man 
in  bringing  others  to  his  way  of  thinking, 
and  thus  providing  for  the  passage  of 
measures  tending  to  the  limitation  of 
slavery  with  the  safeguards  which  he 
proposed.  The  weakness  and  absurdity 
of  such  a  remonstrance  were  palpable 
enough,  yet  it  was  frequently  urged  by 
men  who  appeared  so  determined  to  up- 
hold Southern  institutions,  that  they 
would  not  permit  them  to  be  brought  in 
question  even  by  the  Southerners  them- 
selves ;  for  who  could  be  influenced  to 
any  purpose  in  such  an  issue  save  the 

*  Address  of  the  Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln  at  the  Jooper 
Institute.  New  Fork,  February  27,  1860. 


slaveholders  ?  Moreover,  both  branches 
of  Congress  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
opponents  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  might  be 
presumed  to  be  a  sufficient  guard  over  his 
movements.  He  could  be  little,  after  all, 
but  their  Executive.  What,  then,  was 
the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  a 
Republican  President,  thus  prudent  in  his 
own  resolves,  and  thus  powerfully  held 
in  check  by  his  political  adversaries  ? 

In  vain  were  all  these  inducements  to 
a  pacific  policy  held  up  before  Southern 
statesmen.  It  would  seem  that  they  had 
adopted  a  course  of  revolt  before  which 
nothing  of  good  counsel  that  could  be 
offered  would  be  suffered  to  stand  in  the 
way.  On  no  other  hypothesis  than  a 
disposition  to  break  up  the  Union  at  all 
hazards,  can  their  conduct  be  accounted 
for.  Instant  measures  were  taken  by 
them  to  array  the  whole  region  south  of 
the  Potomac  in  opposition  not  merely  to 
the  Republicans,  but  to  the  government 
itself.  It  was  not  legitimate  influence  in 
the  work  of  legislation  which  was  sought 
for  in  their  agitation,  but  disorganisation 
and  absolute  destruction  of  the  State. 
Immediately  leading  actors  began  to  busy 
themselves  publicly  with  the  work  of 
treason.  Influential  politicians  corre- 
sponded with  one  another,  schemed, 
plotted  and  intrigued.  The  readiness 
with  which  they  brought  forward  their 
arguments,  and  the  confidence  of  their 
plans  showed  them  practiced  in  the  arts 
of  revolt.  They  were  evidently  but  en- 
acting in  the  eye  of  the  public  what 
they  had  long  before  studied  and  re- 
hearsed in  private.  The  long-desired 
opportunity  for  which  they  had  eagerly 
waited,  had  arisen.  Their  arguments  on 
previous  occasions  had  failed  to  convince, 
or  had  not  been  followed  by  action. 
They  had  now  an  irresistible  appeal  in 


COURSE   OF   SOUTH   CAROLINA. 


25 


the  election  by  the  North  of  a  Republi- 
can President,  a  sworn  foe,  as  he  was 
represented,  of  Southern  institutions. 
In  full  command  of  their  political  ma- 
chinery, working  upon  the  prejudices 
and  ignorance  of  the  people,  they  had 
but  to  touch  certain  springs,  and  the  fair 
edifice  of  the  national  authority  in  the 
South  fell  to  the  ground,  and  in  its  stead 
arose  the  hideous  structure  of  a  rebel 
Confederacy. 

Indeed,  there  is  but  too  much  reason 
to  believe,  from  the  public  declarations 
of  many  of  their  eminent  politicians, 
from  the  divisions  at  the  Charleston 
Convention,  and  from  other  indications, 
that  Disunion  was  a  foregone  conclusion 
in  many  Southern  minds.  The  election  of 
a  Northern  President,  chosen  by  the  votes 
of  the  Northern  States,  it  was  frequently 
asserted  would  justify  an  act  of  seces- 
sion. When  the  vote  was  taken,  and 
the  decision  made  known,  the  action  was 
immediate.  The  legislature  of  South 
Carolina,  which  was  in  session,  called 
together  in  advance  of  its  regular  meet- 
ing, to  appoint  electors  for  President  and 
Vice  President,  proceeded  at  once  to 
take  the  initiative  in  the  revolt.  In- 
deed, Governor  Gist,  the  very  first  day 
of  the  meeting  of  that  body,  the  fifth  of 
November,  had  in  his  message  advised 
the  course  to  be  pursued  in  the  event  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  election.  "  The  only 
alternative,"  said  he,  "is  the  secession 
of  South  Carolina  from  the  federal 
Union."  Not  overlooking  the  inevitable 
contingency  upon  such  action,  if,  as  he 
expressed  it,  "in  the  exercise  of  arbi- 
trary power,  and  forgetful  of  the  lessons 
of  history,  the  government  of  the  United 
States  should  attempt  coercion,"  he  add- 
ed, "  it  will  become  our  solemn  duty  to 
meet  force  by  force."  In  accordance 
4 


with  this  conclusion  he  recommended  a 
thorough  reorganization  of  the  State  mi- 
litia, and  the  acceptance  of  the  services 
of  ten  thousand  volunteers,  who  should 
be  drilled  and  be  in  readiness  for  instant 
action.  "With  this  preparation  for  de- 
fence," he  concluded,  "  and  with  all  the 
hallowed  memories  of  past  achievements, 
with  our  love  of  liberty  and  hatred  of 
tyranny,  and.  with  the  knowledge  that 
we  are  contending  for  the  safety  of  our 
homes  and  firesides,  we  can  confidently 
appeal  to  the  Disposer  of  human  events, 
and  surely  trust  our  cause  to  his  keeping." 
The  advice  fell  upon  willing  ears. 
Following  the  suggestion  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, the  topic  of  Secession  was  freely 
discussed  by  the  legislature.  There  was 
much  talk  of  arming,  of  the  relative  ad- 
vantages of  separate  action  and  of  coop-, 
eration  with  other  States  ;  Messrs.  Ches- 
nut  and  Hammond,  the  representatives 
of  South  Carolina  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  resigned  their  seats,  and  their 
resignation  was  accepted  ;  and — the  most 
important,  because  most  dangerous,  pro- 
ceeding of  all — a  resolution  was  unani- 
mously adopted  in  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature,  calling  a  special  convention 
of  the  people,  to  meet  on  the  17th  De- 
cember, to  consider  and  provide  for  the 
interests  of  South  Carolina  in  the  as- 
sumed emergency.  On  the  27th  Novem- 
ber the  legislature  was  again  in  session 
at  Columbia,  listening  to  another  mes- 
sage from  Governor  Gist,  urging  various 
means  of  independence,  commercial  and 
military,  and  strongly  charged  with  Seces- 
sion doctrines  and  advice.  The  Federal 
Government,  he  said,  could  "  not  rightful- 
ly use  force  to  prevent  a  State  from  seced- 
ing, or  force  her  back  into  the  Union," 
adding  significantly,  "  but,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  late  Judge  Harper,  men 


26 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Having  arms  in  their  hands  may  use 
them."  It  is  not  a  little  significant  of 
the  calculations  made  at  this  period  by 
the  South,  that  he  encouraged  his  hear- 
ers with  the  remark,  "It  is  gratifying  to 
know  that,  if  we  must  resort  to  arms  in 
defence  of  our  rights,  and  a  blow  struck 
at  South  Carolina  before  the  other  States 
move  up  in  line,  we  have  the  tender  of 
volunteers  from  all  the  Southern  and 
some  of  the  Northern  States  to  repair 
promptly  to  our  standard  and  share  our 
fortunes."  With  reckless  indifference  to 
the  probable  consequences  of  these  re- 
bellious suggestions,  with  an  appeal  to 
honor  and  religion,  he  added  :  "We  can- 
not penetrate  the  dark  future  ;  it  may 
be  filled  with  ashes,  tears,  and  blood  ; 
but  let  us  go  forward  in  the  discharge  of 
our  duty,  with  an  unwavering  trust  in 
God,  and  a  consciousness  that  anything 
is  preferable  to  dishonor  and  degradation." 
The  Hon.  C.  G-.  Memminger,  afterward 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  Confed- 
erate Government,  in  a  speech  at  a  pub- 
lic meeting  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  on 
the  30th  of  November,  with  the  pres- 
cience of  an  actor  who  had  in  his  own 
hands  the  guarantee  of  his  predictions, 
marked  out  the  entire  programme  of  the 
Rebellion.  The  action  of  the  Convention, 
the  Commissioners  to  be  sent  to  Wash- 
ington to  treat  for  the  forts,  the  capture 
of  the  latter  by  armed  men  if  not  surren- 
dered, the  indisposition  of  President  Bu- 
chanan to  act  offensively,  the  powerless- 
ness  of  President  Lincoln  in  the  early 
days  of  his  administration,  giving  time  to 
South  Carolina  to  gain  over  to  her  cause 
the  cotton  States,  were  all  pointed  out  as 
so  many  onward  stages  in  the  progress  to 
Southern  Independence.*  There  was  no 

*  History  of  the  Southern  Rebellion,  by  Orville  J.  Vic- 
tor, L  W 


attempt  in  this  argument  to  conceal  the 
employment  of  armed  resistance.  It  was 
the  common  talk  at  Charleston.  At  the 
same  meeting  a  letter  was  read  from 
Colonel  Hayne,  in  which  the  prospects 
of  a  struggle  with  the  government  were 
thus  confidently  discussed  :  "  Should  the 
South  be  called  upon,"  said  he,  "  to 
meet  the  North  in  the  battle-field,  we 
have  eight  millions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  to  sustain  us  and  our  cause,  just  in 
the  sight  of  God  and  man.  What  more 
do  we  want?  Did  not  Frederick  the 
Great,  with  a  population  of  not  half  of 
our  number,  carry  on  successful  war 
with  almost  the  whole  of  Europe  against 
him,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war,  add- 
ing largely  to  his  empire  ?  The  great 
Napoleon  conquered  Europe  — -all  but 
gallant  England.  Burke,  with  his  large 
mind,  told  Lord  North  the  British  pre- 
mier in  '  '76,'  that  the  Southern  colonies 
would,  on  trial,  be  found  hard  to  subdue 
— and  it  was  found  to  be  so,  in  the  hour 
of  trial  and  on  the  battle-field.  For  all 
the  purposes  of  war — especially  long  and 
continued  war,  for  good  and  sufficient 
reasons  perfectly  understood  and  duly  en- 
dorsed by  our  people  —  the  Southern 
States  rank  among  the  first  nations  of  the 
world."* 

In  Georgia  there  was  at  first  some 
hesitation — for  there  were  many  friends 
of  the  Union  in  the  State,  and  others 
who,  from  interest,  looked  with  suspicion 
upon  the  threatened  movement.  Gov- 
ernor Brown,  in  his  message  to  the  legis- 
lature in  November,  opposed  secession 
and  the  project  of  a  Southern  Convention, 
contenting  himself  with  a  plan  of  taxation 
and  reprisals  upon  the  property  of  citi- 
zens of  States  infringing  upon  Southern 


*  A.  P.  Hayne  to  Captain  S.  Y.  Tupper,  Charleston,  NOT 
ember  20,  1860.     Charleston  Marcury,  December  1 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  REVOLT. 


27 


rights.  He  recommended,  however,  the 
appropriation  of  a  million  of  dollars  to 
arm  the  State.  The  legislature  refused 
to  elect  a  new  Senator  to  the  United 
States  Senate  for  the  next  Congress,  an 
example  followed  before  the  conclusion 
of  the  month  in  North  Carolina. 

Governor  Moore,  of  Alabama,  was  de- 
cidedly authoritative  in  advising  the  peo- 
ple of  his  State  of  the  necessity  of  Se- 
cession. In  an  address  sent  forth  early 
in  November,  he  set  before  them  this 
solemn  asseveration  :  "In  full  view  and, 
I  trust,  just  appreciation  of  all  my  obli- 
gations and  responsibilities,  official  and 
personal,  to  my  God,  my  State,  and  the 
Federal  Government,  I  solemnly  declare 
that,  in  my  opinion,  the  only  hope  and 
future  security  for  Alabama  and  other 
slaveholding  States  is  in  secession  from 
the  Union."  Alabama  was  ripe  for  re- 
volt. In  October,  Governor  Herschel  V. 
Johnson,  in  a  speech  at  New  York,  had 
coupled  her  with  South  Carolina  in  a 
sketch  of  the  programme  of  disunion. 
"Alabama,"  said  he,  "is  pledged  to  with- 
draw from  the  Union,  and  has  appropri- 
ated two  hundred  thousand  dollars  for 
military  contingencies."* 

Governor  Pettus,  of  Mississippi,  on  the 
26th  November,  met  the  legislature  of 
that  State  with  advice  not  less  uncompro- 
mising. Florida,  the  least  important  of 
the  Southern  States,  the  most  dependent 
upon  the  Union  for  her  prosperity,  bound 
to  -the  National  Government  through 
every  stage  of  her  history  by  every  claim 
of  gratitude  and  allegiance  for  benefits  re- 
ceived, was  among  the  loudest  and  least 
considerate  in  these  pretensions  of  revolt. 
Governor  Perry,  in  his  Message  of  No- 
vember 26,  proclaimed,  "  the  only  hope 

*  Speech  at  th«  Cooj>«r  Institute,  New  York,  October 
24,  1860,  reported  m  Th.  World  of  the  following  day. 


the  Southern  States  have  for  domestic 
peace  and  safety,  or  for  future  respecta- 
bility and  prosperity,  is  dependent  on 
their  action  now,  and  that  the  proper 
action  is  secession  from  our  faithless,  per- 
jured confederates."  The  arguments  and 
appeals  which  he  used  to  hasten  the  work 
of  revolt  were  no  better  and  no  worse, 
though  more  candidly  avowed,  than  those 
of  his  more  powerful  confederates.  They 
present  a  curious  and  very  instructive 
specimen  of  the  logic  of  the  rebellion 
"  But  some  Southern  men,  it  is  said,  ob- 
ject to  secession  until  some  overt  act  of 
unconstitutional  power  shall  have  been 
committed  by  the  general  government ; 
that  we  ought  not  to  secede  until  the 
President  and  Congress  unite  in  passing 
an  act  unequivocally  hostile  to  our  insti- 
tutions, and  fraught  with  immediate  dan- 
ger to  our  rights  of  property  and  to  our 
domestic  safety.  My  countrymen,  if  we 
wait  for  such  an  overt  act,  our  fate  will 
be  that  of  the  white  inhabitants  of  St. 
Domingo.  "  But  why  wait  for  this  overt 
act  of  the  general  government?  What 
is  that  government  ?  It  is  but  the  trustee, 
the  common  agent  of  all  the  States,  ap- 
pointed by  them  to  manage  their  affairs 
according  to  a  written  Constitution,  or 
power  of  attorney.  Should  the  sovereign 
States  then — the  principal  and  the  part- 
ners in  the  association — for  a  moment 
tolerate  the  idea  that  their  action  must  be 
graduated  by  the  will  of  their  agents? 
The  idea  is  preposterous." 

The  remaining  cotton  States  were 
equally  ripening  for  revolt,  and  a  dan- 
gerous sympathy  was  exhibited  in  the 
border  slave  States.  There  was  con- 
siderable disaffection  already  manifested 
in  Virginia,  where,  under  the  auspices 
of  Governor  Letcher,  the  leaders  were 
•coolly  calculating  the  resources  of  rebel- 


28 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


lion.  Ex-Governor  Henry  A.  Wise, 
adopting  an  intermediate  course,  could 
not  at  once  bring  himself  to  forego  the 
benefits  of  Union,  but  ingeniously  hit 
upon  a  plan  of  "fighting  in  the  Union," 
—what  Governor  Quitman,  ten  years 
before,  when  reviewing  the  materials  for 
rebellion,  called  "  the  system  in  Virginia 
of  petty  hostilities  within  the  Union." 
Writing  to  a  gentleman  in  Georgia,  who 
wished  an  explanation  of  this  phrase, 
Governor  Wise  said  truly  enough,  "  the 
Union  is  not  an  abstraction  ;  it  is  a  real, 
substantial  thing,  embracing  many  essen- 
tial and  vital  political  rights  and  proper- 
ties. Is  it  not  cowardly  to  renounce  one 
right  to  save  another  ?  Are  these  rights 
not  as  precious  as  the  mere  right  of 
property  in  negroes  ?  "  *  Kentucky, 
with  bat  little  inclination  at  the  time  to 
revoll,  implored,  by  the  mouth  of  her 
Governor  Magoffin,  the  forbearance  of 
the  Gulf  States.  "  If  you  secede,"  was 
his  cry,  "your  Representatives  will  go 
out  of  Congress  and  leave  us  at  the  mercy 
of  a  Black  Republican  Government." 
North  Carolina  exhibited  a  loyal  disposi- 
tion. Tennessee,  as  yet,  influenced  by 
past  traditions  and  the  patriotism  of  her 
democratic  senator,  Andrew  Johnson, 
was  faithful  to  her  allegiance  ;  and  Gov- 
ernor Hicks  in  Maryland  had  taken  that 
stand  for  Union  which  was  destined  to 
save  the  State. 

In  this  condition  of  the  public  mind  at 
the  South,  while  the  North  was  calmly 
contemplating  the  prospects  and  responsi- 
bility of  its  unexpected  political  triumph, 
Congress  met  at  Washington  in  its  usual 
session,  in  December.  President  Bu- 
chanan, in  his  opening  Message,  took  oc- 
casion to  review  the  existing  political 
condition  of  the  country.  His  tone  on 


•  If.  Y.  Herald,  December  19,  1860. 


the  occasion  was  that  of  the  leader  or 
follower  of  a  party  long  accustomed  to 
power  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  check- 
ed in  its  enjoyment.  There  was  an  evi- 
dent look  of  suspicion  cast  upon  the  new 
incumbent  who  had  been  chosen  by  the 
people  to  administer  the  government. 
Some  of  the  President's  expressions  were 
certainly  very  peculiar,  and  perhaps,  in 
this  respect,  better  represented  the  state 
of  feeling  in  a  large  portion  of  the  coun- 
try than  would  the  usual  more  courteous 
and  conventional  terms  of  public  docu- 
ments. There  was  a  certain  air  about 
the  Message  of  stinted  allowance  or  for- 
bearance, as  if  the  incoming  Republicans 
were  creeping  into  power  surreptitiously, 
or  were  in  some  measure,  as  yet,  spite  of 
the  authoritative  voice  of  the  people,  on 
trial.  Nor  was  this  very  much  to  be 
wondered  at  in  so  facile  a  chief  magistrate, 
when  it  was  commonly  asserted  out  of 
doors  by  members  of  his  party,  that  the 
inauguration  of  the  new  President  would 
never  be  suffered  to  take  place  !  Indeed, 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  reported  about  this 
time  to  have  said,  that  he  would  prob- 
ably be  the  last  President  of  the  United 
States.  How  clearly  was  this  remark- 
able condition  of  opinion  represented  in 
such  apologetic  utterances  as  this  in  the 
Message.  "The  election  of  anyone  of 
our  fellow  citizens,"  said  Mr.  Buchanan, 
with  a  simplicity  which  would  be  amus- 
ing were  it  not  the  index  of  a  coming 
tragedy,  "  to  the  office  of  President, 
does  not  of  itself  afford  just  cause  for  dis- 
solving the  Union" — adding  to  this  enor- 
mous platitude  and  startling  intimation 
of  treasonable  intentions  somewhere,  the 
soothing  declaration:  "this  is  more  es- 
pecially true  if  his  election  has  been 
effected  by  a  mere  plurality,  and  not  a 
majority  of  the  people,  and  has  resulted 


30 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


ginning,  declared  the  fugitive  slave  law 
to  be  constitutional.  It  has  been  carried 
into  execution  in  every  contested  case 
since  the  commencement  of  the  present 
Administration." 

With  assurances  like  these,  all,  it  will 
be  observed,  relating  to  the  protection 
of  slave  property  as  the  only  alleged 
ground  of  variance,  Mr.  Buchanan  sought 
to  smooth  the  ruffled  temper  of  the  South. 
"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  in  effect,  and,  on 
this  question  no  one  could  speak  from 
more  abundant  evidence,  or  with  less 
probability  of  being  disturbed  by  a 
Northern  bias,  "gentlemen,  you  have 
really  no  just  occasion  for  alarm.  The 
evil  which  you  speak  of  has  not  happen- 
ed, nor  is  there  any  rational  probability 
of  its  happening.  At  any  rate,  it  will 
be  time  enough  for  revolutionary  re- 
sistance when  you  have  exhausted  all 
peaceful  and  constitutional  means  to  ob- 
tain redress." 

He  then  entered  upon  an  examination 
of  the  recently  bruited  doctrine  of  seces- 
sion, and  in  an  easy  demonstration  proved 
it  to  have  no  warrant  in  the  letter  or  spirit 
of  the  Constitution.  "  In  order,"  said 
he,  "  to  justify  secession  as  a  Constitu- 
tional remedy,  it  must  be  on  the  princi- 
ple that  the  Federal  Government  is  a 
mere  voluntary  association  of  States,  to 
be  dissolved  at  pleasure  by  any  one  of 
the  contracting  parties.  If  this  be  so, 
the  Confederacy  is  a  rope  of  sand,  to  be 
penetrated  and  dissolved  by  the  first 
adverse  wave  of  public  opinion  in  any 
of  the  States.  In  this  manner  our  thir- 
ty-three States*  may  resolve  themselves 
into  so  many  petty,  jarring,  and  hostile 
republics,  each  one  retiring  from  the 
Union  without  responsibility,  whenever 

*  Kansas  making  the  number  thirty-four,  had  not  then 
be"n  admitted. 


any  sudden  excitement  might  impel  them 
to  such  a  course.  By  this  process,  a 
Union  might  be  entirely  broken  into 
fragments  in  a  few  weeks,  which  cost  our 
forefathers  many  years  of  toil,  privation 
and  blood  to  establish." 

This,  the  reductio  ad  ah-surdum,  per 
haps  as  strong  and  convincing  an  argu- 
ment as  any  on  the  subject,  was  followed 
by  sound  historical  references  to  the 
opinions  of  Madison  and  Jackson,  and  a 
cogent  enforcement  of  the  whole,  drawn 
from  an  examination  of  the  particular 
exclusive  and  sovereign  powers  con- 
ferred by  the  Constitution  on  the  Fede- 
ral Government.  "  This  Government, 
therefore,"  he  concluded — and  we  take 
the  argument  from  him  in  preference  to 
others,  as  well  from  the  peculiar  relation 
in  which  he  stood  to  those  who  main- 
tained the  contrary,  as  from  the  author- 
ity of  his  high  position,—"  this  Govern- 
ment is  a  great  and  powerful  Govern- 
ment, invested  with  all  the  attributes  of 
sovereignty  over  the  special  subjects  to 
which  its  authority  extends.  Its  framers 
never  intended  to  implant  in  its  bosom 
the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction,  nor 
were  they  at  its  creation  guilty  of  the 
absurdity  of  providing  for  its  own  disso- 
lution. It  was  not  intended  by  its  fram- 
ers to  be  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision 
which,  at  the  touch  of  the  enchanter, 
would  vanish  into  thin  air ;  but  a  sub- 
tantial  and  mighty  fabric,  capable  of  re- 
sisting the  slow  decay  of  time,  and  of 
defying  the  storms  of  ages." 

Thus  far  all  was  well.  The  Govern- 
ment being  intended,  by  its  framers  and 
the  evident  purport  of  the  Constitution, 
to  be  perpetual,  and  there  being  no  right 
existing  in  any  of  its  members  to  break 
it  up,  the  only  thing  left,  in  face  of  the 
resolves  at  Charleston,  was  to  maintain 


DOUBTS  AND  DIFFICULTIES. 


31 


it  accordingly.  To  do  this,  to  execute 
the  laws  in  the  rebellious  States  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  the  administration  of 
justice,  would  be  impossible.  The  forts 
and  other  public  property  of  the  country 
should  be  defended,  undoubtedly, — on 
this  point  the  message  was  explicit ;  but 
taking  the  evil  in  the  aggregate,  in  the 
withdrawal  of  a  State,  there  was  no 
power  known  to  the  Constitution  to 
1:  ring  it  back  by  force  to  its  allegiance. 
"  Without  descending  to  particulars," 
was  his  language,  "  it  may  be  safely  as- 
serted that  the  power  to  make  war 
against  a  State  is  at  variance  with  the 
whole  spirit  and  intent  of  the  Constitu- 
tion." Nor,  granting  the  employment 
of  such  force,  did  he  think  the  object 
aimed  at  could  be  secured.  '"Suppose 
such  a  war  should  result  in  the  conquest 
of  a  State,  how  are  we  to  govern  it  af- 
terward ?  Shall  we  hold  it  as  a  prov- 
ince, and  govern  it  by  despotic  power  ? 
In  the  nature  of  things  we  could  not,  by 
physical  force,  control  the  will  of  the 
people,  and  compel  them  to  elect  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives  to  Congress, 
and  to  perform  all  the  other  duties  der 
pending  upon  their  own  volition,  and  re- 
quired from  the  free  citizens  of  a  free 
State  as  a  constituent  member  of  the  Con- 
federacy. But,  if  we  possessed  this 
power,  would  it  be  wise  to  exercise  it 
under  existing  circumstances  ?  The  ob- 
ject would,  doubtless,  be  to  preserve  the 
Union.  War  would  not  only  present 
the  most  effectual  means  of  destroying 
it ;  but  would  banish  all  hope  of  its 
peaceable  reconstruction.  Besides,  in 
the  fraternal  conflict  a  vast  amount  of 
blood  and  treasure  would  be  expended, 
rendering  future  reconciliation  between 
the  States  impossible.  In  the  mean  time, 
who  can  foretell  what  would  be  the  suf- 


ferings and  privations  of  the  people  dur- 
ing its  existence  ?  The  fact  is,  that  our 
Union  rests  upon  public  opinion,  aud  can 
never  be  cemented  by  the  blood  of  its 
citizens  shed  in  civil  war.  If  it  cannot 
live  in  the  affections  of  the  people,  it 
must  one  day  perish.  Congress  possess- 
es many  means  of  preserving  it  by  con- 
ciliation ;  but  the  sword  was  not  placed 
in  their  hands  to  preserve  it  by  force." 

The  policy  of  President  Buchanan 
is  fully  indicated  in  these  passages  of  his 
Message.  We  see  him  in  the  toils  of  a 
position  in  which  he  is  apparently  inex- 
tricably involved,  the  peril  of  which  he 
beholds,  but  from  which  he  has  not  the 
strength,  or  hardly  the  hope,  to  escape. 
He  saw  the  dissolution  of  the  States 
more  than  threatened  by  the  course  of 
South  Carolina  ;  aud  knowing  the  char- 
acter of  the  men  who  were  the  authors 
of  that  revolt,  and  their  motives,  must 
have  felt  that  the  ruin,  if  unchecked, 
would  be  fully  accomplished.  He  pro- 
claimed the  fatal  result  of  disunion  in  a 
body  of  "petty,  jarring,  and  hostile  re- 
publics "  and  told  his  countrymen  and  the 
world  at  the  same  time,  in  effect,  that 
the  cause  was  hopeless.  You  may  par- 
ley with  the  evil,  says  he,  but  if,  as  is 
not  unlikely,  it  will  not  be  reasoned  with, 
you  cannot  meet  it  with  force.  The 
practical  inconsistency  of  the  President's 
position  was  at  once,  on  the  delivery  of 
the  Message,  pointed  out  by  a  Southern 
Senator,  an  advocate  of  the  Secession 
pretences,  Clingman  of  North  Carolina. 
Why,  said  he,  in  effect,  if  you  treat  a 
seceded  State  as  sovereign  in  one  way, 
do  you  still  insist  upon  collecting  taxes 
and  levying  tribute  from  her,  a  proceed- 
ing intolerabk  to  any  foreign  state? 
The  embarrassment  arose  from  talking 
of  the  rebel  States  as  such,  and  not  of 


32 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


the  rebellious  people  within  them,  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  pledged  to 
and  answerable  to  her  authority.  The 
assumption  involved  in  the  phrase,  "  co- 
ercion of  a  State,"  was  the  cause  of  much 
unnecessary  difficulty. 

Jefferson  Davis,  also,  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate,  rebuked  the  diplomatic  un- 
certainty of  the  paper.  It  was,  in  his 
view,  neither  one  thing  nor  the  other, 
neither  fish  nor  flesh,  a  kind  of  political 
medley, —  a  Federal  head  ill  assorted 
with  a  State  Eights  tail.  "  It  had,"  said 
he,  "all  the  characteristics  of  a  diplo- 
matic paper,  for  diplomacy  is  said  to  ab- 
hor certainty,  as  nature  abhors  a  vacu- 
um ;  and  it  was  not  within  the  power 
of  man  to  reach  any  fixed  conclusion 
from  that  Message.  When  the  country 
was  agitated,  when  opinions  were  being 
formed,  when  we  were  drifting  beyond 
the  power  evei  to  return,  this  was  not 
what  we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  the 
Chief  Magistrate.  One  policy  or  the 
other  he  ought  to  have  taken.  If  a  Fed- 
eralist, if  believing  this  to  be  a  govern- 
ment of  force,  if  believing  it  to  be  a  con- 
solidated mass  and  not  a  confederation 
of  States,  he  should  have  said  :  No  State 
has  a  right  to  secede  ;  every  State  is 
subordinate  to  the  Federal  Government, 
and  the  Federal  Government  must  em- 
power me  with  physical  means  to  reduce 
to  subjugation  the  States  asserting  such 
a  right.  •  If  not,  if  a  State  Rights  man 
and  a  Democrat,  as  it  has  been  for  many 
years  my  pride  to  acknowledge  our  ven- 
erable Chief  Magistrate  to  be,  then  an- 
other line  of  policy  should  have  been 
taken.  The  Constitution  gave  no  power 
to  the  Federal  Government  to  coerce  a 
State  ;  the  Constitution  gave  an  army  for 
the  purposes  of  common  defence,  and  to 
domestic  tranquillity  ;  but  the 


Constitution  never  contemplated  using 
that  army  against  a  State.  A  State  ex- 
ercising the  sovereign  functions  of  Seces- 
sion is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Federal 
Government,  unless  we  woo  her  with  the 
voice  of  fraternity,  and  bring  her  back  to 
the  enticements  of  affection.  He  should 
have  brought  his  opinion  to  one  conclu- 
sion or  another,  and  to-day  our  country 
would  have  been  safer  than  it  is."* 

No  public  document  ever  fell  more 
heavily  on  the  ear  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  friends  of  our 
National  Union  throughout  the  world, 
than  this  Message.  At  a  moment  when, 
if  ever,  strength  and  resolution  were 
needed  in  the  Executive,  he  voluntarily 
came  forward  to  announce  the  weakness 
of  his  position.  The  lame  and  impotent 
conclusion  was  utterly  at  war  with  the 
premises.  If  there  could  be  no  destruc- 
tion, there  surely  ought  to  be  preser- 
vation. If  the  body  could  not  die,  it 
certainly  was  entitled  to  live.  If  the 
States  ought  not  to  go,  and  yet  would 
go,  they  should  be  made  to  stay.  Why, 
it  might  have  been  asked,  should  that 
Constitution,  founded  by  the  wisdom  of 
our  ancestors,  firmly  knit  in  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people,  well  adapted  to 
maintain  their  common  interests,  pre- 
servative of  principles  of  society  and 
government  —  the  beneficent  fruits  of 
which  we  were  just  beginning  to  en- 
joy— be  so  tamely  relinquished  ?  Jack- 
son, when  a  similar  question  arose  in 
his  administration,  took  no  counsel 
from  parliamentary  fears,  but  actively 
employed  the  means  at  hand  to  stay  the 
evil.  It  was  not  his  humor  to  present 
to  his  countrymen  a  scene  of  disaster, 
and  tell  them  they  had  no  means  of  es- 

*  Speech  of  Jefferson  Davis  on  the  State  of  the  Union, 
in  the  Senate,  January  10,  :861. 


TEMPORIZING  POLICY. 


caping  from  it.  He  took  care  that  the 
Southern  forts  should  be  well  manned, 
and  that  the  navy  should  be  on  hand  to 
protect  the  national  property  and  inter- 
ests. He,  in  the  spirit  of  his  military 
policy  at  New  Orleans,  went  forth  to 
meet  the  enemy  on  the  road,  knowing 
that  when  he  was  once  seated  and  estab- 
lished in  our  territory,  the  work  of  ex- 
pulsion would  be  a  thousand-fold  more 
difficult.  Mr.  Buchanan,  when  it  came 
to  his  turn  to  act,  mildly  announced,  with 
an  uncertainty  strongly  indicative  of  his 
convictions, —  "It  is  not  believed  that 
any  attempt  will  be  made  to  expel  the 
United  States  from  this  property  (the 
forts,  arsenals,  etc.,  in  South  Carolina) 
by  force  ;  but  if  in  this  I  should  prove 
to  be  mistaken,  the  officer  in  command 
of  the  forts  has  received  orders  to  act" 
strictly  on  the  defensive.  In  such  a  con- 
tingency, the  responsibility  for  conse- 
quences would  rightfully  rest  upon  the 
heads  of  the  assailants."  To  act  on 
the  defensive  with  the  interpretation 
given  to  the  word  by  President  Bu- 
chanan's Administration,  was,  in  fact, 
not  to  act  at  all  ;  for  it  was  a  policy 
which  suffered  the  enemy  to  grow  so 
powerful  in  his  means  of  assault,  that 
any  adequate  action,  as  was  proved 
at  Sumter,  would,  for  a  time,  become 
impossible.  Not  to  protect  the  public 
property,  was  to  lose  it.  Every  hour's 
inaction  was  a  premium  on  rebellion. 

It  is  but  justice,  however,  to  say,  that 
whatever  weakness  was  displayed  by 
President  Buchanan — and  nothing  could 
well  be  more  culpable  than  weakness  of 
any  kind  or  degree  in  the  Executive  in 
such  an  emergency — yet  that  he  appar- 
ently had  some  hopes  of  a  peaceful  ad- 
justment of  all  difficulties  by  a  resort  to 
the  remedy  offered  in  extreme  cases  by 
5 


the  Constitution.  He  recommended  an 
"Explanatory  Amendment"  of  that  in- 
strument to  be  made  in  due  form,  origi- 
nating either  with  Congress  or  the  State 
Legislatures,  which  should  be  confined 
to  the  final  settlement  of  the  true  con- 
struction of  the  Constitution  on  three 
special  points,  namely:  "an  express 
recognition  of  the  right  of  property  in 
slaves  in  the  States  where  it  now  exists 
or  may  hereafter  exist ;  the  duty  of 
protecting  this  Tight  in  all  the  common 
territories  throughout  their  territorial 
existence,  and  until  they  shall  be  admit- 
ted as.  States  into  the  Union,  with  or 
without  slavery,  as  their  Constitutions 
wmay  prescribe  ;  a  like  recognition  of  the 
right  of  the  master  to  have  his  slave, 
who  has  escaped  from  one  State  to  an- 
other, restored  and  '  delivered  up '  to 
him,  and  of  the  validity  of  the  fugitive 
slave  law  enacted  for  this  purpose,  to- 
gether with  a  declaration,  that  all  State 
laws  impairing  or  defeating  this  right, 
are  violations  of  the  Constitution,  and 
are  consequently  null  and  void.  Such 
an  Explanatory  Amendment  (he  added) 
would,  it  is  believed,  forever  terminate 
the  existing  dissensions,  and  restore 
peace  and  harmony  among  the  States." 
The  Convention  of  South  Carolina  met 
according  to  appointment,  on  the  17th 
of  December,  at  Columbia,  but  the  small 
pox  prevailing  there,  was  immediately 
adjourned  to  Charleston,  where  it  held 
its  sessions  in  Institute  Hall.  General 
D.  F.  Jamison,  a  gentleman  of  intelligence 
and  literary  cultivation,  from  the  Barn- 
well  District,  was  chosen  President. 
"  We  have  entered,"  said  he,  in  taking 
his  seat,  "on  a  great  work,  and  God, 
who  holds  in  his  hands  the  destinies  of 
nations,  only  knows  what  may  be  the  re- 
sults." 


34 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


Though  meeting  but  a  fortnight  after 
the  delivery  of  President  Buchanan's 
Message,  the  Convention  did  not  appear 
at  all  governed  in  its  deliberations  by 
the  conciliatory  terms  of  that  remarkable 
document.  The  neglect  was  not  compli- 
mentary to  the  politician  whom  Southern 
votes  had  raised  to  power,  and  who  was 
now  destined  to  experience  the  ingrati- 
tude of  the  party  which  he  had  served 
but  too  devotedly.  The  last  months  in 
office  of  James  Buchanan  t^ach  a  lesson 
which  should  not  be  lost  upon  rising 
politicians.  It  is,  that  subservience  to 
party  may  secure  a  position  for  a  time, 
but  that,  of  all  tyrannies  and  exactions, 
its  unfeeling  despotism  is  the  most  insup- 
portable. When  its  end  is  gained,  and 
new  servants  are  needed  for  other  pur- 
poses, the  old  are  thrown  away,  neglected 
and  despised.  But  to  the  true  patriot 
who  sees  only  his  country  and  her  just 
cause,  the  statesman  superior  to  party, 
there  is  no  termination  of  his  honorable 
career  but  with  life.  Washington  was 
never  out  of  office  in  the  thoughts  and 
affections  of  his  countrymen  ;  nor  were 
Marshall,  Webster,  Jackson,  and  Henry 
Clay,  who  thought  it  better  to  be  right 
than  President. 

Two  da^s  after  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention,  the  act  of  secession  was 
passed  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  its  One 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  members.  It 
was  entitled  "An  Ordinance  to  dissolve 
the  union  between  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  and  other  States  united  with 
her  under  the  compact  entitled  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  of  Ameri- 
ca," and  in  a  single  sentence,  pretending 
to  repeal  the  solemn  acts  adopting  and 
ratifying  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  declared  the  separation  : — "We, 
the  people  of  South  Carolina,  in  Conven- 


tion assembled,  do  declare  and  ordain, 
and  it  is  hereby  declared  and  ordained, 
that  the  Ordinance  adopted  by  us  in  Con- 
vention, on  the  23d  day  of  May,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1788,  whereby  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  of 
America  was  ratified,  and  also  all  acts 
and  parts  of  acts  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  this  State  ratifying  amend- 
ments of  the  said  Constitution,  are  here- 
by repealed,  and  that  the  Union  now 
subsisting  between  South  Carolina  and 
other  States,  under  the  name  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  is  hereby 
dissolved." 

The  Ordinance  was  accompanied  by  a 
"Declaration  of  Causes  which  induced 
the  secession."  In  this  the  public  was 
treated  to  a  brief  disquisition  on  the 
doctrine  of  State  Rights,  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  being  regarded 
as  a  compact  between  independent  pow- 
ers which  might  be  broken  up  by  any 
one  of  the  partners,  on  the  failure  of 
any  other  to  fulfil  his  obligations,  the 
aggrieved  party  being  entitled  to  deter- 
mine for  himself  "  the  fact  of  failure 
with  all  its  consequences."  In  accord- 
ance with  this  convenient  principle,  ut- 
terly ignoring  the  powers  of  Congress, 
the  uses  of  the  Executive,  and  the  judg- 
ments of  the  Supreme  Court,  South 
Carolina,  deciding  the  case  for  herself, 
proceeded  to  arraign  no  less  than  four- 
teen of  the  States  for  their  "  deliberate 
refusal  for  years  past  to  fulfil  their  Con- 
stitutional obligations."  Having  proved 
to  her  own  satisfaction,  that  the  Fugitive 
Slave  clause  in  the  fourth  article  of  the 
Constitution  had  been  thus  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  violated,  she  pronounced 
this  summary  judgment:  "Thus  the 
Constitutional  compact  has  been  delib- 
erately broken  and  disregarded  by  the 


APPEALS   OF  SOUTH   CAROLINA. 


non-slaveholding  States  ;  and  the  conse- 
quence follows,  that  South  Carolina  is 
released  from  her  obligation."  Having 
by  this  easy  demonstration  argued  her- 
self out  of  the  Union,  this  free  and  in- 
dependent State  condescended  to  a  fur- 
ther enumeration  of  grievances,  all  of 
which,  it  is  noticeable,  related  to  this  one 
topic  of  interference,  real  or  supposed, 
with  slavery.  Among  other  points  of 
this  nature,  it  was  asserted  that  a  geo- 
graphical line  had  been  drawn  across  the 
Union,  and  all  the  States  north  of  that 
line  have  been  united  in  the  election  of 
a  man  to  the  high  office  of  President  of 
the  United  States,  whose  opinions  and 
purposes  are  hostile  to  Slavery."  To 
this  was  added,  without  any  show  of 
proof,  "  He  is  to  be  intrusted  with  the 
administration  of  the  common  Govern- 
ment, because  he  has  declared  that  that 
'  government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave,  half  free/  and  that  the  public 
mind  must  rest  in  the  belief  that  slavery 
is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction. 
.  .  On  the  4th  of  March  next,  this  party 
will  take- possession  of  the  government. 
It  has  announced  that  the  South  shall  be 
excluded  from  the  common  territory, 
that  the  judicial  tribunal  shall  be  made 
sectional,  and  that  a  war  must  be  waged 
against  slavery  until  it  shall  cease 
throughout  the  United  States."  To  this 
extraordinary  statement,  which  if  it  had 
been  true,  it  is  needless  to  say,  would 
have  rendered  the  success  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  impossible,  was  added  the 
still  more  startling  declaration,  fact  it 
was  called,  "that  the  public  opinion  at 
the  Forth  has  invested  a  great  political 
eiror  with  the  sanctions  of  a  more  erro- 
neous religious  belief." 

From  this  document  then  it  appears 
that  the  only  ostensible  reasons  thought 


to  be  worth  giving  to  the  world  in  a 
Declaration  of  Independence  by  South 
Carolina  were  that  an  interference  with 
the  sacred  institution  of  slavery  by  the 
Republican  party  was  to  be  dreaded.  In 
vain  had  she  just  been  told  by  President 
Buchanan  that  the  fugitive  slave  law  had 
always  been  maintained  and  that  the  new 
President,  even  if  he  desired  to  do  so, 
would  be  unable  to  rule  contrary  to  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution. 

Another  document,  however,  an  "Ad- 
dress to  tbf>  People  of  the  Slaveholding 
States/'  was  put  forth  by  the  Convention, 
at  the  same  time,  which  varied  somewhat 
the  grounds  of  appeal.     It  dwelt  upon 
the  resemblance  between  the  present  po- 
sition of  the  Southern  States  towards  the 
Government  at  Washington  and  that  of 
the  colonies  toward  Great  Britain  at  the 
period   of  the   War    of  Independence. 
With  an  unparalleled  hardihood  of  as- 
sertion it  maintained  that  the  Constitu- 
tion being  overthrown,  the  government 
of  the  United  States  was  "  no  longer  a 
free  government  but  a  despotism  ;"  that 
the  Northern  majority  in  Congress  control- 
ling Southern  interests  was  in  effect  the 
same  with  the  ancient  no-representation 
in  Parliament ;  that  the  taxation  of  that 
body  found  its  parallel  in  the  tariffs  of 
our  own  day,  and  as  Great  Britain  would 
have  expended  the  sums  which  she  pro- 
posed to  exact,  at  home,  so  the  South  was 
impoverished   by  paying   duties   which 
were  lavished  upon  the  North  ;  in  fact, 
that  the  cities  of  the  South  were  "  pro- 
vincialized" under  the  operation.     The 
dangers  to  the  institution  of  slavery  in 
the  States  were  then  insisted  upon  as  in- 
evitably flowing  from  the  will  of  a  peo- 
ple who  thought  then  selves  bound  to 
exclude  it,  if  possible,  from  the  virgin 
soil  of  the  Territories.    "  If,"  was  the  ar- 


36 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


gument,  "African  slavery  in  the  South- 
ern States  be  the  evil  their  political 
combinations  affirm  it  to  be,  the  requisi- 
tions of  an  inexorable  logic  must  lead 
tLem  to  emancipation."  On  such  gra- 
tuitous suppositions,  in  advance  of  any 
acts  of  aggression,  while  the  Government 
was  subservient  to  their  policy  and  the 
Supreme  Court  was  pronouncing  its  decis- 
ions in  their  favor,  it  was  thought  fitting 
to  declare  : — "  We  but  imitate  the  policy 
of  our  fathers  in  dissolving  a  Union  with 
nonslaveholding  confederates,  and  seek- 
ing a  confederation  with  slaveholding 
States." 

That  there  might  be  no  doubt  of  the 
principles  upon,  which  the  secession  was 
organized,  the  demand  for  sympathy  was 
enforced  with  the  appeal  "to  be  one  of 
a  great  slaveholding  confederacy  stretch- 
ing its  arms  over  a  territory  larger  than 
any  power  in  Europe  possesses."  Nor 
was  this  urged  as  a  simple  concession  to 
a  state  of  things  already  existing, — some- 
thing to  be  accepted  of  necessity ;  but 
that  state  was  put  forward  as  a  ground 
of  glory  and  rejoicing.  Comparing  the 
enforced  servitude  of  the  South  with  the 
free  labor  of  other  countries,  preference 
was  given  to  the  former.  As  a  clear  in- 
dication of  an  important  element  in  the 
future  struggle,  which  subsequently  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  President  Lincoln 
in  one  of  his  Messages,  we  give  the  very 
words  of  the  passage  in  the  South  Caro- 
lina Address  : — "  We  rejoice  that  other 
nations  should  be  satisfied  with  their  in- 
stitutions. Self-complacency  is  a  great 
element  of  happiness  with  nations  as 
with  individuals.  We  are  satisfied  with 
ours.  If  they  prefer  a  system  of  indus- 
try in  which  capital  and  labor  are  in  per- 


petual conflict — and  chronic  starvation 
keeps  down  the  natural  increase  of  pop- 
ulation— and  a  man  is  worked  out  in 
eight  years — and  the  law  ordains  that 
children  shall  be  worked  only  ten  hour? 
a  day — and  the  sabre  and  bayonet  are 
the  instruments  of  order — be  it  so.  It  is 
their  affair,  not  ours.  We  prefer,  how- 
ever, our  system  of  industry,  by  which 
labor  and  capital  are  identified  in  inter- 
est, and  capital,  therefore,  protects  labor, 
by  which  our  population  doubles  every 
twenty  years  ;  by  which  starvation  is  un- 
known and  abundance  crowns  the  land  ; 
by  which  order  is  preserved  by  an  un- 
paid police  and  the  most  fertile  regions 
of  the  world,  where  the  Caucasian  cannot 
labor,  are  brought  into  usefulness  by  the 
labor  of  the  African,  and  the  whole  world 
is  blessed  by  our  own  productions. 
All  we  demand  of  other  people  is  to  be 
let  alone  to  work  out  our  own  high  des- 
tinies. United  together,  and  we  must  be 
the  most  independent  as  we  are  the  most 
important  amongst  the  nations  of  the 
world.  United  together,  and  we  require 
no  other  instrument  to  conquer  peace 
than  our  beneficent  productions.  United 
together,  and  we  must  be  a  great,  free, 
and  prosperous  people,  whose  renown 
must  spread  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  and  pass  down,  we  trust,  to  the 
remotest  ages."  With  a  renewal  of  the 
appeal  thus  flippantly  and  confidently 
sent  forth  the  address  ended  : — "  We 
ask  you  to  join  us  in  framing  a  confed- 
eracy of  slaveholding  States."  The  South, 
subduing  all  interests  to  one  devouring 
passion,  were  acting  under  the  impulse 
of  the  "  inexorable  logic"  which  they  fan- 
cied was  driving  on  to  "the  inevitable 
conflict"  the  people  of  the  North. 


CHAPTER    III. 


PRELIMINARIES    TO     8UMTER. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA  thus  placed  herself  at 
the  head  and  front  of  the  rebellion. 
Many  months  afterward,  her  Governor 
Pickens  in  one  of  his  messages  proudly 
asserted  the  fact.  "  From  the  20th  of 
December  last,"  said  he,  "  until  the  9th 
of  February,  this  State  acted  alone.  She 
was  entirely  separate  and  independent."* 
That  interval  between  the  declaration 
of  independence  by  South  Carolina,  arid 
the  organization  of  the  rebel  Confederacy 
at  Montgomery,  was  by  no  means  lost  to 
the  cause  of  revolt.  It  was  filled  with  a 
series  of  uniform,  resolute  acts  of  aggres- 
sion, and  preparation  for  an  impending 
conflict. 

The  Convention  of  South  Carolina 
assumed  for  the  State  the  powers  of  the 
General  Government,  taking  under  its 
control  the  management  of  the  custom 
house  and  collection  of  the  revenue,  the 
judicial  authority  of  the  United  States, 
made  treason  to  the  new  rule  punishable 
with  death,  regulated  the  appointment 
and  reception  of  foreign  ambassadors, 
and  in  general  began  to  provide  for  all 
the  acts  of  independent  sovereignty. 
The  military  property  of  the  General 
Government  at  Charleston,  the  forts  in 
the  harbor  and  the  arsenal  were  already, 
by  an  arrangement  or  understanding  be- 
tween the  Congressional  Representatives 
of  the  State  and  the  Secretary  of  "War 
at  Washington,  and  the  President,  virtu- 


*  Message  to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  South  Carolina.    Charleston  Courier,  November  6, 1861. 


ally  in  the  safe  keeping  and  at  the  mercy 
of  the  South  Carolinians.  An  agree- 
ment had  been  made,  under  pretence  of 
giving  time  for  adjustment  and  reconcili- 
ation of  difficulties,  by  which  the  forts 
were  not  to  be  attacked  or  molested  by 
the  one  party,  nor  reinforced  by  the 
other.  The  effect  of  this  was,  that  a 
handful  of  United  States  soldiers,  two 
partly-filled  companies  of  artillerymen, 
under  the  command  of  Major  Robert 
Anderson  of  Kentucky,  an  officer  who 
had  served  with  distinction  in  the  Mexi- 
can war,  at  Vera  Cruz,  at  El  Molina  dol 
Rey,  at  Chapultepec,  kept  feeble  guard 
of  Fort  Moultrie,  while  an  ever-increas- 
ing force  of  rebels,  as  the  conspiracy 
gained  strength,  threatened  them  on  all 
sides.  It  was  a  policy  which  was  far 
from  being  understood  or  appreciated  at 
the  North.  Constantly  was  it  asked  by 
the  people,  in  view  of  the  impending 
danger,  "Why  are  not  the  forts  fully  occu- 
pied ?  Why  is  not  a  sufficient  naval 
guard  in  the  harbor  ?  When  the  subject 
was  discussed  in  the  Cabinet  on  the  13th 
of  December,  and  decided  against  the 
reinforcement  of  Fort  Moultrie,  General 
Cass,  unable  longer  to  endure  the  post- 
ponement of  patriotic  duty,  resigned  his 
office  of  Secretary  of  State. 

Meanwhile  the  work  of  disorganization 
was  proceeding  in  the  cotton  States  with 
rapidity.  The  familiarity  of  the  people 
with  the  machinery  of  conventions,  and 
all  the  subsidiary  forms  of  political  ac- 


38 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


tion,  assisted  them  greatly  in  the  enter- 
prise. At  short  notice  they  were  every- 
where ready  to  meet  and  resolve,  assume 
to  themselves  all  the  prerogatives  of  leg- 
islation, pronounce  their  decrees,  and 
extemporise  a  new  form  of  government. 
Accustomed  to  their  separate  State  jur- 
isdiction, there  was  little  to  shock  the 
habitual  feelings  of  the  people,  in  setting 
up  a  parliamentary  authority  arrogating 
to  itself  the  powers  belonging  only  to  the 
United  States.  The  very  simplicity  and 
perfection  of  the  government  was  thus 
turned  to  its  destruction.  At  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  Governors  and  State  legisla- 
tures, conventions  were  called  to  take 
what  action  they  thought  necessary. 
Elections  were  held  and  delegates  ap- 
pointed. Their  deliberations  in  all 
cases  ended  in  the  resolve  of  separation. 
Before  the  close  of  January  five  States, 
in  addition  to  South  Carolina,  had  thus 
formally  seceded  from  the  Union  in  the 
following  order :  Mississippi  on  the  9th 
of  January,  Florida  and  Alabama  on  the 
llth,  Georgia  on  the  19th,  Louisiana  on 
the  26th.  On  the  1st  of  February,  Texas 
was  added  to  the  number.  The  laws  and 
ordinances  binding  these  several  States 
to  the  General  Government  were  repeal- 
ed ;  the  obligations  of  the  people  to  ob- 
serve the  same  were  withdrawn ;  the 
State  was  pronounced  henceforth  free, 
sovereign,  and  independent. 

As  a  sequence  of  these  pronunciamen- 
tos,  the  public  property  of  the  United 
States  was  taken  possession  of.  Forts 
and  arsenals,  with  their  supplies  of  am- 
munition, were  seized  in  all  quarters.  By 
concert  with  Floyd  of  Virginia,  the  Sec- 
retary of  War  at  Washington,  and 
through  the  inaction  of  the  President, 
the  forte  in  Charleston  harbor,  as  we 
have  stared,  were  left  at  the  command  of 


the  rebels.  It  was  not  to  be  expected, 
however,  that  they  could  long  remain  in 
that  position.  The  South  Carolina  Con- 
vention, shortly  after  its  assembling,  had 
sent  commissioners  to  Washington  to 
treat  for  their  delivery  or  surrender, — 
an  unparalleled  act  of  effrontery  in  face 
of  the  obligations  of  the  State  to  the 
Union,  and  the  express  declaration  of  the 
President  in  his  Message,  that  he  would 
discharge  the  duty  imposed  upon  him  by 
his  oath  of  office  in  the  protection  of  the 
public  property. 

The  exact  terms  of  this  extraordi- 
nary commission  of  the  sovereign  State 
are  worthy  of  remembrance  as  a  curios- 
ity in  diplomacy.  They  authorized  am 
empowered  the  embassadors,  "  to  treat 
with  the  government  of  the  United  States 
for  the  delivery  of  the  forts,  magazines 
light-houses,  and  other  real  estate  with 
their  appurtenances,  in  the  limits  of 
South  Carolina  ;  and  also  for  an  appor- 
tionment of  the  public  debt,  and  for  a 
division  of  all  other  property  held  by 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  as 
agent  of  the  Confederated  States,  of 
which  South  Carolina  was  recently  a 
member,  and  generally  to  negotiate  as  to 
all  other  measures  and  arrangements 
proper  to  be  made  and  adopted  in  the 
existing  relation  of  the  parties,  and  for 
the  continuance  of  peace  and  amity 
between  this  Commonwealth  and  the 
Government  at  Washington."  The 
Commissioners  to  carry  this  decree  into 
effect,  Messrs.  R.  W.  Barnwell,  J.  H. 
Adams,  and  James  L.  Orr  arrived  in 
Washington  on  the  26th  of  December. 
On  the  night  of  that  very  day,  before 
they  had  opportunity  to  open  communica- 
tion with  the  President,  an  act  took  place 
at  Charleston  which  materially  affected 
the  conditions  of  their  embassy. 


FROM   MOULTRIE  TO   SUMTER. 


39 


Major  Anderson,  at  Fort  Moultrie,  rest- 
ive under  the  threats  of  the  people  of 
Charleston,  in  his  comparatively  defence- 
less position,  which  he  had  in  vain  en- 
deavored to  make  tenable,  and  which  he 
felt,  assured,  from  the  menacing  prepara- 
tions for  assault  around  him,  could  not 
probably  be  held  for  more  than  forty- 
eight  or  sixty  hours  longer,  resolved  to 
remove  his  command  to  the  more  secure 
protection  of  Fort  Sumter,  in  the  harbor. 
Accordingly,  under  cover  of  the  night, 
having  spiked  his  larger  guns  and  burnt 
the  carriages,  by  the  aid  of  the  boats  of 
the  garrison,  he  transported  his  little 
force,  with  the  exception  of  a  nominal 
guard  left  behind,  to  the  new  position. 
He  also  carried  with  him  the  stores  of 
provision  and  ammunition. 

A  letter  written  from  Fort  Moultrie  a 
fortnight  before,  by  the  wife  of  one  of 
the  officers  of  the  garrison,  which  was 
published  in  the  Northern  papers,  with 
no  little  effect  upon  public  opinion  at  the 
time,  will  exhibit  the  perils  to  which  the 
post  was  exposed,  the  spirit  of  its  de- 
fenders, and  a  woman's  just  appreciation 
of  the  shortcomings  of  the  government. 
"I  feel  too  indignant,"  was  its  language, 
— "  I  can  hardly  stand  the  way  in  which 
this  weak  little  garrison  is  treated  by  the 
head  of  the  government.  Troops  and 
proper  accommodation  are  positively  re- 
fused, and  yet  the  commander  has  orders 
to  hold  and  defend  the  fort.  Was  ever 
such  a  sacrifice — an  intentional  one — 
known  ?  The  Secretary  has  sent  several 
officers,  at  different  times,  to  inspect  here, 
as  if  that  helped.  It  is  a  mere  sham  to 
make  believe  he  will  do  something.  In 
the  mean  time,  a  crisis  is  very  near.  I 
am  to  go  to  Charleston  the  first  of  the 
week.  I  will  not  go  further  if  I  can  help 
it.  Within  a  few  days,  we  hear — and 


from  so  many  sources  that  we  cannot 
doubt  it — that  the  Chaiiestonians  are 
erecting  two  batteries,  one  just  opposite 
us,  at  a  little  village — Mount  Pleasant— 
and  another  on  this  end  of  the  island 
and  they  dare  the  commander  to  inter- 
fere while  they  are  getting  ready  to  fight 
sixty  men.  In  this  weak  little  fort,  I 
suppose  President  Buchanan  and  Secre- 
tary Floyd  intend  the  Southern  Con- 
federation to  be  cemented  with  the  blood 
of  this  brave  little  garrison.  Their 
names  shall  be  handed  down  to  the  end 
of  time.  When  the  last  man  is  shot 
down,  I  presume  they  will  think  of  send- 
ing troops.  The  soldiers  here  deserve 
great  credit,  though  they  know  not  but 
that  an  unequal  number  is  coming  to 
massacre  them,  yet  they  are  in  good 
spirits,  and  will  fight  desperately.  Our 
commander  says  he  never  saw  such  a 
brave  little  band.  I  feel  desperately 
myself.  Our  only  hope  is  in  God." 

Such  was  the  character  of  the  neglect- 
ed handful  of  men  at  Fort  Moultrie  and 
their  gallant  officer,  who,  with  a  full  con- 
sciousness of  their  imperiled  position, 
stealthily  removed  themselves  to  Fort 
Sumter.  in  the  hope  that  the  government 
yet  would  be  roused  to  aid  them.  The 
spirit  in  which  this  was  done,  the  sober 
sense  of  duty,  the  religious  conscientious- 
ness which  bound  the  commanding  offi- 
cer, Major  Anderson,  to  his  country,  may 
be  gathered  from  many  incidental  ex- 
pressions in  his  correspondence  —  in 
Avhich,  at  the  same  time,  he  showed  him- 
self sensibly  touched  by  all  proper  con- 
siderations of  friendship  and  humanity 
—but  especially  from  a  solemn  act  of 
devotion  at  the  raising  of  the  flag  in 
Fort  Sumter.  It  was  the  national  stan- 
dard which  he  had  brought  with  him 
from  Moultrie.  At  noon,  on  the  day  fol- 


40 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


lowing  his  entry  of  the  place,  he  caused 
the  whole  of  the  small  garrison,  and  the 
laborers  who  were  employed  at  the  fort 
to  assemble  in  the  area  within,  around 
the  flag-staff.  "  The  national  ensign  was 
attached  to  the  cord,  and  Major  Ander- 
son, holding  tht?  end  of  the  lines  in  his 
hands,  knelt  reverently  down.  The  offi- 
cers, soldiers  and  men  clustered  around, 
many  of  them  on  their  knees,  all  deeply 
impressed  with  the  solemnity  of  the 
scene.  The  chaplain  made  an  earnest 
prayer — such  an  appeal  for  support,  en- 
couragement and  mercy  as  one  would 
make  who  felt  that  '  man's  extremity  is 
(rod's  opportunity.'  As  the  earnest, 
solemn  words  of  the  speaker  ceased,  and 
the  men  responded  Amen,  with  a  fer- 
vency that,  perhaps,  they  had  never  be- 
fore experienced,  Major  Anderson  drew 
the  '  Star  Spangled  Banner '  up  to  the 
top  of  the  staff,  the  band  broke  out  with 
the  national  air  of  '  Hail  Columbia,'  and 
loud  and  exultant  cheers,  repeated  again 
and  again,  were  given  by  the  officers, 
soldiers  and  workmen." 

The  people  of  Charleston,  disappointed 
of  their  easy  prey,  were  greatly  excited 
at  the  occupation  of  Sumter.  The  State 
authorities  immediately  entered  the  de- 
serted Moultrie,  took  possession  also  of 
Fort  Pinckney,  which  had  no  force  to 
offer  resistance,  and  seized  the  Govern- 
ment offices  in  the  city.  News  of  these 
transactions  at  once  reached  Washing- 
ton by  telegraph.  The  South  Carolina 
Commissioners  in  exercise  of  their  ex- 
traordinary authority  immediately  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  President  in 
which,  after  announcing  that  the  State 
had  "resumed  the  powers  she  delegated 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
and  declared  her  perfect  sovereignty  and 
independence,"  they  stated  that  it  would 


have  been  their  duty  to  enter  upon  a  ne- 
gotiation in  reference  to  "all  such  ques- 
tions as  are  necessarily  raised  by  the 
adoption  of  the  Ordinance,"  with  a  view 
to  an  amicable  adjustment,  but  that  the 
events  of  the  last  twenty-four  hours  had 
made  such  assurance  impossible.  "  We 
came  here,"  said  they,  "  the  representa- 
tives of  an  authority  which  could  at  any 
time  within  the  past  sixty  days,  have  ta- 
ken possession  of  the  forts  in  Charleston 
harbor,  but  which,  upon  pledges  given  in 
a  manner  which  we  cannot  doubt,  deter- 
mined to  trust  to  your  honor  rather  than 
to  its  own  power."  In  conclusion,  they 
urged  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  the 
troops  from  the  harbor. 

To  this  request  the  President  calmly 
replied  by  reminding  the  Commissioners 
of  the  language  of  his  Message  in  re- 
gard to  his  resolution  to  defend  the 
property  of  the  United  States  in  South 
Carolina,  and  setting  forth  the  nature  of 
the  alleged  agreement  or  pledges,  which 
he  represented  as  little,  if  anything,  more 
than  the  mutual  expression  of  a  desire 
that  nothing  should  be  done  in  the  way 
either  of  attack  on  the  one  side  or  rein- 
forcements on  the  other,  till  time  was 
given  for  reflection.  From  the  written 
memorandum  which  he  presented  of  the 
South  Carolina  Members  of  Congress,  the 
mediators  in  this  affair,  it  appeared  that 
they,  at  least,  had  promised  nothing, 
only  "  expressed  their  strong  convictions 
that  neither  the  constituted  authorities, 
nor  any  body  of  the  people  of  the  State 
of  South  Carolina,  will  either  attack  or 
molest  the  United  States  forts  in  the  har- 
bor of  Charleston,  previously  to  the  act 
of  the  Convention,  and  we  hope  and  be- 
lieve not  until  an  offer  has  been  made 
through  an  accredited  representative,  to 
negotiate  for  an  amicable  arrangement  of 


THE   PRESIDENT   SPEAKS. 


41 


all  matters  between  the  State  and  the 
Federal  Government,  provided  that  no 
reinforcements  shall  be  sent  into  those 
forts,  and  their  relative  military  status 
shall  remain  as  at  present."* 

The  signers  of  the  memorandum,  in 
fact,  could  hardly  have  asked  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  to  bind  the 
Government  to  inaction  while  the  uncer- 
tain forbearance  of  the  other  side  might 
be  terminated  at  any  moment  by  a  hos- 
tile act  of  the  Convention.  "It  is  well 
known,"  says  the  President  "that  it  was 
my  determination,  and  this  I  freely  ex- 
pressed, not  to  reinforce  the  forts  in  the 
harbor  and  thus  produce  a  collision,  un- 
til they  had  been  actually  attacked,  or 
until  I  had  certain  evidence  that  they 
were  about  to  be  attacked."  He  then  re- 
cited the  instructions  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment to  Major  Anderson,  which  required 
him  to  hold  possession  of  the  forts  in  the 
harbor,  and  if  attacked  defend  himself  to 
the  last  extremity,  while  it  was  left  to 
his  discretion,  in  case  of  an  attack  or 
"tangible  evidence  of  a  design  to  pro- 
ceed to  a  hostile  act,"  to  put  his  command 
into  any  one  of  the  forts  which  he  might 
think  best  adapted  to  increase  its  power 
of  resistance.  Under  these  circumstan- 
ces, said  the  President,  Major  Anderson, 
as  "  a  brave  and  honorable  officer  should 
not  be  condemned  without  a  fair  hear- 
ing.'' 

The  President  however,  would  even 
then  have  been  disposed,  in  spite  of  dis- 
couragements to  such  a  course,  to  recall 
Major  Anderson  from  Sumter  to  Moul- 
trie.  '  My  first  promptings,"  he  wrote, 
"  were  to  command  him  to  return  to  his 
former  position,  and  there  to  await  the 
contingencies  presented  in  his  instruc- 

*  Messrs.  McQueen,  Bonham,  Boyce  and  Keitt  to  Presi- 
dent Buchanan,  Washington,  December  9,  1860. 
fi 


tions.  This  would  only  have  been  done 
with  any  degree  of  safety  to  the  com- 
mand by  the  concurrence  of  the  South 
Carolina  authorities.  But  before  any 
step  could  possibly  have  been  taken  in 
this  direction,  we  received  information 
that  the  '  Palmetto  flag  floated  out  to  the 
breeze  at  Castle  Pinckney,  and  a  large 
military  force  went  over  last  night  (the 
27th)  to  Eort  Moultrie.'  Thus  the  au- 
thorities of  South  Carolina,  without  wait- 
ing or  asking  for  any  explanations,  and 
doubtless  believing,  as  you  have  express- 
ed it,  that  the  officer  had  acted  not  only 
without  but  against  my  orders,  on  the 
very  next  day  after  the  night  when  the 
removal  was  made,  seized  by  a  military 
force  two  of  the  Federal  forts  in  the  har- 
bor of  Charleston,  and  have  covered 
them  under  their  own  flag  instead  of  that 
of  the  United  States.  At  this  gloomy 
period  of  our  history,  startling  events 
succeed  each  other  rapidly.  On  the  very 
day,  the  27th  instant,  that  possession  of 
these  two  forts  was  taken,  the  Palmetto 
flag  was  raised  over  the  Federal  Custom- 
house and  Post-office  in  Charles*  n  ;  and 
on  the  same  day  every  officer  of  the 
Customs — Collector,  Naval  Officer,  Sur- 
veyor and  Appraiser  —  resigned  their 
offices.  And  this,  although  it  was  well 
known  from  the  language  of  my  Message 
that,  as  an  executive  officer,  I  felt  myself 
bound  to  collect  the  revenue  at  the  port 
of  Charleston,  under  the  existing  laws. 
In  the  harbor  of  Charleston  we  now  find 
three  forts  confronting  each  other,  over 
all  of  which  the  Federal  flag  floated  only 
four  days  ago  ;  but  now,  over  two  of 
them,  this  flag  has  been  supplanted,  and 
the  Palmetto  flag  has  been  substituted  in 
its  stead." 

The   President  was    touched   to   the 
quick,   and   would    be   trifled   with   no 


42 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


longer.  "It  is  under  all  these  circum- 
stances," said  he,  "  that  I  am  urged  im- 
mediately to  withdraw  the  troops  from 
the  harbor  of  Charleston,  and  am  in- 
formed, that  without  this  negotiation  is 
impossible.  Thi#  I  cannot  do — this  I 
will  not  do.  Such  an  idea  was  never 
thought  of  by  me  in  any  possible  con- 
tingency. At  this  point  of  writing,"  he 
adds,  in  a  concluding  paragraph,  ".I 
have  received  information  by  telegraph 
from  Captain  Humphreys,  in  command 
of  the  arsenal  at  Charleston,  that  '  it  has 
to-day  (Sunday,  the  30th)  been  taken  by 
force  of  arms.7  It  is  estimated  that  the 
munitions  of  war  belonging  to  this  ar- 
senal are  worth  half  a  million  of  dollars. 
Comment  is  needless.  After  this  informa- 
tion, I  have  only  to  add,  that  whilst  it  is 
my  duty  to  defend  Fort  Sumter,  as  a 
portion  of  the  public  property  of  the 
United  States,  against '  hostile  attacks, 
from  whatever  quarter  they  may  come, 
by  such  means  as  I  may  possess  for  this 
purpose,  I  do  not  perceive  how  such  a 
defence  can  be  construed  into  a  menace 
against  the  city  of  Charleston."* 

This  spirited  reply,  which  certainly 
appears  the  most  moderate  which  could 
have  been  presented  under  the  circum- 
stances, was  met  by  a  second  letter  from 
the  commissioners,  d\\  elling  in  no  friendly 
mood  upon  various  concessions  already 
made  by  the  President  in  reference  to 
the  forts,  and  seeking  to  entangle  him  in 
a  breach  of  good  faith  in  his  present  dec- 
larations. As  a  specimen  of  its  temper, 
we  present  a  few  sentences  where  the 
President  is  most  ungratefully  upbraided 
with  an  enumeration  of  the  favors  he  had 
already  yielded — as  if,  because  he  had 
given  so  much,  he  was  to  yield  every- 

*  President  Buchanan  to  Messrs.  Barnwell,  Adams  and 
Orr.  December  3ft  1 860. 


thing.  "  Some  weeks  ago,"  wrote  these 
unfeeling  and  insatiate  remonstrants, 
"  the  State  of  South  Carolina  declared 
her  intention,  in  the  existing  condition  of 
public  affairs,  to  secede  from  the  United 
States.  She  called  a  Convention  of  her 
people  to  put  her  declaration  in  force. 
The  Convention  met  and  passed  the  Or- 
dinance of  Secession.  All  this  you  an- 
ticipated, and  your  course  of  action  was 
thoroughly  considered  in  your  Annual 
Message.  You  declared  you  had  no  right, 
and  would  not  attempt,  to  coerce  a  se- 
ceding State,  but  that  you  were  bound 
by  your  constitutional  oath,  and  would 
defend  the  property  of  the  United  States 
within  the  borders  of  South  Carolina,  if 
an  attempt  was  made  to  take  it  by  force. 
Seeing  very  early  that  this  question  of 
property  was  a  difficult  and  delicate  one, 
you  manifested  a  desire  to  settle  it  with- 
out collision.  You  did  riot  reinforce  the 
garrison  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston.  You 
removed  a  distinguished  and  veteran  offi- 
cer from  the  command  of  Fort  Moultrie 
because  he  attempted  to  increase  his  sup- 
ply of  ammunition.  You  refused  to  send 
additional  troops  to  the  same  garrison 
when  applied  for  by  the  officer  appointed 
to  succeed  him.  You  accepted  the  re- 
signation of  the  oldest  and  most  eminent 
member  of  your  Cabinet,  rather  than 
allow  the  garrison  to  be  strengthened, 
You  compelled  an  officer  stationed  at 
Fort  Sumter  to  return  immediately  to  the 
arsenal  forty  muskets  which  he  had  ta- 
ken to  arm  his  men.  .  .  .  You  have  de- 
cided, you  have  resolved  to  hold  by  force 
what  you  have  obtained  through  our  mis- 
placed confidence  ;  and  by  refusing  to  dis- 
avow the  act  of  Major  Anderson  have 
converted  his  violation  of  orders  into  a 
legitimate  act  of  your  executive  author- 
ity. Be  the  issue  what  it  may,  of  this 


THE  RETIREMENT   OF  FLOYD. 


43 


we  are  assured,  that,  if  Fort  Moultrie 
has  been  recorded  in  history  as  a  me- 
morial of  Carolina  gallantry,  Fort  Sum- 
ter  will  live  upon  the  succeeding  page  as 
an  imperishable  testimony  of  Carolina 
faith.  By  your  course,  you  have  proba- 
bly rendered  civil  war  inevitable.  Be  it 
so.  If  you  choose  to  force  this  issue  upon 
us,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  will  ac- 
cept it,  and  relying  upon  Him  who  is  the 
God  of  Justice  as  well  as  the  God  of 
Hosts,  will  endeavor  to  perform  the  great 
duty  which  lies  before  her  hopefully, 
bravely,  and  thoroughly."*  The  let- 
ter was  returned  with  the  endorsement, 
"This  paper  just  presented  to  the  Presi- 
dent is  of  such  a  character  that  he  de- 
clines to  receive  it."  The  President  of 
the  United  States  had  spoken  at  last. 
The  mission  of  the  South  Carolina  Com- 
missioners was  at  an  end. 

Simultaneously  with  this  correspon- 
dence, the  Hon.  John  B.  Floyd,  Secre- 
tary of  War,  on  the  27th  of  December, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Cabinet,  read  to 
the  President  a  paper  denouncing  the  re- 
mova1  fh>ra  Moultrie  by  Major  Anderson, 
as  a  violat'on  of  "  the  solemn  pledges  of 
the  Government,"  which  had  left  "  but 
one  remedy  to  vindicate  our  honor  and 
prevent  civil  war,  and  that  is,  to  with- 
draw the  garrison  from  the  harbor  of 
Charleston."  Two  days  after,  he  fol- 
lowed this  up  by  another  communication 
to  the  President,  in  which  he  stated,  that 
the  refusal  or  even  the  delay  of.  the  Gov- 
ernment "  to  place  affairs  back  as  they 
stood  under  our  agreement,  invites  a  col- 
lision, and  must  inevitably  inaugurate 
civil  war;"  that  he  could  not  "consent 
to  be  the  agent  of  such  a  calamity,"  and 
that  he  was,  therefore,  under  the  neces- 

*  Messrs    Barn  will,  Adams  and  Orr  to  President  Bu- 
clianau,  Washington  January  1,  1861. 


sity  of  tendering  his  resignation  as  Sec- 
retary of  War,  "  because  I  can  no  loagei 
hold  it  under  my  convictions  of  patriot- 
ism, nor  with  honor,  subjected  as  I  am  to 
a  violation  of  solemn  pledges  and  plighted 
faith."  To  this,  President  Buchanan  re- 
plied briefly  and  coolly  on  the  31st: — 
"My  dear  Sir,  I  have  received  and  ac- 
cepted your  resignation  of  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  Wrar  ;  and  not  wishing  to 
impose  upon  you  the  task  of  performing 
its  mere  routine  duties,  which  you  have 
so  kindly  offered  to  do,  I  have  author- 
ized Postmaster-General  Holt  to  admin- 
ister the  affairs  of  the  Department  until 
your  successor  shall  be  appointed." 

The  change  was  accepted  by  the  pub- 
lic with  the  profoundest  satisfaction.  It 
was,  indeed,  high  time  for  Mr.  Floyd  to 
depart,  and  a  citizen  of  unquestioned 
loyalty  and  honor  to  be  put  in  his  place. 
His  fidelity  to  the  Government  was 
doubted,  and  there  were  various  unpleas- 
ant suspicions  afloat  of  his  participation 
hi  certain  transactions,  recently  brought 
to  light,  of  enormous  army  acceptances, 
connected  with  which  an  immense  sum 
of  government  securities  in  State  Stocks 
had  been  feloniously  withdrawn  from  the 
Department  of  the  Interior.  So  strong 
ran  the  current  against  him,  that  a  pre- 
sentment was  shortly  after  made  by  the 
Grand  Jury  of  the  city  of  Washington, 
charging  him  with  maladministration  in 
office,  complicity  in  the  abstraction  of  the 
bonds,  and  conspiracy  against  the  Gov- 
ernment. A  few  days  before  hig  depar- 
ture from  the  War  Department,  he  ad- 
dressed a  communication  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  offering  an  explana- 
tion of  his  course  in  reference  to  the  ac- 
ceptances. The  letter  was  referred  to  a 
committee,  which,  after  a  careful  investi- 
gation of  the  circumstances,  pointed  out 


44 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


"the  recklessness  of  his  official  conduct, 
his  inattention,  and  the  ignorance  of  the 
details  of  his  affairs,"  and  characterized 
his  conduct  as  "not  to  be  reconciled 
with  purity  of  private  motives  and  faith- 
fulness to  public  trusts."* 

Under  these  circumstances,  Secretary 
Floyd  immediately  left  for  Virginia,  to 
re-appear  in  due  time  upon  the  public 
stage  as  a  brigadier-general  of  the  army 
of  the  so-called  Confederate  States  of 
America.  It  was  then  mentioned  with 
peculiar  satisfaction  in  Richmond  that, 
by  a  single  order,  made  in  his  last  year 
of  office  as  Secretary  of  War,  he  had 
transferred  one  hundred  and  fifteen  thou- 
sand improved  muskets  and  rifles  from 
the  Springfield  armory  and  Watervleit 
arsenal,  to  five  depositories  at  the  South.f 
All  of  them  were,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
seized  by  the  State  authorities  at  the 
opening  of  the  Rebellion. 

The  departure  of  Floyd  was  not  the 
first  important  change  in  President  Bu- 
chanan's Cabinet.  Howell  Cobb,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a  politician  .of 
the  Southern  school,  took  leave  of  the 
President  shortly  after  the  opening  of 
Congress.  He  had  accomplished  his  work 
at  Washington  though  he  had  failed  in 
his  department.  An  empty  treasury  and 
depreciated  public  funds  were  his  legacy 
to  his  successor.  He  turned  from  his  seat 
fa  the  government  to  agitate  rebellion  in 
his  native  State  of  Georgia.  He  was 
succeeded  for  a  time  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Patents,  Mr.  Philip  F.  Thomas,  of 
Maryland.  General  Cass,  as  we  have 
seen,  moved  to  sadness  at  the  prospects 
of  the  times,  left  the  Cabinet  a  few  days 

*  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  appointed  to  investi- 
gate the  frauds  in  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  February  12,  1861. 

•j-  Richmond  Examiner,  cited  in  the  New  York  Evening 
Pn*i.  May  15,  1861. 


after  Mr.  Cobb,  from  very  different  mo- 
tives, when  his  place  was  taken  by  the  At- 
torney-General, Mr.  Jeremiah  S.  Black, 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  vacant  Attorney- 
Generalship  was  then  conferred  on  an- 
other citizen  of  that  State,  Mr.  Edwin  M. 
Stanton,  a  man  of  energy  in  his  profession 
of  the  law,  and  a  zealous  patriot  of  whom 
we  shall  hear  much  hereafter  under  an- 
other dispensation. 

In  a  special  Message,-  on  the  8th  of 
January, — a  day  to  recall  the  memory 
of  a  previous  Executive  who  scented 
treason  from  afar,  and  who  never  hesi- 
tated in  the  performance  of  duty, — • 
President  Buchanan  briefly  reviewed 
the  condition  of  affairs,  and  urged  upon 
Congress  the  necessity  of  prompt  inter- 
position to  avert  the  threatened  calami- 
ties. He  pictured  the  state  of  the  coun- 
try, its  gloom  and  despondency,  the 
paralysis  which  had  fallen  upon  trade 
and  commerce,  the  universal  depreciation 
of  property,  and  the  rapid  decline  of  the 
credit  of  the  public  securities.  These 
evils  he  justly  attributed  to  the  suscep- 
tibility or  exposure  of  the  State  to  the 
threatened  danger  from  within.  "  In  a 
government  organized  like  ours,"  said 
he,  "domestic  strife,  or  even  a  well- 
grounded  fear  of  civil  hostilities,  is  more 
destructive  to  our  public  and  private  in- 
terests than  the  most  formidable  foreign 
war."  Recurring  to  his  late  Annual 
Message,  he  reiterated  his  convictions  of 
the  inadequate  pretensions  made  for  se- 
cession, and  again  declared  his  inability 
to  acknowledge  the  independence  claimed 
for  any  State  under  its  assumptions.  Of 
the  war-making  power,  he  said,  "I  cer- 
tainly had  no  right  to  make  aggressive 
war  upon  any  State  ,  and  I  am  perfectly 
satisfied  that  the  Constitution  has  wisely 
withheld  that  power  even  from  Congress. 


J  hueou-i'iy  &  Cx3.  Riblisliers.  UewVcVrfc 


PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN'S  MESSAGE. 


45 


But  the  right  and  the  duty  to  use  military 
force  defensively  against  those  who  resist 
the  Federal  officers  in  the  execution  of 
their  legal  functions,  and  against  those 
who  assail  the  property  of  the  Federal 
Government,  is  clear  and  undeniable." 
Recognizing  the  magnitude  of  the  evils 
which  threatened  the  state — for  "  the 
fact,"  said  he,  "cannot  be  disguised  that 
we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  great  revolu- 
tion"—he  appealed  to  Congress,  and 
cast  the  entire  responsibility  of  action 
upon  that  body.  "  The  Union,"  was  his 
language  in  words  worthy  of  the  occa- 
sion, and  the  sentiment,  though  familiar, 
cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  "  is  a  sa- 
cred trust,  left  by  our  revolutionary 
fathers  to  their  descendants  ;  and  never 
did  any  other  people  inherit  so  rich  a 
legacy.  It  has  rendered  us  prosperous 
in  peace  and  triumphant  in  war.  The 
national  flag  has  floated  in  glory  over 
every  sea.  Under  its  shadow  American 
citizens  have  found  protection  and  respect 
in  alMands  beneath  the  sun.  If  we  de- 
scend to  considerations  of  purely  mate- 
rial interest,  when,  in  the  history  of  all 
time,  has  a  confederacy  been  bound  to- 
gether by  such  strong  ties  of  mutual 
interest?  Each  portion  of  it  is  depen- 
dent on  all,  and  all  upon  each  portion, 
for  prosperity  and  domestic  security. 
Free  trade  throughout  the  whole  supplies 
the  wants  of  one  portion  from  the  pro- 
ductions of  another,  and  scatters  wealth 
everywhere.  The  great  planting  and 
farming  States  require  the  aid  of  the 
commercial  and  navigating  States,  to 
send  their  productions  to  domestic  and 
foreign  markets,  and  to  furnish  the  naval 
power  to  render  their  transportation  se- 
cure against  all  hostile  attacks." 

He  turns,  then,  to  the  disappointment 
of  these  obvious  provisions  of  the  bene- 


ficence of  nature  and  Providence  in  the 
threatened  destruction  of  the  govern- 
ment. "The  calamity,"  said  he,  "would 
be  severe  in  every  portion  of  the  Union, 
and  would  be  quite  as  great,  to  say  the 
least,  in  the  Southern  as  in  the  Northern 
States  ; "  adding, — what  was  of  the  ut- 
most value  as  the  testimony  of  an  un- 
questionable witness  in  the  case  about  to 
be  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the 
world — "  The  greatest  aggravation  of  the 
evil  is,  as  I  am  firmly  convinced,  that 
the  secession  movement  has  been  chiefly 
based  upon  a  misapprehension  at  the 
South  of  the  sentiments  of  the  majority 
in  several  of  the  Northern  States."  He 
urged  peaceful  but  decided  action,  and 
advised  that  the  questions  at  issue  should 
be  "transferred  from  political  assemblies 
to  the  ballot  box,"  that  the  people  them- 
selves might  redress  the  grievances  which 
the  South  had  suffered.  ' '  I  appeal  through 
you,"  he  said  to  Congress,  "to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  country  to  declare-  in  their 
might  that  the  Union  must  and  shall  be 
preserved  by  all  constitutional  means." 
In  furtherance  of  this  end,  he  recom- 
mended the  compromise  line  which  had 
been  proposed,  as  though,  perhaps,  not 
entirely  satisfactory,  yet  to  be  pre- 
ferred by  "  the  patriotism  of  Congress  " 
to  the  destruction  of  the  Union.  After 
vindicating  the  action  of  Major  Ander- 
son in  transferring  his  command  from 
Moultrie  to  Sumter,  and  promising  to 
preserve  peace  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, concerning  which  there  was  now  a 
growing  uneasiness,  he  said:  "In  con- 
clusion, it  may  be  permitted  to  me  to 
remark,  that  I  have  often  warned  my 
countrymen  of  the  dangers  which  now 
surround  us.  This  may  be  the  last  time 
I  shall  refer  to  the  subject  officially.  I 
feel  that  my  duty  has  been  faithfully, 


48 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


returned,  "  I  refuse  to  obey  the  order.' 
Upon  this,  Jones  telegraphed  to  Secre- 
tary Dix  for  further  instructions.     The 
answer  sent  by  telegraph,  ordered  the 
arrest  of  Breshwood,  with  this  pithy  in- 
junction : — "If  any  one  attempts  to  haul 
down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  the 
spot."    The  message  did  not  at  once  reach 
its  destination  ;  it  was  intercepted  at  the 
telegraph  offices  of  the  South,  and  was 
too  late  to  oe  put  in  execution.     But  it 
did  not  fail  in  another  direction.     It  was 
accepted  as  the  first  energetic  utterance 
of  the  powers  of  government,  and  was 
echoed  by  thousands  of  tongues,  glad  to 
give  voice  to  one  burst  of  indignant  feel- 
ing at  the  gross  and  repeated  insults  to 
the  national  ensign.     The  few  emphatic 
words  were  not  forgotten  by  the  public. 
They  helped  to  make  Secretary  Dix,  Ma- 
jor-General of  the  United  States  armies. 
The  people  wanted  a  watchword,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  prevailing  despondency, 
were  thankful  that  it  proceeded  from  a 
high  officer  of  the  Government. 

The  deliberate  act  of  hostility  and  as- 
sault upon  the  national  flag,  in  the  attack 
upon  the  Star  of  the  West,  strange  to 
say,  was  attended  with  no  immediate 
important  consequences,  though  it  no 
doubt  had  its  influence  in  bringing  the 
public  mind  toward  the  conclusion,  that 
the  rebellion  was  something  more  than  a 
wordy  altercation  to  be  settled  at  leisure 
by  conventions,  resolutions,  and  debates. 
The  Administration,  indeed,  and  the  peo- 
ple of  the  North  generally,  were  reluct- 
ant to  accept  any  other  than  a  peaceful 
interpretation  of  whatever  might  occur. 
Had  they  not  been  indisposed  to  admit 
an  unfriendly  conclusion,  the  assault  on 
the  Star  of  the  West  would  in  its  effects 
have  anticipated  that  on  Sumter.  Cer- 
tainly, nothing  was  wanting  in  it  of  in- 


jury and  defiance  on  the  part  of  the 
South  Carolinians. 

In  spite  of  the  deliberate  avowal  by 
Governor  Pickens  of  the  firing  on  the 
Star  of  the  West,  Major  Anderson,  from 
humane  and  kindly  motives,  with  the  hope 
of  the  so  long-deferred  interposition  of 
peaceful  counsels,  still  hesitated,  unwill- 
ing to  assume  the  responsibility  which 
his  judgment  dictated,  and  pursue  the 
course  which  he  had  marked  out  for  him- 
self. Eesolving  to  seek  further  instruc- 
tion from  the  Government,  he  asked  and 
obtained  from  Governor  Pickens  his  con- 
sent to  the  passage  of  Lieutenant  Talbot, 
an  officer  of  the  garrison,  on  the  errand. 
The  messenger  was  permitted  to  depart, 
and  only  two  days  afterward,  before  he 
could  return,  on  the  llth  of  January, 
a  formal  application  was  made  by  Gov- 
ernor Pickens  to  Major  Anderson  for  the 
surrender  of  the  fort.  This;  of  course, 
he  refused,  but  again  expressed  his  de- 
sire to  refer  the  matter  to  Washington. 

Governor  Pickens,  in  consequence,  im- 
mediately deputed  the  Hon.  J.  W 
Hayne,  Attorney-General  of  the  State, 
to  proceed  to  the  National  Capital  as  the 
bearer  of  a  letter  to  the  President,  in 
which  he  renewed  the  demand  for  the 
surrender.  "  The  demand,"  was  its  lan- 
guage, "  I  have  made  of  Major  Anderson 
and  which  I  now  make  of  you,  is  sug- 
gested because  of  my  earnest  desire  to 
avoid  the  bloodshed  which  a  persistance 
in  your  attempt  to  retain  the  possession 
of  that  fort  will  cause,  and  which  will  be 
unavailing  to  secure  you  that  possession, 

t  induce  a  calamity  most  deeply  to  be 
deplored."*  An  interval  of  about  three 
weeks  occurred  after  Colonel  Hayne 's 
arrival  in  Washington,  while  an  effort 


Governor  Pickens  to  President  Buchanan,  January  11, 


1861. 


SEIZURE   OF  FORTS. 


49 


was  made  by  certain  Southern  Senators, 
including  Davis,  Wigfall,  Slidell,  and 
others,  to  prolong  the  negotiation,  when 
the  answer  of  the  Government  was  giv- 
en, through  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr. 
Holt,  to  the  final  demand,  which  was 
somewhat  modified  by  an  offer  on  the 
part  of  South  Carolina  to  purchase  Sum- 
ter  and  its  contents  as  property  of  the 
United  States,  with  the  alternative  of 
taking  it  by  force  in  case  this  novel  ne- 
gotiation were  refused.  Mr.  Holt's  reply, 
one  of  the  most  admirable  of  his  excel- 
lent State  papers,  combatted  this  strange 
proposition,  pointed  out  its  inadmissible 
character,  and  while  it  asserted  his  re- 
solve to  maintain  the  fort  in  its  present 
position,  and  make  every  effort,  if  the 
occasion  arose — for  it  was  now  repre- 
sented by  Major  Anderson  that  he  stood 
in  no  need  of  immediate  aid — to  reinforce 
it  also,  renewed  the  President's  declara- 
tions of  his  pacific  policy  and  intentions. 
"If,"  was  its  conclusion,  "with  all  the 
multiplied  proofs  which  exist  of  the  Pres- 
ident's anxiety  for  peace,  and  of  the  ear- 
nestness with  which  he  has  pursued  it, 
the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  shall 
assault  Fort  Sumter,  and  peril  the  lives 
of  the  handful  of  brave  and  loyal  men 
shut  up  within  its  walls,  and  thus  plunge 
our  country  into  the  horrors  of  civil  war, 
then  upon  them  and  those  they  represent 
must  rest  the  responsibility."* 

Whilst  this  was  the  condition  of  affairs 
at  Sumter  and  at  Charleston,  the  public 
property  in  the  other  Southern  States 
was  also  suffering  spoliation.  Under 
plea  of  danger  from  popular  violence, 
Forts  Pulaski  and  Jackson,  the  fortifica- 
tions of  the  harbor  of  Savannah  were 
taken  possession  of  for  the  State  by  Gov- 

*  Hon.  J.  Holt  to  Hon.  J.  W.  Hayne,  War  Department, 
February  6,  1861. 

7 


ernor  Brown  on  the  3d  of  January. 
Fort  Morgan,  at  the  entrance  to  the  bay 
of  Mobile,  with  the  arsenal  and  its  sup- 
plies at  that  city,  were  similarly  occupied 
the  next  day.  Forts  Johnson  and  Cas- 
well  were  seized  by  the  State  troops  of 
North  Carolina  a  few  days  later.  On  the 
10th,  Louisiana  seized  Forts  St.  Philip 
and  Jackson  on  the  Mississippi,  and  the 
arsenal  at  Baton  Rouge.  The  Floridians 
secured  Fort  Barrancas  and  the  navy 
yard  at  Pensacola,  on  the  12th.  The 
last  day  of  the  month  the  United  States 
Mint  and  Custom-house,  at  New  Orleans, 
with  about  half  a  million  of  dollars  of 
the  public  money,  passed  by  a  bold  act 
of  confiscation,  into  the  keeping  of  the 
State.  The  arsenal  at  Little  Rock,  in 
Arkansas,  and  the  military  posts  and 
property  of  Texas,  fell  into  rebel  hands 
a  short  time  after.  The  spoliation  of  the 
Texas  forts  was  particularly  discreditable, 
since  it  was  accomplished  by  a  prominent 
officer  of  the  United  States  service. 
Brigadier-General  Twiggs,  who  had  gain- 
ed deserved  distinction  in  Mexico  under 
the  flag  of  his  country,  first  deserted  his 
troops  who  were  guarding  the  frontier, 
and  not  content  with  this  "  infamy  of 
treason  to  his  flag,  added  the  crowning 
crime  of  deliberately  handing  over  to  the 
armed  enemies  of  his  government  all  the 
public  property  intrusted  to  his  charge, 
thus  even  depriving  the  loyal  men  under 
his  command  of  all  means  of  transporta- 
tion out  of  the  State."*  The  United 
States  soldiers,  as  they  arrived  from 
their  distant  posts  at  the  seaboard,  were 
made  prisoners,  and  though  urgently 
solicited,  not  a  man  of  them  would  fol- 
low the  example  of  their  general  and 
abandon  their  allegiance  to  their  coun- 

*  Report  of   the   Secretary  of  War,  Simon  Cameron, 
July  1,  1861. 


50 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


try.  After  suffering  various  hardships, 
and  a  portion  of  them  making  an  ineffec- 
tual attempt  to  escape  by  sea,  they  were 
all  compelled  to  lay  down  their  arms. 
They  finally  gave  their  parole  and  were 
allowed  to  return  to  the  North. 

More  than  a  million  of  dollars'  worth 
of  property — mules,  horses,  wagons  and 
various  materials  of  war — was  directly 
transferred  by  General  Twiggs  to  the 
Eebel  Commissioners.  The  loss  of  the 
government  property  of  various  kinds  at 
the  forts  and  stations  in  the  State  was 
estimated  at  about  three  millions.  On 
the  1st  of  March,  one  of  the  last  few 


days  of  the  retiring  Administration,  the 
following  Order,  signed  by  Secretary 
Holt,  was  issued  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment at  Washington: — "By  the  direc- 
tion of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  it  is  ordered  that  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral David  E.  Twiggs  be,  and  is  hereby 
dismissed  from  the  army  of  the  United 
States,  for  his  treachery  to  the  flag  of 
his  country,  in  having  surrendered  on 
the  18th  of  February,  1861,  on  the  de- 
mand of  the  authorities  of  Texas,  the 
military  posts  and  other  property  of  the 
United  States  in  his  department  and 
under  his  charge  " 


CHAPTER    IY. 


SECESSION    IN     CONGRESS. 


THE  speeches  and  proceedings  of  the 
National  Congress  offered,  meanwhile,  a 
curious  reflection  of  the  disordered  state 
of  the  public  mind.  On  the  part  of  the 
Southern  members,  there  was  a  singular 
tone  of  assurance  as  to  the  progress  and 
triumph  of  the  Secession  movement.  They 
appeared  to  regard  it  from  the  first  as  an 
established  fact,  something  which  could 
neither  be  gainsayed  nor  refuted,  which 
was  proof  equally  against  argument  and 
arms,  which  they  had  but  to  assert  to 
maintain.  Looking  into  those  two  re- 
markable volumes  of  the  Congressional 
Globe  in  which  the  acts  and  debates 
of  the  session  are  recorded,  and  which 
will  be  eagerly  studied,  with  mingled 
feelings  of  sorrow  and  astonishment  by 
posterity,  to  pluck  out  the  heart  of  this 
mystery,  we  know  not  which  most  to 
wonder  at ; — the  reckless,  wanton  conduct 
of  the  secessionists,  or  the  patient  sub- 


missiveness  with  which  their  language 
was  listened  to  by  the  patriotic  members. 
Bold  assailants  of  the  nation,  the  very 
audacity  of  the  course  of  the  Southerners 
was  their  safety.  The  loyalty  of  the 
people  had  hitherto  been  so  well  pre- 
served, that  the  Government  for  a  while 
appeared  incapable  of  receiving  the  dead- 
|  ly  blow,  and  made  no  defence  against 
the  stroke. 

The .  debate  on  the  President's  Mes- 
i  sage  in  the  Senate  at  once  called  forth 
!  the  most  decided  expressions.  The  lan- 
guage of  Iverson  of  Georgia  was  suf- 
|  ficiently  direct  and  treasonable,  if  trea- 
|  son  had  been  understood.  The  right  of 
!  secession,  he  frankly  admitted,  was  not 
j  given  in  the  Constitution  either  expressly 
|  or  by  reservation  ;  it  was  simply  an  act 
|  of  revolution.  With  equal  candor,  he 
I  proclaimed  that  the  repeal  of  the  person- 
I  al  liberty  bills  of  the  North  w^uld  be  of 


A  DEFIANT  SPEECH. 


51 


no  consequence  in  stopping  the  progress 
of  disunion.  "  It  is  not  because,"  said 
he,  "  that  in  their  practical  operation 
they  ever  do  any  harm."  Nor  did  he 
look  for  any  overt  act  of  injury  upon  the 
part  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  danger  to  be 
dreaded  was  in  the  disposition  of  the 
North  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  the 
influence  which  could  be  exerted  by  the 
dominant  party  for  its  extinction.  "Why, 
sir,"  was  his  language,  "  the  power  of 
this  Federal  Government  could  be  so  ex- 
ercised against  the  institution  of  slavery 
in  the  Southern  States  as  that,  without 
an  overt  act,  the  institution  would  not 
last  ten  years.  We  know  that,  sir  ;  and 
seeing  the  storm  which  is  approaching, 
although  it  may  be  seemingly  in  the  dis- 
tance, we  are  determined  to  seek  our  own 
safety  and  security  before  it  shall  burst 
upon  us  and  overwhelm  us  with  its  fury, 
when  we  are  not  in  a  situation  to  defend 
ourselves."  This,  at  least,  was  a  candid 
admission  of  the  motives  of  the  course 
to  be  pursued. 

"  Now,  sir,"  he  added  defiantly,  "  we 
intend  to  go  out  of  this  Union.  I  speak 
what  I  believe  upon  this  floor,  that  before 
the  4th  of  March,  five  of  the  Southern 
States  at  least — "he  had  already  enume- 
rated them,  with  a  glowing  panegyric  of 
their  progress  in  secession — "  will  have 
declared  their  independence  ;  and  I  am 
satisfied  that  three  others  of  the  Cotton 
States  will  follow  as  soon  as  the  action 
of  the  people  can  be  had."  There  was 
"a  clog,"  he  admitted,  in  the  case  of 
Texas,  whose  aged  Governor  Houston 
had  shown  considerable  reluctance  so 
lightly  to  abandon  the  old  flag  ;  but  for 
that  he  had  a  remedy  in  this  classic  inti- 
mation :  "  If  he  does  not  yield  to  public 
sentiment  some  Texan  Brutue  will  arise 
to  rid  his  country  of  the  hoary-headed 


incubus  that  stands  between  the  people 
and  their  sovereign  will."  A  prompt 
and  vigorous  method,  surely,  of  expedit- 
ing the  good  work  of  secession  by  the 
assassination  of  a  governor. 

But  the  Senator  from  Georgia  said 
something  further  of  the  calculations  of 
rebellion,  of  what  it  intended,  and  upon 
what  it  relied.  "We  intend,  Mr.  Pres- 
ident," he  continued,  "to  go  out  peace- 
ably if  we  can,  forcibly  if  we  must ;  but 
I  do  not  believe  with  the  Senator  from 
New  Hampshire,  (Mr.  Hale,)  that  there 
is  going  to  be  any  war.  If  five  or  eight 
States  go  out,  they  will  necessarily  draw 
all  the  other  Southern  States  after  them. 
That  is  a  consequence  that  nothing  can 
prevent.  If  five  or  eight  States  go  out 
of  this  Union,  I  should  like  to  see  the 
man  who  would  propose  a  declaration  of 
war  against  them,  or  attempt  to  force 
them  into  obedience  to  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment at  the  point  of  the  bayonet 
or  the  sword.  If  one  State  alone  was  to 
go  out,  unsustained  by  her  sister  States, 
possibly  war  might  ensue,  and  there 
might  be  an  attempt  made  to  coerce  her, 
and  that  would  give  rise  to  civil  war  ; 
but,  sir,  South  Carolina  is  not  to  go  out 
alone.  In  my  opinion  she  will  be  sus- 
tained by  all  her  Southern  sisters.  They 
may  not  all  go  out  immediately  ;  but 
they  will  in  the  end  join  South  Carolina 
in  this  important  movement ;  and  we 
shall,  in  the  next  twelve  months,  have  a 
Confederacy  of  the  Southern  States,  and 
a  government  inaugurated  and  in  suc- 
cessful operation,  which,  in  my  opinion, 
will  be  a  government  of  the  greatest 
prosperity  and  power  the  world  has  ever 
seen."*  Such  was  the  well-calculated 
description  of  the  destruction  of  his 


*  Remarks  of  Mr.  Iverson  in  the  Senate,  December  6 
1860. 


52 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


country,  presented  to  John  C.  Brecken- 
ridge,  the  Vice  President  of  the  nation, 
in  the  chair,  and  which,  for  aught  that 
ippears  on  the  record,  was  suffered  to 
pass  without  remonstrance  or  rebuke. 

The  remarks  of  Louis  T.  Wigfall,  Sena- 
tor from  Texas,  jocosely  uttered,  were  to 
the  same  effect.  "  I  know,"  said  he, 
"  that  there  is  much  truth,  there  is  much 
philosophy  in  Dogberry's  saying,  'An 
two  men  ride  of  a  horse,  one  must  ride 
behind  ; '  and  if  we  proposed  to  remain 
in  this  Union,  we  should  undoubtedly 
submit  to  the  inauguration  of  any  man 
who  was  elected  by  a  constitutional  ma- 
jority. We  propose  nothing  of  that  sort. 
We  simply  say,  that  a  man  who  has  been 
distasteful  to  us  has  been  elected,  and  we 
choose  to  consider  that  as  a  sufficient 
ground  for  leaving  the  Union,  and  we 
intend  to  leave  the  Union.  Then,  if  you 
desire  it,  bring  us  back.  When  you  un- 
dertake that,  and  have  accomplished  it, 
you  may  be  like  the  man  who  purchased 
the  elephant — you  may  find  it  rather 
difficult  to  decide  what  to  do  with  the 
animal." 

The  House  of  Representatives  began 
the  discussions  of  the  session  in  a  more 
promising  mood.  Their  first  act,  on  the 
reception  of  the  Message  was,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Boteler,  of  Virginia.  "  to  refer  so 
much  of  it  as  related  to  the  present 
perilous  condition  of  the  country  to  a 
special  committee  of  one  from  each 
State."  By  the  side  of  this  committee 
of  thirty-three,  a  similar  committee  of 
thirteen  was  presently  appointed  in  the 
Senate,  with  the  design  of  devising  some 
plan  of  reconciliation,  to  relieve  the 
country  of  the  threatening  disunion. 
Mr.  Corwin,  of  Ohio,  was  at  the  head 
of  the  House  Committee,  which  included 
Charles  Francis  Adams  of  Massachusetts 


Nelson  of  Tennessee,  Rust  of  Arkansas, 
and  others  of  note.  Mr.  Powell  of  Ken- 
tucky, the  mover  of  the  Resolution,  pre- 
sided over  the  Senate  Committee,  of 
which,  Hunter  of  Virginia,  Crittenden 
of  Kentucky,  Seward  of  New  York, 
Toombs  of  Georgia,  Douglas  of  Illinois, 
Collamer  of  Vermont,  Jefferson  Davis 
of  Mississippi,  Wade  of  Ohio,  Bigler  of 
Pennsylvania,  Rice,  of  Minnesota,  Doo- 
little  of  Wisconsin  and  Grimes  of  Iowa, 
were  members.  To  these  committees 
various  propositions  involving  more  or 
less  of  compromise  were  referred.  They 
were  taken  into  consideration,  and  noth- 
ing came  of  them  but  further  dissatisfac- 
tion. The  Senate  Committee,  after  ten 
days'  discussion,  reported  their  inability 
to  agree  upon  any  general  plan  of  adjust- 
ment. 

The  House  Committee  held  out  longer, 
though  with  little  better  result.  After 
more  than  a  month's  anxious  deliberation, 
a  majority  report  was  submitted  by  Mr. 
Corwin,  proposing  various  recommenda- 
tions,  such  as  a  request  to  the  non-slave- 
holding  States  to  repeal  all  laws  in  con- 
flict with  the  laws  for  the  recovery  of 
fugitives,  and  on  the  other  hand,  a.  modi- 
fication of  the  fugitive  slave  law  itself; 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  deny- 
ing for  ever  to  Congress  any  power  to 
interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States  till 
every  State  in  the  Union  shall  consent 
to  its  exercise  ;  and  a  settlement  of  the 
question  of  slavery  in  the  territories  by 
at  once  admitting  New  Mexico  as  a  State 
"on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original 
States."  A  minority  report  of  Wash- 
burn  of  Wisconsin  and  Tappan  of  New 
Hampshire,  scouted  the  proposed  pallia- 
tives. "South  Carolina,"  was  its  lan- 
guage, "  is  our  '  sick  man,'  that  is  labor- 
ing under  the  influence  of  the  most 


COMPROMISE   RESOLUTIONS. 


53 


distressing  of  maladies.  A  morbid  dis- 
ease which  has  been  preying  upon  that 
State  for  a  long  series  of  years  has  at 
last  assumed  the  character  of  acute 
mania,  and  has  extended  to  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Confederacy,  and  to  think 
of  restoring  the  patient  to  health  by  the 
nostrums  proposed,  is,  in  our  judgment, 
perfectly  idle."  It  closed  with  a  resolu- 
tion, "  that  the  provisions  of  the  Consti- 
tution are  ample  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  and  the  protection  of  all  the 
material  interests  of  the  country  ;  that  it 
needs  to  be  obeyed  rather  than  amended, 
and  our  extrication  from  present  difficul- 
ties is  to  be  looked  for  in  efforts  to  pre- 
serve and  protect  the  public  property 
and  enforce  the  laws,  rather  than  in  new 
guarantees  for  particular  interests,  or 
compromises  or  concessions  to  unreason- 
able demands." 

The  most  important  or  best  known  of 
the  many  propositions  submitted  to  Con- 
gress were,  doubtless,  the  Eesolutions 
offered  by  the  venerable  Senator  Crit- 
tenden,  of  Kentucky,  who,  with  the  most 
patriotic  intentions  and  unwearied  zeal, 
sought  to  reconcile  all  differences  by  a 
comprehensive  system  of  concession  and 
compromise.  He  proposed  several  arti- 
cles of  Amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
providing  for  the  prohibition  of  slavery 
in  all  territory  north  of  the  line  36  de- 
grees 30  minutes,  and  its  protection  to 
the  south  of  that  line,  leaving  the  admis- 
sion of  all  future  new  States  out  of  any 
portion  of  the  territory,  north  or  south, 
to  be  uncontrolled  in  respect  to  the  pe- 
culiar institution  ;  denying  to  Congress 
the  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  places, 
(the  forts,  dockyards,  &c.)  under  its  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction,  and  situate  within 
the  limits  of  States  that  permit  the  holding 
of  slave?  ;  restricting  the  power  to  abol- 


ish slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
while  it  exists  in  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
or  either,  or  without  the  consent  of  the 
inhabitants  or  remuneration  to  owners  ; 
and  further,  that  Congress  shall  have  no 
power  to  prohibit  or  hinder  the  trans- 
portation of  slaves  from  one  State  to 
another,  or  to  a  Territory  in  which  slaves 
are,  by  law,  permitted  to  be  held,  whether 
that  transportation  be  by  land,  naviga- 
ble rivers,  or  by  the  sea.  By  a  fifth  ar- 
ticle, Congress  was  to  provide  for  the 
payment  to  the  owner  of  the  value  of  a 
fugitive  slave  whose  return  was  pre- 
vented by  violence  or  intimidation.  A 
sixth  article  provided  that  these  provis- 
ions should  never  be  affected  by  any 
future  amendment  of  the  Constitution. 
An  accompanying  series  of  Resolutions 
recommended  the  enforcement  of  the  ex- 
isting fugitive  slave  law,  its  improvement 
to  the  extent  of  making  the  commission- 
er's fee  equal  in  amount  in  the  cases  de- 
cided by  him,  whether  his  decision  be  in 
favor  of  or  against  the  claimant,  and  the 
repeal  by  the  States  of  the  personal  lib- 
erty bills,  and  that  the  laws  forbidding 
the  African  slave  trade,  be  made  effec- 
tual. Arguments  and  debates  were  held 
on  these  Resolutions  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  session.  Other  resolutions 
and  amendments  were  offered.  There 
were  caucuses  of  members  from  the 
Border  States  outside  of  Congress  ;  there 
were  conferences  within  ;  there  were  in- 
genious schemes  of  individuals,  by  John- 
son, in  the  Senate,  and  others.  No  less 
than  seventeen  members  of  the  House,  at 
different  times  proposed  Amendments  to 
the  Constitution,  beside  the  labors  of  the 
Committee  of  thirty-three,  and  other  sim- 
ple resolutions,  deprecating  hostilities  and 
suggesting  terms  of  adjustment  of  existing 
difficulties.  There  was  a  Peace  Con- 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


ference  of  commissioners  from  twenty- 
one  States,  sitting  at  Washington  during 
the  month  of  February.  It  was  held  at 
the  instance  of  Virginia,  and  was  presided 
over  by  Ex-President  Tyler,  who  presen- 
ted to  Congress  a  series  of  Amendments 
to  the  Constitution,  similar  to  the  Crit- 
tenden  Resolutions.  Every  form  of  guar- 
antee which  could  be  thought  of  was 
agitated,  to  assure  the  South  of  the  full 
preservation  of  its  rights  under  the  Con- 
stitution. Beyond  this,  the  majority  was 
not  willing  to  go  ;  nor  did  it  appear  that 
any  concession  which  could  be  proposed, 
would  satisfy  the  Southern  temper  which 
was  sternly  bent  on  independence,  and 
the  consequent  destruction  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

On  one  of  the  last  days  of  the  session, 
in  a  final  effort,  Mr.  Crittenden  raised 
his  voice  in  the  Senate,  "We  are  about 
to  adjourn.  We  have  done  nothing. 
Even  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
beholding  this  great  ruin  around  them, 
beholding  dismemberment  and  revolution 
going  on,  and  civil  war  threatened  as  the 
result,  have  been  able  to  do  nothing  ;  we 
have  done  absolutely  nothing.  .  .  .  This 
will  make  a  strange  sound  in  the  history 
of  Governments,  and  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  Some  are  for  coercion  ;  yet  no 
army  has  been  raised,  no  navy  has  been 
equipped.  Some  are  for  pacification  ; 
yet  they  have  been  able  to  do  nothing  ; 
the  dissent  of  their  colleagues  prevents 
them ;  and  here  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a 
falling  country,  in  the  midst  of  a  falling 
State,  presenting  to  the  eyes  of  the  world 
the  saddest  spectacle  it  has  ever  seen. 
Cato  is  represented  by  Addison  as  a 
worthy  spectacle,  '  a  great  man  falling 
with  a  falling  State  ;'  but  he  fell  strug- 
gling. We  fall  with  the  ignominy  on  our 
heads  of  doing  nothing,  like  the  man  who 


stands  by  and  sees  his  house  in  flames, 
and  says  to  himself,  'perhaps  the  fire 
will  stop  before  it  consumes  all/  "* 

At  last,  at  the  end  of  the  term,  a  few 
propositions  were  passed  by  which  noth- 
ing essential  was  yielded  or  conceded. 
The  Corwin  resolutions  were  stripped  of 
their  important  provision  of  a  perma- 
nent boundary  line  for  the  protection  of 
Slavery  ;  and  Mjc.  Crittenden's  Resolu- 
tions were  lost  in  the  Senate  by  a  single 
vote.  All,  in  fact,  that  could  be  ob- 
tained from  the  Senate  or  the  House, 
was  a  recommendation  to  the  States  that 
the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  should  be 
respected,  and  the  laws  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  observed.  In  consonance  with 
this  willingness  to  abide  by  the  existing 
terms  of  the  Constitution,  was  the  joint 
resolution  for  an  article  of  amendment  to 
that  instrument,  providing,  "  that  no 
amendment  shall  be  made  to  the  Consti- 
tution, which  will  authorize  or  give  Con- 
gress power  to  abolish  or  interfere  within 
any  State  with  the  domes-tic  institutions 
thereof,  including  that  of  persons  held  to 
labor  or  servitude  by  the  laws  of  said 
State."  The  passage  of  this  resolution 
required  a  two-thirds  vote  in  both  houses. 
It  had  the  full  number  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  two-thirds  of  those 
remaining,  not  of  the  entire  body,  of  the 
Senate.  It  was  decided,  however,  that 
the  vote  of  the  latter  was  sufficient,  so 
that  when  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the 
legislatures  of  tho  several  States,  the 
amendment  will  be  part  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

The  patience,  "  the  melancholy  assi- 
duity," as  it  was  subsequently  character- 
ized by  Mr.  Everett,  with  which  these 
topics  were  discussed  by  the  loyal  mem- 
bers, in  face  of  the  startling  evidences  of 

*  Speech  in  the  Senate,  March  2,  1861.       2»b 


J dim. B on .'Eiy  &  Co.TiitbaherH.KewYork  . 

£nter+tf.    ^.-.terdi*.  VfiS  AJ2  1S€3  Sy    Jchnscn.  fij  i  v<*.     *r-    tk£  cfatcy    yfftfr  rn 


LUGUBRIOUS  FAREWELLS. 


have  been  between  us,  to  whom  I  cannot 
now  say,  in  the  presence  of  my  God,  I 
wish  you  well ;  and  such,  I  am  sure,  is 
the  feeling  of  the  people  whom  I  repre- 
sent towards  those  whom  you  represent. 
I  therefore  feel  that  I  but  express  their 
desire  when  I  say  I  hope,  and  they  hope, 
for  peaceful  relations  with  you,  though 
we  must  part.  They  may  be  mutually 
beneficial  to  us  in  the  future,  as  they 
have  been  in  the  past,  if  you  so  will  it. 
The  reverse  may  bring  disaster  on  every 
portion  of  the  country ;  and  if  you  will 
have  it  thus,  we  will  invoke  the  God  of 
our  fathers,  who  delivered  them  from  the 
power  of  the  lion,  to  protect  us  from  the 
ravages  of  the  bear  ;  and  thus,  putting 
our  trust  in  God,  and  in  our  own  firm 
hearts  and  strong  arms,  we  will  vindi- 
cate the  right  as  best  we  may."  And 
with  such  words  as  these  on  his  lips, 
with  his  hand  on  the  doors  of  the  closed 
temple  of  Janus,  in  the  very  act  of  let- 
ting loose  upon  a  continent  the  unutter- 
able woes  and  sufferings  of  civil  war, 
this  plotter  and  accomplisher  of  sedition 
walked  forth  in  peace  from  the  sacred 
precincts  of  the  capitol,  and  made  his 
way  in  safety,  unchallenged,  to  perfect 
his  impious  work  in  the  banded  rebellion 
of  the  South. 

A  week  later,  Alfred  Iverson,  of  Geor- 
gia, treated  the  Senate  to  another  of 
these  lugubrious  farewells.  His  mood, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  the  opening  of  the 
session,  was  the  truculent  and  defiant. 
He  had  now  the  satisfaction,  of  looking 
upon  the  accomplishment  of  two  months 
of  treasonable  conspiracy,  of  reasserting, 
with  fullei  confidence,  the  imminent  ap- 
proach of  the  great  slaveholding  Con- 
federac}7  of  the  South.  Again  he  calcu- 
lated the  chances  of  war.  "You  may," 
he  said,  with  an  anticipation  of  coming 
8 


evils,  the  necessity  of  which  few  were 
then  disposed  to  contemplate,  even  in 
imagination,  "you  may  possibly  over- 
run us,  desolate  our  fields,  burn  our 
dwellings,  lay  our  cities  in  ruins,  murder 
our  people,  and  reduce  us  to  beggary  ; 
but  you  cannot  subdue  or  subjugate  us  to 
your  government  or  your  will.  Your 
conquest,  if  you  gain  one,  will  cost  you  a 
hundred  thousand  lives  and  more  than  a 
hundred  million  dollars.  Nay,  more,  it 
will  take  a  standing  army  of  a  hundred 
thousand  men  and  millions  of  money,  an- 
nually, to  keep  us  in  subjection.  You 
may  whip  us,  but  we  will  not  stay  whip- 
ped. We  will  rise  again  and  again  to 
vindicate  our  right  to  liberty,  and  to 
throw  off  your  oppressive  and  accursed 
yoke,  and  never  cease  the  mortal  strife 
until  our  whole  white  race  is  extinguished 
and  our  fair  land  given  over  to  desola- 
tion. You  may  have  ships  of  war  and 
we  may  have  none.  You  may  blockade 
our  ports  and  lock  up  our  commerce. 
We  can  live,  if  need  be,  without  com- 
merce. But  when  you  shut  out  our  cot- 
ton from  the  looms  of  Europe,  we  shall 
see  whether  other  nations  will  not  have 
something  to  say  and  something  to  do  on 
that  subject.  '  Cotton  is  king,'  and  it  will 
find  means  to  raise  your  blockade  and 
disperse  your  ships." 

On  the  4th  of  February,  two  other 
memorable  men,  the  representatives  of 
Louisiana,  John  Slidell  and  Judah  P. 
Benjamin,  pronounced  their  valedictories 
on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  Slidell  spoke 
in  a  plausible  vein,  of  the  course  of  the 
new  Confederacy  in  the  adjustment  of 
its  relations  with  the  government,  the  di- 
vision of  the  public  property,  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and  other 
matters  of  negotiation.  All  this  was  on 
the  presumption  of  a  peaceable  separa- 


58 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


tion.  If,  however,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  were  any  attempts  at  enforcing  the 
laws,  the  Senator,  in  the  same  easy  rheto- 
ric, sketched  the  conditions  of  that  emer- 
gency. "  You  will  find  us,"  said  he,  in  a 
careless  manner,  "  ready  to  meet  you 
with  the  outstretched  hand  of  fellowship, 
or  in  the  mailed  panoply  of  war,  as  you 
may  will  it.  Elect  between  these  alterna- 
tives." In  cool,  insulting  phraseology, 
he  travestied  the  maintenance  of  the 
government,  representing  its  acts  as  hos- 
tilities, and  pictured,  in  glowing  colors, 
the  means  of  resistance.  "  We  will  not 
permit  the  introduction  or  consumption 
of  any  of  your  manufactures  ;  every  sea 
will  swarm  with  our  volunteer  militia  of 
the  ocean,  with  the  striped  bunting  float- 
ing over  their  heads,  for  we  do  not  mean 
to  give  up  that  flag  without  a  bloody 
struggle  ;  it  is  ours  as  much  as  yours  ; 
and  although,  for  a  time,  more  stars  may 
shine  on  your  banner,  our  children,  if 
iiot  we,  will  rally  under  a  constellation 
more  numerous  and  more  resplendent 
than  yours."  Again,  danger  to  slavery 
was  put  forth.  The  election  of  Lincoln, 
the  Senator  asserted,  was  conclusive  evi- 
dence of  the  determined  hostility  of  the 
northern  masses  to  our  institutions,  and 
this  presumption  was  given  as  ".the  cause 
of  our  action." 

Senator  Benjamin  brought  his  eminent 
legal  faculty  to  the  occasion.  He  was 
argumentative  and  astute,  and  ingeniously 
presented  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  se- 
cession, as  an  element  of  strength  rather 
than  weakness.  "Nothing,  "said  he,  "can 
be  more  obvious  to  the  calm  and  candid 
observer  of  passing  events,  than  that  the 
disruption  of  the  Confederacy  has  been 
due,  in  great  measure,  not  to  the  exist- 
ence but  to  the  denial  of  this  right.  Few 
candid  men  would  refuse  to  admit  that 


the  Republicans  of  the  North  would  have 
been  checked  in  their  mad  career,  had 
they  been  convinced  of  the  existence  of 
the  right  and  the  intention  to  assert  it. 
The  very  knowledge  of  its  existence,  by 
preventing  occurrences  which  alone  could 
prompt  its  exercise,  would  have  rendered 
it  a  most  efficient  instrument  in  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  Union.  But  if  the  fact 
were  otherwise — if  all  the  teachings  of 
experience  were  reversed — better,  far 
better,  a  rope  of  sand,  aye,  the  flimsiest 
gossamer  that  ever  glistened  in  the  morn- 
ing dew,  than  chains  of  iron  and  shackles 
of  steel ;  better  the  wildest  anarchy,  with 
the  hope,  the  chance,  of  one  hour's  inspi- 
ration of  the  glorious  breath  of  freedom, 
than  ages  of  the  hopeless  bondage  and 
oppression  to  which  our  enemies  would 
reduce  us." 

Toombs  of  Georgia,  who  was  speedily 
to  be  appointed  to  a  chief  seat  in  the 
Rebel  Confederacy,  unlike  his  comrades, 
took  no  formal  leave  of  the  Senate : 
though  shortly  before  his  final  disappear- 
ance he  left  on  record  a  speech  which 
may  serve  well  enough  for  the  purpose. 
It  was  delivered  on  the  7th  of  January, 
immediately  after  a  calm,  earnest,  expos- 
tulatory  address  by  Senator  Crittenden, 
in  support  of  his  joint  resolution  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  The  tone  of  the 
Georgia  Senator  seemed  doubly  out- 
rageous by  contrast.  Bold,  truculent, 
reckless,  defiant,  extreme  in  his  demands, 
he  argued  the  territorial  question  with  a 
copy  of  the  Constitution  in  one  hand  and 
a  sword  in  the  other.  "  But,"  he  rough- 
ly exclaimed,  in  words  no  doubt  suf- 
ficiently astounding  to  the  calm,  venera- 
ble statesman  he  was  addressing,  "  no 
matter  what  may  be  our  grievances,  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Kentu  ky,  Mr. 
Crittenden,  says  we  cannot  secede.  "Well. 


SENATOR  TOOMBS. 


59 


what  can  we  do  ?  We  cannot  revolu- 
tionize. He  will  say  that  is  treason. 
What  can  we  do  ?  Submit  ?  They  say 
they  are  the  strongest  and  they  will  hang 
us.  Very  well  ;  I  suppose  we  are  to  be 
thankful  for  that  boon.  We  will  take 
that  risk  ;  we  will  stand  by  the  right ; 
we  will  take  the  Constitution  ;  we  will 
defend  it  by  the  sword  with  the  halter 
round  our  necks.  Will  that  satisfy  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  ?  You 
cannot  intimidate  my  constituents  by 
talking  to  them  about  treason.  They 
are  ready  to  fight  for  the  right  with  the 
rope  round  their  necks,  and  meet  the 
black  Republicans  and  their  allies  upon 
whatever  ground  they  may  select.  Trea- 
son !  bah  F7 

Again,  in  reference  to  Mr.  Crittenden's 
proposed  extension  of  the  line  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  "  I  am  willing," 
said  he,  "  to  take  the  proposition  of  the 
Senator  as  it  was  understood  in  commit- 
tee, putting  the  North  and  the  South  on 
the  same  ground,  prohibiting  slavery  on 
the  one  side,  acknowledging  slavery  and 
protecting  it  on  the  other,  and  applying 
that  to  all  future  acquisition,  so  that  the 
whole  continent  to  the  north  pole  shall 
be  settled  upon  the  one  rule,  and  to  the 
south  pole  under  the  other.  I  will  not 
buy  a  shameful  peace.  I  will  have  equal- 
ity or  war.  Georgia  is  on  the  war  path 
and  demands  a  full  and  final  settlement 
this  time."  The  Georgia  Senator  was 
evidently  not  in  a  proper  mood  for  ad- 
justing a  disputed  question.  In  fact  he 
had  already  prejudged  the  case,  and  cared 
little  what  heed  might  be  paid  either 
to  his  arguments  or  his  denunciations 
— for  certainly  no  sane  man  could  hope 
to  convince  a  body  of  Senators  by  hurl- 
ing his  assumptions  at  them  in  this  fash- 
ion. A  fortnight  before,  indeed,  he  had 


telegraphed  from  Washington  an  address 
to  the  people  of  Georgia,  in  which,  after 
informing  them  of  the  fate  of  certain 
propositions  which  he  had  submitted  to 
the  Committee  of  Thirteen,  he  had  open- 
ly invited  them  to  revolt.  "  I  tell  you," 
said  he  in  this  missive, — an  extraordi- 
nary paper  to  proceed  from  a  Senator 
sitting  in  his  seat  the  sworn  defender  of 
the  Constitution,  "upon  the  faith  of  a 
true  man,  that  all  further  looking  to  the 
North  for  security  for  your  constitutional 
rights  in  the  Union  should  be  instantly 
abandoned.  It  is  fraught  with  nothing 
but  ruin  to  yourselves  and  your  poster- 
ity. Secession  by  the  fourth  day  of 
March  next,  should  be  thundered  from 
tht  ballot-box,  lay  the  unanimous  vote  of 
Georgia,  on  the  second  day  of  January 
next.  Such  a  voice  will  be  your  best 
guarantee  for  liberty,  security,  tranquil- 
ity  and  glory."*  In  this  key  United 
States  Senators  pitched  their  public  cor- 
respondence in  Washington,  in  the  win- 
ter of  1860. 

The  next  that  we  hear  of  Senator 
Toombs  is  from  his  native  State  of  Geor- 
gia, not  long  after  his  speech  in  the  Sen- 
ate, when  we  find  him  engaged  in  another 
characteristic  telegraphic  correspondence. 
On  the  24th  of  January,  a  few  days  after 
the  State  had  adopted  the  Secession  Or- 
dinance, he  addressed  this  interrogatory 
from  Milledgeville,  to  His  Honor  Mayor 
Wood  at  New  York  : — "Is  it  true  that 
any  arms,  intended  for  and  consigned  to 
the  State  of  Georgia,  have  been  seized 
by  public  authorities  in  New  York? 
Your  answer  is  important  to  us  and  to 
New  York.  Answer  at  once.  R. 
Toombs."  To  which  His  Honor,  Fer- 
nando Wood,  something  more  than  apol- 

*  Address  of  Senator  Toombs  by  telegraph,  Decemhei 
23,  I860. 


60 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


ogetically  replied  :  "I  regret  to  say  vbat 
arms  intended  for  and  consigned  to  the 
State  of  Georgia,  have  been  seized  by 
the  police  of  this  State,  but  that  the  City 
of  New  York  should  in  no  way  be  made 
responsible  for  this  outrage.  As  Mayor, 
I  have  no  authority  over  the  police.  If 
I  had  the  power  I  should  summarily  pun- 
ish the  authors  of  this  illegal  and  unjus- 
tifiable seizure  of  private  property." 
The  very  day  Senator  Toombs  made  this 
indignant  inquiry,  Governor  Brown  of 
Georgia  helped  himself  to  the  property 
of  the  United  States  arsenal  at  Augusta. 
The  correspondence  is  most  curious,  as  a 
picture  of  the  time  when  people's  ideas 
at  the  North  were  as  yet  undetermined 
in  relation  to  what  constituted  treasona- 
ble communications  ;  though  few,  if  they 
had  looked  into  the  matter,  would  have 
had  much  doubt  of  the  treason. 

With  a  single  exception,  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  spared  the  uncom- 
fortable leavetakings  with  which  the 
seceders  afflicted  the  Senate.  The  mem- 
bers from  the  several  revolting  States,. in 
most  cases,  were  content  with  sending  in 
a  brief  notice  of  withdrawal,  generally 
stating  their  resolve  to  share  the  fortunes 
of  their  State  whatever  they  might  be, 
and,  in  one  or  two  instances,  adding  a 
few  words  of  courtesy  addressed  to  the 
Speaker.  The  card  or  document  was 
laid  on  the  table  without  action  or  debate. 
The  signers  disappeared  from  their  ac- 
customed seats  and  that  was  all.  What 
may  have  been  the  motive  for  this  con- 
certed silence  with  men  certainly  not 
accustomed  to  let  such  excellent  oppor- 
tunity of  airing  their  eloquence  pass  by, 
we  cannot  say.  It  may  have  been,  that 
coming  directly  from  the  people  to  the 
popular  branch  of  the  national  legisla- 
ture, they  may  have  had  some  reluctance 


unnecessarily  to  wound  the  generous 
mother  of  States  in  whose  embrace  they 
had  been  raised  to  honor.  It  may  have 
been,  that  while  they  were  willing  to  place 
their  act  upon  record  as  one  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  authority  of  their  respective 
State  governments,  they  were  loth,  in 
view  of  possible  future  reconciliation,  to 
brand  themselves  with  the  stigma  of  un- 
forced expressions  of  treason.  Or  it  may 
have  been  that  they  feared  the  temper 
of  the  House  as  less  forbearing  than  the 
courteous  indifference  of  the  Senate. 

One  of  the  retiring  members,  however, 
broke  the  silence,  Miles  Taylor,  a  repre- 
sentative from  Louisiana.  His  speech 
was  noticeable  for  its  expositions  of  the 
hopes  and  reliance  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy should  the  North  endeavor  to 
maintain  the  authority  of  the  government 
and  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  He 
spoke  particularly  of  the  dependence  of 
the  seceding  States  in  that  event  upon 
the  power  which  they  held  in  their  hands 
in  the  possession  of  cotton  ;  how  in  sup- 
plying a  consumption  in  manufactures  at 
the  North  of  eight  hundred  thousand 
bales  annually,  which  by  capital  and  in- 
dustry ensured  a  value  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  and  in 
Europe  of  nearly  three  millions  of  bales, 
expanding  in  like  manner  to  an  aggregate 
of  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  this 
staple  article  controlled  the  interests  and 
policy  of  the  great  manufacturing  States 
at  home  and  abroad.  He  looked  par- 
ticularly to  England  and  France  to  inter- 
fere in  breaking  the  threatened  blockade. 
As  he  proceeded,  he  was  more  than  once 
interrupted  by  members  who  felt  these 
minatory  intimations  as  insults  to  the 
government  which  they  were  all  alike 
pledged  by  a  solemn  oath  to  maintain. 
Francis  E.  Spinner,  from  the  Mohawk 


SPIRIT   OF  THE  SOUTH. 


61 


district  of  New  York,  chafed  at  the  lan- 
guage of  the  t-peaker,  and  would,  if  he 
had  not  been  overruled,  have  arrested 
his  speech  at  its  beginning  by  denying  a 
hearing.  "  I  think,"  said  he,  "  it  is  high 
time  to  put  a  stop  to  this  countenancing 
of  treason  in  the  halls  of  legislation." 
Later,  when  the  member  for  Louisiana, 
in  the  continuance  of  his  remarks,  had 
been  drawn  by  a  pertinent  query  of 
Daniel  E.  Sickles,  another  New  York  rep- 
resentative, into  a  defence  of  the  seizure 
of  the  public  property  by  his  State, 
Spinner  again  indignantly  interposed. 
"  I  make  a  point  of  order  upon  the  gen- 
tleman from  Louisiana.  I  want  to  know 
whether  it  is  competent  for  a  member, 
sworn  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  to  stand  upon  the  floor  of 
the  House  of  Eepresentatives  and  boldly 
avow,  advocate  and  justify  treason  to 
the  United  States,  and  to  defend  the 
stealing  of  United  States  forts,  United 
States  arsenals,  United  States  hospitals 
and  United  States  ships.  The  gentle- 
man from  Louisiana  avows,  I  believe, 
that  he  is  no  longer  a  member  of  this 
House  ;  yet  he  justifies  in  this  House  the 
spoliation  of  property  to  this  govern- 
ment. Is  it  competent  for  him  to  stand 
here  and  defend  acts  of  insult  and  dis- 
grace to  this  government  ? "  The  Chair 
indulgently  permitted  the  orator  to  go 
on.  "I  have  said,"  continued  he,  in 
words  strangely  prophetic  of  the  subse- 
quent event,  "if  the  United  States  send 
ships  to  blockade  our  ports,  and  if  the 
armies  of  the  United  States  invade  the 
soil  of  the  seceding  States,  that  would  be 
war  ;  and  that  when  the  first  blow  is 
struck,  the  spirit  of  Southern  nationality 
will  leap  from  the  hearts  of  the  Southern 
people,  '  like  Pallas  all  armed  ;'  and  that 
State  after  State  will  array  themselves 


under  her  guidance,  until  every  Southern 
State  will  be  banded  together  to  maintain 
that  independence  which  all  will  have 
declared,  and  to  vindicate  the  right  of 
their  people  to  exercise  for  themselves 
all  the  powers  of  self-government  When 
that  blow  is  struck,  gentlemen,  let  me 
tell  you,  whatever  you  may  think  to  the 
contrary,  that  the  people  of  the  State  of 
Maryland,  in  which  the  first  act  was  done 
which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  exist- 
ing government,  will  come  to  the  rescue. 
The  sons  of  Virginia,  the  mother  of 
States  and  of  statesmen,  will  come  to  the 
rescue.  And  the  children  of  Kentucky, 
the  dark  and  bloody  ground,  will  come 
to  the  rescue.  When  that  blow  is  struck, 
North  Carolina  will  awake  ;  and  from  her 
mountains  and  her  valleys  will  stream 
that  people  who  have  never  yet  failed  to 
hear  the  calls  of  duty,  or  the  demands 
of  honor.  Tennessee  will  send  forth  her 
thousands  filled  with  the  memories  of  the 
patriotic  dead  whose  remains  now  repose 
in  her  soil — the  hero  of  the  last  war — An- 
drew Jackson.  And  even  the  hardy  pion- 
eers of  Missouri,  one  of  the  younger  of 
the  sisters,  will,  like  their  own  mighty  river 
when  at  the  flood,  rush  to  the  assistance 
of  their  Southern  brethren  ;  and  then 
such  a  conflict  as  this  world  has  never 
yet  witnessed,  will  be  upon  us.  Fields 
which  are  now  filled  with  men  engaged  in 
the  employments  of  ordinary  life,  will  be 
trenched  with  the  march  of  war,  and 
every  hillside  will  be  the  scene  of  com- 
bat, and  the  streams  of  every  valley  will 
run  with  blood.  But  I  will  not  look 
upon  the  horrid  picture  which  a  swift- 
coming  future  may  but  too  soon,  per- 
haps, force  upon  the  unwilling  gaze." 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  general 
secession  drif  of  Mr.  Taylor's  remarks, 
it  might  havf  been  observed  that,  unlike 


62 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


the  virulent  representatives  of  his  State 
in  the  Senate,  he  admitted  and  even 
dwelt  upon  the  prospect  of  future  ad- 
justment. He  saw  in  the  distance  the 
Union  again  restored  under  one  flag, 
provided  constitutional  amendments  and 
changes  in  the  organic  law  should  be 
made,  "  which  will  meet  the  changes 
that  have  taken  place  in  the  situation 
of  a  portion  of  our  people,  and  in  the 
feelings  and  views  of  a  portion  of  the 
States,  and  restore  the  Union  to  the 
condition  in  which  it  was  when  it  was 
framed,  by  erecting  positive  barriers 
which  will  restrain  the  action  of  the  peo- 
ple and  of  the  departments  of  the  .Fede- 
ral Government,  within  the  boundaries 
set  to  that  action  by  the  public  sentiment 
of  the  country,  when  the  Government 
went  into  operation."*  The  speaker's 
associate  in  the  House  John  E.  Bouligny, 
declined  to  follow  the  example  of  his  col- 
league in  retiring.  He  had  received  no 
"direction  to  leave,  from  the  legislature 
of  Louisiana,  and  if  he  had,  he  would  not 
obey  it.  He  had  been  elected  by  the 
people.  If  they  recalled  him,  he  would 
go.  "  Then,  and  not  till  then,"  said  he, 
"  I  shall  resign  ;  and  after  resigning  my 
position  here,  I  shall  yet  be  a  Union  man, 
and  stand  under  the  flag  of  the  country 
which  gave  me  birth." 

In  the  midst  of  these  ill  omened  voices 
of  secession,  there  were  not  wanting  reso- 
lute words  of  good  cheer,  animated  by  a 
sense  of  duty.  It  was  the  fashion,  indeed, 
to  speak  contemptuously  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  that  was  the  tone  of  political  so- 
ciety m  Washington  at  the  time  ;  if  the 
Constitution  was  not  directly  assailable, 
it  was  despised.  Yet  good  men  and  true 
rallied  to  its  defence.  Andrew  Johnson, 

»  Remarks  of  Mr.  Taylor  ir   the  House  of  Represent^ 
thes,  February  6,  1861. 


Senator  from  Tennessee,   supported  by 
Emerson  Etheridge  in  the  House  of  Eep- 
resentatives,  did  generous  service  in  the 
cause,  reminding  the  people  that  the  re- 
gion which  had  cherished  Jackson  and 
Clay,  was  not  yet  barren  of  patriots.  He 
was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  in 
defence  of  the  beleaguered  Union.  Plant- 
ing himself  on  the  firm  basis  of  popular 
rights,  secured  by  the  national  Govern- 
ment, rights  which  he  saw  were  endan- 
gered by  the  dreams  and  pretensions  of 
the  Southern  oligarchy,  he  exclaimed,  in 
one  of  the  ablest  of  his  speeches,  "  I  have 
an  abiding  faith,  I  have  an  unshaken  con- 
fidence  in  man's   capability  to  govern 
himself.     I  will  not  give  up  this  Govern- 
ment that  is  now  called  an  experiment, 
which  some  are  prepared  to  abandon  for 
a  constitutional  monarchy.    No  !  I  intend 
to  stand  by  it,  and  I  entreat  every  man 
throughout  the  nation,  who  is  a  patriot, 
and  who  has  seen  and  is  compelled  to  ad- 
mit the  success  of  this  great  experiment, 
to  come  forward,  not  in  hteat,  not  in  fa- 
naticism, not  in  haste,  not  in  precipitancy, 
but  in  deliberation,  in  full  view  of  all 
that  is  before  us,  in  the  spirit  of  broth- 
erly love   and   fraternal   affection,   and 
rally   round  the   altar  of  our   common 
country,  and  lay  the  Constitution  upon 
it  as  our  last  libation,  and  swear  by  our 
God  and  all  that  is  sacred  and  holy,  that 
the  Constitution  shall,  be  saved  and  the 
Union  preserved."* 

Emerson  Etheridge  exhibited  the  in- 
operative character  of  the  personal  lib- 
rty  bills  of  the  North,  testified  to  the 
very  inconsiderable  losses  of  the  South 
from  fugitives,  and  warned  the  slavehold- 
ing  secessionists  of  their  condition  when 
the  Canada  line  should  be  brought  down 
to  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  His  speech  of 


Speech  on  the  state  of  the  Union,  December  19,  1860 


AN   AFFECTING  APPEAL. 


63 


the  23d  of  January,  in  which  these  and 
similar  topics  were  candidly  presented, 
was  well  calculated  to  dispel  Southern 
prejudice,  if  reason  could  have  been 
heard.  He  asked  for  time,  for  the  voice 
of  the  people,  for  the  compromises  before 
the  House,  but  should  all  these  measures 
fail,  he  said,  "  I  will  not  then  abandon  the 
Union  of  these  States  and  the  untold 
blessings  it  lavishes  upon  the  votaries  of 
civil  liberty  throughout  the  world.  I 
will  return  home  and  link  my  destinies 
with  those  who  are  ready  to  confront 
disunion."  Reviewing  the  successive  an- 
nexations to  the  country,  by  purchase 
and  conquest,  he  paused  to  contemplate 
the  boundaries  of  the  nation  as  enlarged 
to  the  Pacific  by  the  treaty  of  Guada- 
lupe  Hidalgo.  With  the  prospect  brought 
vividly  before  the  minds  of  his  hearers, 
he  exclaimed  with  powerful  effect :  "  This 
is  the  country  which  party  madness  would 
suspend  upon  the  passions  of  the  hour. 
Behold  it,  with  all  its  vast  resources,  its 
rivers  and  lakes,  its  mountains  and  min- 
eral wealth.  Though  in  its  infancy,  it  is 
greater  in  all  the  elements  of  enduring 
power  and  more  advanced  in  a  high  civ- 
ilization than  was  the  Roman  empire, 
when  her  imperial  eagles  were  hovering 
around  the  pillars  of  Hercules.  The 
hand  of  disunion  must  be  stayed.  Our 
country  must  not  perish  while  its  monu- 
ments are  yet  unfinished  and  the  soldiers 
of  the  Revolution  survive." 

Senator  Baker  of  Oregon,  a  kindred 
spirit  with  Johnson,  also  a  man  of  the 
people,  who  had  learnt  to  value  the  gov- 
ernment in  its  life-imparting  principles, 
in  the  elevating  rewards  which  it  con- 
ferred upon  all  honest  efforts,  warmed 
with  fervent  eloquence  as  he  waived  high 
iloft  the  dishonored  flag  of  his  adopted 
country.  Douglas,  forgetful  of  the  con- 


t(  st  at  the  ballot-box  for  the  Presidency, 
generously  lent  his  efforts  to  preserve  the 
Union  over  which  his  antagonist  must 
preside.  Seward  gave  Lis  best  powers 
to  the  work  before  him,  willing,  in  view 
of  the  imminent  peril  of  the  nation,  to 
concede  all  for  peace,  except  principle. 
His  speech  on  the  state  of  the  Union, 
remains  perhaps  the  most  noticeable  of 
the  session.  It  was  calm,  philosophical, 
almost  skeptical  in  its  tone  as  various 
modes  of  approaching  the  subject  were 
passed  in  review,  pronounced  ineffectual 
and,  to  the  disappointment  of  the  pub- 
lic, not  supplanted  by  anything  more 
potent  from  the  lips  of  the  orator.  There 
was  a  tone  of  sadness  throughout,  per- 
vading and  overpowering  his  most  assur- 
ing arguments.  The  value  of  the  Union 
was  exhibited  not  as  in  other  days  by 
glittering  eulogium,  but  by  the  represen- 
tation of  what  its  loss  would  be.  The 
listener  could  not  but  feel  the  altered 
circumstances  and  share  the  burden  of 
anxiety  feelingly  presented  in  an  illus- 
tration drawn  from  a  familiar  scene  of 
the  Senate  chamber  : 

'•  While  listening  to  these  debates," 
said  the  speaker,  "  I  have  sometimes  for- 
gotten myself  in  marking  their  contrast- 
ed effects  upon  the  page  who  customarily 
stands  on  the  dais  before  me,  and  the 
venerable  Secretary  who  sits  behind  him. 
The  youth  exhibits  intense  but  pleased 
emotion  in  the  excitement,  while  at  every 
irreverent  word  that  is  uttered  against 
the  Union  the  eyes  of  the  aged  man  are 
suffused  with  tears.  Let  him  weep  no 
more.  Rather  rejoice,  for  yours  has 
been  a  lot  of  rare  felicity.  You  have 
seen  and  been  a  part  of  all  the  great- 
ness of  your  country,  the  towering  na- 
tional greatness  of  all  the  world.  Weep 
only  you,  and  weep  with  all  the  bitter 


64 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


ness  of  anguish,  who  are  just  stepping 
on  the  threshold  of  life  ;  for  that  great- 
ness perishes  prematurely  and  exists  not 
for  you,  nor  for  me,  nor  for  any  that 
shall  come  after  us." 

Nor  were  the  words  in  which  he  re- 
cited the  sad  items  of  the  catalogue  of 
disasters  which  would  afflict  the  broken 
and  dismembered  State,  less  affecting. 
The  enumeration  is  one  of  the  finest 
passages  in  the  orator's  many  rhetorical 
speeches — thoughtful,  compact,  energetic, 
picturesque  in  illustration,  varied  in  de- 
tail, philosophical  in  the  comprehensive 
grasp  of  the  whole.  Every  sentence,  as 
the  orator  appeals  to  our  different  pas- 
sions, our  pride,  our  interest,  our  love  of 
power,  our  pursuit  of  happiness,  closing 
with  the  grand  image  of,  the  national 
greatness,  seems  to  sound  the  knell  of 
a  departing  blessing.  "  The  public  pros- 
perity," was  his  language,  "  how  could 
it  survive  the  storm  ?  Its  elements  are, 
industry  in  the  culture  of  every  fruit ; 
mining  of  all  the  metals  ;  commerce  at 
home  and  on  every  sea  ;  material  im- 
provement that  knows  no  obstacle  and 
has  no  end  ;  invention  that  ranges 
throughout  the  domain  of  nature  ;  in- 
crease of  knowledge  as  broad  as  the  hu- 
man mind  can  explore  ;  perfection  of  art 
as  high  as  human  genius  can  reach,  and 
social  refinement  working  for  the  renova- 
tion of  the  world.  How  could  our  suc- 
cessors prosecute  these  noble  objects  in 
the  midst  of  brutalizing  civil  conflict? 
What  guarantees  will  capital  invested 
for  such  purposes  have,  that  will  out- 
weigh the  premium  offered  by  political 
and  military  ambition  ?  What  leisure  will 
the  citizen  find  for  study,  or  invention, 


or  art,  under  the  reign  of  conscription ; 
nay,  what  interest  in  them  will  society 
feel,  when  fear  and  hate  shall  have  ta- 
ken possession  of  the  national  mind  ? 
Let  the  miner  in  California  take  heed  , 
for  its  golden  wealth  will  become  the 
prize  of  the  nation  that  can  command 
.the  most  iron.  Let  the  borderer  take 
care  ;  for  the  Indian  will  again  lurk 
around  his  dwelling.  Let  the  pioneer 
come  back  into  our  denser  settlements  ; 
for  the  railroad,  the  post  road,  and  the 
telegraph  advance  not  one  furlong  fur- 
ther into  the  wilderness.  With  standing 
armies  consuming  the  substance  of  our 
people  on  the  land,  and  our  Navy  and 
our  postal  steamers  withdrawn  from  the 
ocean,  who  will  protect  or  respect,  or 
who  will  even  know  by  name  our  petty 
confederacies?  The  American  man-of- 
war  is  a  noble  spectacle.  I  have  seen  it 
enter  an  ancient  port  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean. All  the  world  wondered  at  it  and 
talked  of  it.  Salvos  of  artillery,  from 
forts  and  shipping  in  the  harbor,  saluted 
its  flag.  Princes,  and  princesses,  and 
merchants,  paid  it  homage,  and  all  the 
people  blessed  it  as  a  harbinger  of  hope 
for  their  own  ultimate  freedom.  I  im- 
agine now  the  same  noble  vessel  again 
entering  the  same  haven.  The  flag  of 
thirty-three  stars  and  thirteen  stripes 
has  been  hauled  down,  and  in  its  place  a 
signal  is  run  up,  which  flaunts  the  device 
of  a  lone  star,  or  a  palmetto  tree.  Men 
ask,  "  Who  is  the  stranger  that  thus 
steals  into  our  waters?"  The  answer 
contemptuously  given  is,  "  She  comes 
from  one  .of  the  obscure  republics  of 
North  America.  Let  her  pass  on."* 


*  Speech  in  the  Senate,  January  12, 1861. 


TJ  ]!':< 


CHOICE   OF  LEADERS. 


67 


to  the  United  States  Senate,  but  did  not 
complete  his  term,  retiring  in  1851,  to  be 
a  candidate  for  Governor  of  Mississippi 
as  an  advocate  of  disunion  principles. 
He  was  not  successful,  but  soon  reap- 
peared in  public  life  as  Secretary  of 
War  in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Pierce. 
When  Mr.  Buchanan  succeeded,  he  again 
entered  the  Senate,  from  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  retired  to  take  part  in  the 
seceding  movement.  In  person  he  is 
described  by  an  intelligent  observer  who 
saw  him  during  the  session  of  the  Con- 
vention at  Montgomery,  as  "a  man  of 
slight,  sinewy  figure,  rather  over  the  mid- 
dle height,  and  of  erect,  soldierlike  bear- 
ing. His  features  are  regular  and  well 

<— '  o 

defined,  but  the  face  is  thin,  and  marked 
on  cheek  and  brow  with  many  wrinkles, 
and  is  rather  careworn  and  haggard. 
One  eye  is  apparently  blind  ;  the  other 
is  dark,  piercing  and  intelligent."* 

His  associate,  Stephens,  was  of  a  some- 
what different  disposition  and  force  of 
mind  ;  more  conservative  in  his  tastes  : 
less  politic  and  determined  in  his  coun- 
cils ;  of  a  more  genial  flow  of  oratory. 
Born  in  Georgia  in  1812,  his  youth  had 
been  passed  in  poverty,  from  which  he 
had  struggled  upward  to  eminent  success 
at  the  bar  of  his  native  State.  He  had 
served  in  Congress  with  distinction,  for 
many  years,  at  first,  as  a  member  of  the 
old  whig  party,  and  afterwards  as  a 
leader  of  the  Southern  democracy.  Since 
1858,  he  had  lived  in  retirement.  Like 
Jefferson  Davis,  he  had  suffered  from  dis- 
ease, which  had  left  its  mark  in  his  weak 
and  attenuated  frame. 

He  was  chosen,  doubtless,  to  conciliate 
his  somewhat  refractory  State,  which  had 
shown  some  reluctance  to  follow  in  the 

*  W.  H.  Russell,  Correspondent  of  the  London  Times, 
Montgomery  May  8,  186J. 


footsteps  of  South  Carolina  and  the  more 
ardent  of  her  revolting  brethren.  In- 
deed, Stephens  himself,  in  one  of  his  ex- 
cellent speeches,  had,  but  a  few  months 
before,  strongly  resisted  any  act  of  seces- 
sion. In  the  previous  November  he  had, 
in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives at  the  capital  of  Georgia,  demon- 
strated to  his  fellow-citizens  that  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presi- 
dency, was  by  no  means  an  adequate 
cause  of  withdrawal  from  the  Union. 
"Let  us,"  said  he,  "not  anticipate  a 
threatened  evil.  If  he  violates  the  Con- 
stitution, then  will  come  our  time  to  act. 
Do  not  let  us  break  it,  because,  forsooth, 
he  may.  If  he  does,  that  is  the  time  for 
us  to  strike.  I  think  it  would  be  inju- 
dicious and  unwise  to  do  this  sooner.  I 
do  not  anticipate  that  Mr.  Lincoln  will 
do  anything  to  jeopard  our  safety  or  se- 
curity, whatever  may  be  his  spirit  to  do 
it ;  for  he  is  bound  by  the  constitutional 
checks  which  are  thrown  around  him, 
which  at  this  time  render  him  powerless 
to  do  any  great  mischief.  This  shows 
the  wisdom  of  our  system.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  is  no  emperor, 
no  dictator  ;  he  is  clothed  with  no  abso- 
lute power.  He  can  do  nothing  unless 
he  is  backed  by  power  in  Congress.  The 
House  of  Representatives  is  largely  in 
the  majority  against  him.  In  the  Senate 
he  will  also  be  powerless.  He  cannot 
appoint  an  officer  without  the  consent  of 
the  Senate  ;  he  cannot  form  a  Cabinet 
without  the  same  consent.  He  will  be 
in  the  condition  of  George  III.,  the  em- 
bodiment of  Toryism,  who  had  to  ask  the 
Whigs  to  appoint  his  ministers,  and  was 
compelled  to  receive  a  cabinet  utterly  op- 
posed to  his  views  ;  and  so  Mr.  Lincoln 
will  be  compelled  to  ask  of  the  Senate  to 
choose  for  him  a  cabinet,  if  the  Democ- 


68 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


racy  of  that  body  choose  to  put  him  on 
such  terms." 

From  arguments  and  considerations 
like  these,  he  rose  to  the  contemplation 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
"  I  am  not,"  said  he,  "  one  of  those  who 
believe  this  Union  has  been  a  curse  up 
to  this  time.  True  men,  men  of  integ- 
rity, entertain  different  views  from  me 
on  this  subject.  I  do  not  question  their 
right  to  do  so  ;  I  would  not  impugn  their 
motives  in  so  doing.  Nor  will  I  under- 
take to  say  that  this  Government  of  our 
fathers  is  perfect.  There  is  nothing  per- 
fect in  this  world  of  a  human  origin  ; 
nothing  connected  with  human  nature, 
from  man  himself  to  any  of  his  works. 
You  ma}r  select  the  wisest  and  best  men 
for  your  judges,  and  yet,  how  many  de- 
fects are  there  in  the  administration  of 
justice  ?  You  may  select  the  wisest  and 
best  men  for  your  legislators,  and  yet 
how  many  defects  are  apparent  in  your 
laws  ?  And  it  is  so  in  our  Government." 
In  full  view,  notwithstanding,  of  these 
philosophical  disparagements,  he  delib- 
erately asserted  his  "settled  conviction" 
that  "this  government  of  our  fathers, 
with  all  its  defects,  comes  nearer  the  ob- 
jects of  all  good  governments  than  any 
other  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  .  .  . 
Where  will  you  go,  following  the  sun  in 
its  circuit  around  our  globe,  to  find  a 
government  that  better  protects  the  lib- 
erties of  its  people,  and  secures  to  them 
the  blessings  we  enjoy.  I  think  that  one 
of  the  evils  that  beset  us,  is  a  surfeit  of 
liberty,  an  exuberance  of  the  priceless 
blessings  for  which  we  are  ungrateful." 

Nor  was  this  said  of  the  North  merely, 
or  of  the  country  generally,  but  of  the 
State  of  Georgia,  in  particular — a  State 
which  might  and  should  have  controlled 
the  entire  rebellion  movement.  He  pre- 


sented a  glowing  picture  of  its  growing 
wealth  and  improvements.  Its  taxable 
property  had  doubled  since  1850  —  a 
year  when  many  of  its  inhabitants  had 
longed  to  carry  the  State  out  of  the  Un- 
ion. "Do  you  believe,"  said  he,  "that 
if  that  policy  had  been  carried  out  at 
that  time,  we  would  be  the  same  great 
people  that  we  are  to-day  ?  .  .  .  When 
I  look  around,"  he  added,  with  a  pro- 
phetic intimation,  casting  a  shadow  over 
the  scene,  "and  see  our  prosperity  in 
everything,  agriculture,  commerce,  art, 
science,  and  every  department  of  educa- 
tion, mysical  and  mental,  as  well  as 
moral  advancement,  and  our  colleges,  I 
think,  in  the  face  of  such  an  exhibition, 
if  we  can,  without  the  loss  of  power,  or 
any  essential  right  or  interest,  remain  in 
the  Union,  it  is  our  duty  to  ourselves  and 
to  posterity  to  do  so.  Let  us  not  too 
readily  yield  to  this  temptation.  Our 
first  parents,  the  great  progenitors  of  the 
human  race,  were  not  without  a  like 
temptation  when  in  the  garden  of  Eden. 
They  were  led  to  believe  that  their  con- 
dition would  be  bettered — that  their  eyes 
would  be  opened,  and  that  they  would 
become  as  Gods.  They  in  an  evil  hour 
yielded.  Instead  of  becoming  gods,  they 
only  saw  their  own  nakedness.  I  look 
upon  this  country,  with  our  institutions, 
as  the  Eden  of  the  world,  the  paradise 
of  the  Universe.  It  may  be  that  out  of 
it  we  may  become  greater  and  more 
prosperous,  but  I  am  candid  and  sincere 
in  telling  you  that  I  fear  if  we  evince 
passion,  and  without  sufficient  cause  shall 
take  that  step — a  disruption  of  the  ties 
that  bind  us  to  the  Union — that,  instead 
of  becoming  gods,  we  will  become  de- 
mons, and  at  no  distant  day  commence 
cutting  one  another's  throats."*  About 


Speech  at  Milledgeville,  November  14,1860. 


ME.   STEPHENS'  DECLARATIONS. 


69 


the  same  time  lie  wrote  to  a  friend, 
"  When  this  Union  is  dissevered,  if  of  ne- 
cessity it  must  be,  I  see  at  present  but 
little  prospect  of  good  government  after- 
wards. At  the  North,  I  feel  confident 
anarchy  will  soon  ensue.  And  whether 
we  shall  be  better  off  at  the  South,  will 
depend  upon  many  things  that  I  am  not 
now  satisfied  that  we  have  any  assurance 
of.  Eevolutions  are  much  more  easily 
started  than  controlled,  and  the  men  who 
begin  them,  even  for  the  best  purposes 
and  objects,  seldom  end  them."*  Yet, 
in  spite  of  his  own  convictions,  and  his 
contentment  with  present  good  and  fear 
of  future  evil,  with  nothing  in  the  ele- 
ments of  political  life  and  action  at  Wash- 
ington to  exasperate  further,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  with  much  to  conciliate,  we 
now  find  this  sagacious,  thoughtful,  feel- 
ing orator  enlisted  as  the  Vice  President 
of  a  rebel  government.  It  was  an  unnat- 
ural position  for  such  a  man  to  be  placed 
in,  but  not  an  uncommon  choice  for  such 
emergencies,  when  bolder  men,  whose  ob- 
jects would  be  suspected,  keep  behind 
the  scenes  and  thrust  forward  an  image 
of  mildness  and  gentleness.  Moderate 
men  are  the  tools  of  revolutionists  ;  they 
gain  favor  and  conciliate,  while  they  are 
worked  for  sterner  purposes  than  they 
conceive  of. 

On  the  evening  of  his  election  Mr. 
Stephens  addressed  a  few  words  to  the 
citizens  of  Montgomery,  breathing  of 
peace  and  a  prosperous  future,  with  one 
special  and  remarkable  reference  to  the 
prominent  motive  of  the  revolt.  "  With 
staples/'  said  he,  "and  productions  which 
contest  the  commerce  of  the  world  ;  with 
institutions,  so  far  as  regards  our  organic 
and  social  policy,  in  strict  conformity  to 

*  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Crawfordsville,  Ga.,  Novem- 
ber, 25,  1860 ;  .V.  Y.  Herald,  December  6,  1860. 


nature  and  the  laws  of  the  Creator, 
whether  read  in  the  Book  of  Inspiration, 
or  the  great  Book  of  Manifestations 
around  us,  we  have  all  the  natural  ele- 
ments essential  to  attainment  in  the  high- 
est degree  of  power  and  glory.  These 
institutions  have  been  much  assailed,  and 
it  is  our  mission  to  vindicate  the  great 
truth  on  which  they  rest,  and  with  them 
exhibit  the  highest  type  of  civilization 
which  it  is  possible  for  human  society  to 
reach."  This  Utopia,  to  which  the  admi- 
ration of  the  world  was  invited,  was  in 
other  words  an  ideal  state  of  societ}^ 
built  upon  the  foundations  of  slavery. 
The  following  month  the  principle  was 
still  more  distinctly  annunciated  by  Yice 
President  Stephens  in  a  speech  at  Savan- 
nah, on  the  blessings  and  advantages  ot 
the  new  Constitution.  "  This,"  said  he, 
"  has  put  at  rest  forever  all  the  agitating 
questions  relating  to  our  peculiar  institu- 
tions— African  slavery  as  it  exists  among 
us — the  proper  status  of  the  negro  in  our 
form  of  civilization.  This  was  the  imme- 
diate cause  of  the  late  rupture  and  pres- 
ent revolution.  Jefferson,  in  his  fore- 
cast, had  anticipated  this,  as  the  'rock 
upon  which  the  old  Union  would  split.' 
He  was  right.  What  was  conjecture 
with  him,  is  now  a  realized  fact.  But 
whether  he  fully  comprehended  the  great 
truth  upon  which  that  rock  stood  and 
stands,  may  be  doubted.  The  prevail- 
ing ideas  entertained  by  him  and  most 
of  the  leading  statesmen  at  the  time  of 
the  formation  of  the  old  Constitution 
were,  that  the  enslavement  of  the  Afri- 
can was  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  na- 
ture ;  that  it  was  wrong  in  principle, 
socially,  morally  and  politically.  It  was 
an  evil  they  knew  not  well  how  to  deal 
with  ;  but  the  general  opinion  of  the 
men  of  that  day  was,  that,  somehow  or 


70 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


other,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  the  in- 
stitutions would  be  evanescent  and  pass 
away.  This  idea,  though  not  incorpo- 
rated in  the  Constitution,  was  the  pre- 
vailing idea  at  the  time.  The  Constitu- 
tion, it  is  true,  secured  every  essential 
guarantee  to  the  institution  while  it 
should  last,  and  hence  no  argument  can 
b'e  justly  used  against  the  constitutional 
guarantees  thus  secured,  because  of  the 
common  sentiment  of  the  day.  Those 
ideas,  however,  were  fundamentally 
wrong.  They  rested  upon  the  assump- 
tion of  the  equality  of  races.  This  was 
an  error.  It  was  a  sandy  foundation, 
and  the  idea  of  a  Government  built 
upon  it — when  the  '  storm  came  and  the 
wind  blew,  it  fell.'  Our  new  Govern  - 
ment  is  founded  upon  exactly  the  oppo- 
site ideas  ;  its  foundations  are  laid,  its 
corner-stone  rests  upon  the  great  truth 
that  the  negro  is  not  equal  to  the  white 
man  ;  that  slavery,  subordination  to  the 
superior  race,  is  his  natural  and  moral 
condition.  This,  our  new  Government, 
is  the  first,  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
based  upon  this  great  physical,  philo- 
sophical, and  moral  truth."* 

Mr.  Stephens  was  now  duly  inaugura- 
ted and  pending  the  arrival  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  from  his  home  in  Mississippi,  the 
Convention  went  on  with  its  work  of  or- 
ganization and  preparation  for  civil  and 
military  life,  of  which  it  had  now  become 
the  supreme  director  for  the  Confeder- 
ate States.  On  the  16th  the  President 
reached  Montgomery,  having  been  her- 
alded along  the  way  by  the  shouts  of 
applauding  assemblies  of  the  people. 
His  words  in  reply  were  full  of  resolu- 
tion, and  ominous  of  an  impending  con- 
flict. "He  expressed,"  we  are  told,  on 
one  of  these  occasions,  "an  earnest  de- 

*  Speech  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  March  21,  1861. 


sire  for  peace,  and  a  determination  tc 
act  on  the  defensive  ;  but  if  war  must 
come,  if  it  is  forced  upon  us,  he  pledged 
the  best  energies  of  his  whole  nature- 
relying  upon  a  brave  people  and  a  just 
God  for  support,  to  defend  to  every  ex- 
tremity the  rights  and  honor  of  his  coun- 
try. He  compared  the  capacities  of  the 
two  sections  for  sustaining  a  war,  both 
offensive  and  defensive,  expressing  the 
opinion  that  the  North  was  greatly  the 
most  vulnerable,  both  because  of  its 
great  commerce,  which  would  be  des- 
troyed by  privateers,  and  its  highly  cul- 
tivated and  densely  settled  territory— 
in  which  a  hostile  army  could  do  irrepa- 
rable damage."  On  his  arrival  at  even- 
ing at  the  new  capital,  he  addressed  the 
people  at  the  railway  station,  and  again 
near  midnight  from  the  balcony  of  his 
hotel.  "Fellow  citizens  and  brethren  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America,"  he 
exclaimed,  "for  now  we  are  brethren 
not  in  name  merely,  but  in  fact — men  of 
one  flesh,  one  bone,  one  interest,  one 
purpose,  and  of  an  identity  of  domestic 
institutions.  We  have  hence,  I  trust,  a 
prospect  of  living  together  in  peace,  with 
our  institutions  subject  to  protection,  not 
defamation.  It  may  be  our  career  will 
be  ushered  in  in  the  midst  of  storm.  It 
may  be,  that  as  this  morning  opened, 
with  clouds,  mist  and  rain,  we  shall 
have  to  encounter  inconvenience  at  the 
beginning.  But,  as  the  sun  rose,  it  lifted 
the  mist  and  dispelled  the  clouds,  and 
left  the  pure  sunlight  of  Heaven  ;  so 
will  the  progress  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy carry  us  safe  to  the  harbor  of 
constitutional  liberty  and  political  equal- 
ity. Thus,  we  have  nothing  to  fear  at 
home,  because  at  home  we  have  homo- 
geneity. We  will  have  nothing  to  fear 
abroad,  because,  if  war  should  come,  if 


INAUGURATION   OF  DAVIS. 


71 


we  must  again  baptize  in  blood  the  prin- 
ciples for  which  our  fathers  bled  in  the 
Revolution,  we  shall  show  we  are  not 
degenerate  sons,  but  will  redeem  the 
pledges  they  gave,  preserve  the  sacred 
rights  they  transmitted  to  us,  and  show 
that  Southern  valor  still  shines  as  bright- 
ly as  in  1776,  in  1812,  and  in  every 
other  conflict.  ...  I  will  devote  to  the 
duties  of  the  high  office  to  which  I  have 
been  called,  all  I  have  of  heart,  of  head, 
of  hand.  If,  in  the  progress  of  events, 
my  services  shall  be  needed  in  another 
position  ;  if,  to  be  plain,  necessity  shall 
require  that  I  shall  again  enter  the  ranks 
as  a  soldier,  I  hope  you  will  welcome  me 
there."  Thus  the  President  elect,  with 
his  thoughts  intent  on  war,  sought  to 
arouse  a  martial  ardor  in  his  susceptible 
countrymen. 

The  Inauguration  ceremonies  which 
look  place  on  the  18th,  followed  the  cus- 
tom observed  at  Washington  by  the 
Presidents  of  the  United  States.  The 
President  elect  seated  in  a  carriage  drawn 
by  six  horses  was  escorted  from  his  lodg- 
ings in  a  military  and  civic  procession  to 
a  platform  in  front  of  the  portico  of 
the  State  Capitol.  A  prayer  was  made 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Manley,  the  address  by 
the  President  elect  delivered,  after  which 
the  oath  was  administered  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Convention.  At  night  the 
town  was  illuminated,  and  the  President 
shared  the  festivities  of  the  citizens, 
mingling  with  them  at  the  balls  given  in 
honor  of  the  occasion. 

The  Inaugural  address,  like  other 
compositions  of  its  author,  was  dexter- 
ous, smooth,  and  plausible,  with  some 
gloomy  intimations  under  .its  superficial 
calmness.  The  speaker's  glance  at  the 
political  antecedents  of  the  country  ;  hi& 
mingled  appeal  to  the  conscience  and  in- 


telligence of  the  world  and  the  omnis- 
cience of  heaven,  in  the  same  sentence  ; 
the  talk  of  peace,  blended  with  ever  re- 
curring words  of  war  ;  the  candid  avowal 
of  the  social  policy  of  the  new  Govern- 
ment, looking  to  Slavery  for  its  princi- 
ple of  homogeneity  ;  the  tone  of  pious 
exultation  at  the  conclusion  ;  all  are  so 
blandly  presented,  that  their  novel  char- 
acteristics and  startling  significance  are 
not  at  once  perceived.  The  document, 
which  we  print  entire,  as  a  prominent 
landmark  of  the  times,  will  repay  an  at- 
tentive perusal. 

GENTLEMEN   OF  THE  CONGRESS  OP  THE   CONFEDEEATB 
STATES  OF  AMERICA  : 

Friends  and  Fellow-  Citizens : — Called 
to  the  difficult  and  responsible  station  of 
Chief  Executive  of  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment which  you  have  instituted,  I 
approach  the  discharge  of  the  duties  as- 
signed me,  with  an  humble  distrust  of  my 
abilities,  but  with  a  sustaining  confidence 
in  the  wisdom  of  those  who  are  to  guide 
and  aid  me  in  the  administration  of  pub- 
lic affairs,  and  an  abiding  faith  in  the 
virtue  and  patriotism  of  the  people.  Look- 
ing forward  to  the  speedy  establishment 
of  a  permanent  Government  to  take  the 
place  of  this,  and  which,  by  its  greater 
moral  and  physical  power,  will  be  better 
able  to  combat  with  the  many  difficulties 
which  arise  from  the  conflicting  interests 
of  separate  nations,  I  enter  upon  the  du- 
ties of  the  office  to  which  I  have  been 
chosen,  with  the  hope  that  the  beginning 
of  our  career  as  a  Confederacy  may 
not  be  obstructed  by  hostile  opposition 
to  the  enjoyment  of  our  separate  exist- 
ence and  independence  which  we  have 
asserted,  and  which,  with  the  blessing  of 
Providence,  we  intend  to  maintain.  Our 
present  condition,  achieved  in  a  manner 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  nations, 


72 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


illustrates  the  American  idea  that  Gov- 
ernments rest  upon  the  consent  of  the 
governed,  and  that  it  is  the  right  of  the 
people  to  alter  and  abolish  Governments 
whenever  they  become  destructive  to  the 
ends  for  which  they  are  established.  The 
declared  compact  of  the  Union  from 
which  we  have  withdrawn,  was  to  estab- 
lish justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility, 
provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote 
the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  pos- 
terity ;  and  when,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
sovereign  States  now  composing  this 
Confederacy,  it  has  been  perverted  from 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  ordained, 
and  ceased  to  answer  the  ends  for  which 
it  was  established,  a  peaceful  appeal  to 
the  ballot-box  declared  that,  so  far  as 
they  were  concerned,  the  Government 
created  by  that  compact  should  cease  to 
exist.  In  this  they  merely  asserted  the 
right  which  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence of  1776  defined  to  be  inalienable. 
Of  the  time  and  occasion  of  its  exercise 
they,  as  sovereigns,  were  the  final  judges, 
each  for  itself.  The  impartial,  enlight- 
ened verdict  of  mankind  will  vindicate 
the  rectitude  of  our  conduct,  and  He  who 
knows  the  hearts  of  men,  will  judge  of 
the  sincerity  with  which  we  labored  to 
preserve  the  Government  of  our  fathers 
in  its  spirit. 

"The  right,  solemnly  proclaimed  at 
the  birth  of  the  States,  and  which  has 
been  affirmed  and  reaffirmed  in  the  Bills 
of  Rights  of  the  States  subsequently  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union  of  1789,  undenia- 
bly recognizes  in  the  people  the  power 
to  resume  the  authority  delegated  for 
the  purposes  of  Government.  Thus,  the 
sovereign  States,  here  represented,  pro- 
ceeded to  form  this  Confederacy,  and  it 
is  by  the  abuse  of  language  that  their  act 


I  has  been  denominated  '  revolution.'  They 
formed  a  new  alliance  ;  but,  within  each 
State,  its  Government  has  remained.  The 
rights  of  person  and  propert}^  have  not 
been  disturbed.  The  agent  through  whom 
they  communicated  with  foreign  nations 
is  changed  ;  but,  this  does  not  necessarily 
interrupt  their  international  relations. 
Sustained  by  the  consciousness  that  the 
transition  from  the  former  Union  to  the 
present  Confederacy  has  not  proceeded 
from  a  disregard,  on  our  part,  of  our  just 
obligations,  or  any  failure  to  perform  ev- 
ery constitutional  duty,  moved  by  no  in- 
terest or  passion  to  invade  the  rights  of 
others,  anxious  to  cultivate  peace  and 
commerce  with  all  nations,  if  we  may  not 
hope  to  avoid  war,  we  may  at  least  ex- 
pect that  posterity  will  acquit  us  of  hav- 
ing needlessly  engaged  in  it.  Doubly 
justified  by  the  absence  of  wrong  on  our 
part,  and  by  wanton  aggression  on  the 
part  of  others,  there  can  be  no  cause  to 
doubt  that  the  courage  and  patriotism  of 
the  people  of  the  Confederate  States  will 
be  found  equal  to  any  measures  of  de- 
fence which  their  security  soon  may  re- 
quire. An  agricultural  people,  whose 
chief  interest  is  the  export  of  a  com- 
modity required  in  every  manufacturing 
country,  our  true  policy  is  peace,  and 
the  freest  trade  which  our  necessities 
will  permit.  It  is  alike  our  interest,  and 
that  of  all  those  to  whom  we  would  sell, 
and  from  whom  we  would  buy,  that  there 
should  be  the  fewest  practicable  restric- 
tions upon  the  interchange  of  commodi- 
ties. There  can  be  but  little  rivalry 
between  ours  and  any  manufacturing 
or  navigating  community,  such  as  the 
Northeastern  States  of  the  American 
Union.  It  must  follow,  therefore,  that 
mutual  interest  would  invite  good-will 
and  kind  offices.  If,  however,  passion, 


ADDRESS   OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


73 


or  lust  of  dominion,  should  cloud  the 
judgment,  or  influence  the  ambition  of 
those  States,  we  must  prepare  to  meet 
(lie  emergency,  and  maintain,  by  the 
final  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  the  posi- 
tion which  we  have  assumed  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth. 

"  We  have  entered  upon  a  career  of 
independence  which  must  be  inflexibly 
pursued  through  many  years  of  con- 
troversy with  our  late  associates  of  the 
Northern  States.  We  have  vainly  en- 
deavored to  secure  tranquility  and  ob- 
tain respect  for  the  rights  to  which  we 
are  entitled.  As  a  necessity,  not  a  choice, 
we  have  resorted  to  the  remedy  of  sepa- 
ration, and  henceforth  our  energies  must 
be  directed  to  the  conduct  of  our  own 
affairs,  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Con- 
federacy which  we  have  formed.  If  a 
just  perception  of  mutual  interest  shall 
permit  us  peaceably  to  pursue  our  sepa- 
rate political  career,  my  most  earnest  de- 
sire will  have  been  fulfilled.  But  if  this 
be  denied  us,  and  the  integrity  of  our 
Territory  and  jurisdiction  be  assailed,  it 
will  but  remain  for  us,  with  firm  resolve, 
to  appeal  to  arms,  and  invoke  the  bless- 
ing of  Providence  on  a  just  cause.  As  a 
consequence  of  our  new  condition,  and 
with  a  view  to  meet  anticipated  wants, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  provide  a  speedy 
and  efficient  organization  of  the  branches 
of  the  Executive  Department  having  spe- 
cial charge  of  Foreign  Intercourse,  Finan- 
ces, Military  Affairs,  and  Postal  Service. 
For  purposes  of  defence,  the  Confederate 
States  may,  under  ordinary  circumstan- 
ces, rely  mainly  upon  their  militia  ;  but, 
it  is  deemed  advisable,  in  the  present 
condition  of  affairs,  that  there  should  be 
a  well-instructed,  and  disciplined  army, 
more  numerous  than  would  usually  be 
required  on  a  peace  establishment.  I 
10 


may  also  suggest,  that,  for  the  protection 
of  our  harbors,  and  commerce  on  the 
high  seas,  a  navy  adapted  to  those  ob- 
jects will  be  required.  These  necessi- 
ties have  doubtless  engaged  the  attention 
of  Congress. 

"With  a  Constitution  differing  only 
from  that  of  our  fathers  in  so  far  as  it  is 
explanatory  of  their  well-known  intent, 
freed  from  sectional  conflicts  which  have 
interfered  with  the  pursuits  of  the  gene- 
ral welfare,  it  is  not  unnatural  to  expect 
that  the  States  from  which  we  have  re- 
cently parted  may  seek  to  unite  their  for- 
tunes with  ours,  under  the  Government 
we  have  instituted.  For  this,  your  Con- 
stitution makes  adequate  provision  ;  but, 
beyond  this,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  judg- 
ment and  will  of  the  people  are,  that  un- 
ion with  the  States  from  which  they  have 
separated  is  neither  practicable  nor  de- 
sirable. To  increase  the  power,  to  de- 
velop the  resources  and  promote  the 
happiness  of  a  confederacy,  it  is  requisite 
there  should  be  so  much  of  homogeneity 
that  the  welfare  of  every  portion  would 
be  the  aim  of  the  whole.  Where  this 
does  not  exist,  antagonisms  are  engen- 
dered, which  must  and  should  result  in 
separation.  Actuated  solely  by  a  de- 
sire to  preserve  our  own  rights,  and 
to  promote  our  own  welfare,  the  separa- 
tion of  the  Confederate  States  has  been 
marked  by  no  aggression  upon  others, 
and  followed  by  no  domestic  convulsion. 
Our  industrial  pursuits  have  received,  no 
check  ;  the  cultivation  of  our  fields  pro- 
gresses as  heretofore  ;  and,  even  if  we 
should  be  involved  in  war,  there  would 
be  no  considerable  diminution  in  the 
production  of  the  staples  which  have  con- 
stituted our  exports,  in  which  the  com- 
mercial world  has  an  interest  scarcely 
less  than  our  own.  Th.'e  common  inter- 


74 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION. 


est  of  producer  and  consumer  can  only 
be  intercepted  by  an  exterior  force  which 
should  obstruct  its  transmission  to  for- 
eign markets — a  course  of  conduct  which 
would  be  detrimental  to  manufacturing 
and  commercial  interests  abroad.  Should 
reason  guide  the  action  of  the  Govern- 
ment from  which  we  have  separated,  a 
policy  so  detrimental  to  the  civilized 
world,  the  Northern  States  included, 
could  not  be  dictated  even  by  a  strong 
desire  to  inflict  injury  upon  us  ;  but,  if  it 
be  otherwise,  a  terrible  responsibility 
will  rest  upon  it,  and  the  sufferings  of 
millions  will  bear  testimony  to  the  policy 
and  wickedness  of  our  aggressors.  In 
the  mean  time  there  will  remain  to  us, 
besides  the  ordinary  remedies  before  sug- 
gested, the  well-known  resources  for  re- 
taliation upon  the  commerce  of  an  enemy. 
"Experience  in  public  stations  of  a 
subordinate  grade  to  this  which  your 
kindness  has  conferred,  has  taught  me 
that  care,  and  toil,  and  disappointments, 
are  the  price  of  official  elevation.  You 
will  see  many  errors  to  forgive,  many 
deficiencies  to  tolerate,  but  you  shall  not 
find  in  me  either  want  of  zeal  or  fidelity 
to  the  cause  that  is  to  me  the  highest  in 
hope  and  of  most  enduring  affection. 
Your  generosity  has  bestowed  upon  me 
an  undeserved  distinction,  one  which  I 
neither  sought  nor  desired.  Upon  the 
continuance  of  that  sentiment,  and  upon 
your  wisdom  and  patriotism,  I  rely  to 
direct  and  support  me  in  the  perform- 
ance of  the  duty  required  at  my  hands. 
We  have  changed  the  constituent  parts, 
but  not  the  system,  of  our  Government. 
The  Constitution  formed  by  our  fathers 
is  that  of  these  Confederate  States.  In 
their  exposition  of  it,  and  in  the  judicial 
construction  it  has  received,  we  have  a 
light,  which  reveals  its  true  meaning. 


Thus  instructed  as  to  the  just  interpre- 
tation of  that  instrument,  arid  ever  re- 
membering that  all  offices  are  but  trusts 
held  for  the  people,  and  that  delegated 
powers  are  to  be  strictly  construed,  I 
will  hope,  by  due  diligence  in  the  per- 
formance of  my  duties,  though  I  may 
disappoint  your  expectations,  }ret,  to  re- 
tain, when  retiring,  something  of  the 
good-will  and  confidence  which  will  wel- 
come my  entrance  into  office.  It  is  joy- 
ous, in  the  midst  of  perilous  times,  to 
look  around  upon  a  people  united  in 
heart,  where  one  purpose  of  high  re- 
solve animates  and  actuates  the  whole  ; 
where  the  sacrifices  to  be  made  are  not 
weighed  in  the  balance  against  honor, 
right,  liberty,  and  equality.  Obstacles 
may  retard,  but  they  cannot  long  pre- 
vent, the  progress  of  a  movement  sanc- 
tioned by  its  justice  and  sustained  by  a 
virtuous  people.  Reverently  let  us  in- 
voke the  God  of  our  fathers  to  guide, 
and  provide,  and  protect  us,  in  our  ef- 
forts to  perpetuate  the  principles  which, 
by  His  blessing,  they  were  able  to  vin- 
dicate, establish,  and  transmit  to  their 
posterity,  and  with  a  continuance  of  His 
favor,  ever  gratefully  acknowledged,  we 
may  hopefully  look  forward  to  success, 
to  peace,  to  prosperity." 

Thus  inaugurated  the  Confederacy  be-  • 
gan  it  career.  The  President  appointed 
his  Cabinet  and  the  machinery  of  the 
new  State  was  set  in  motion.  The  offi- 
cers of  the  administration  were  Robert 
Toombs  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  State  ; 
G.  0.  Memminger  of  South  Carolina, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Leroy  Pope 
Walker  of  Alabama,  Secretary  of  War, 
and  Stephen  R.  Mallory  of  Florida,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy.  To  these  were  af- 
terward added  John  H.  Reagan  of  Texas, 
Postmaster-General,  and  Judah  P.  Ben- 


THE   PROVISIONAL   CONGRESS. 


75 


jumin  of  Louisiana,  Attorney-General. 
Three  of  these  officials,  beside  the  Presi- 
dent,— Toombs,  Mallory  and  Benjamin, 
had  just  resigned  their  seats  in  the  Sen- 
ate of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Walker, 
a  member  of  an  influential  family  in 
Alabama,  was  a  lawyer  residing  at 
Huntsville  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State,  and  was  well  known  as  a  demo- 
cratic politician.  Mr.  Memminger  was 
also  known  as  an  accomplished  lawyer, 
and  Mr.  Reagan  had  previously  served 
in  Congress. 

Among  the  most  important  measures 
of  the  Provisional  Congress  were  the 
steps  taken  to  open  negotiations  abroad 
and  the  acts  passed  to  raise  money  and 
provide  an  army,  the  appointment  of  a 
Judiciary  and  of  Commissioners  to  ne- 
gotiate at  Washington.  The  first  agents 
or  commissioners  appointed  to  proceed 
to  Europe  to  obtain  the  recognition  of 
the  independence  of  the  Confederate 
States  and  make  such  commercial  ar- 
rangements as  might  be  practicable, 
were  the  Hon.  William  L.  Yancey  of 
Alabama,  Judge  P.  A.  Rost  of  Louisi- 
ana, and  Col.  Dudley  A.  Mann  and  T. 
Butler  King  of  Georgia.  Col.  Mann 
was  thought  to  have  peculiar  fitness  for 
his  duties  as  ambassador,  having  been 
employed  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment in  several  special  missions  abroad, 
to  the  German  States,  to  Hungary,  in  the 
troubled  times  of  1849  ;  and  to  Swit- 
zerland, the  year  after.  He  had  also 
been  employed  as  Assistant  Secretary 
of  State  in  President  Pierce's  Adminis- 
tration. Mr.  Yancey  was  a  native  of 
South  Carolina.  He  had  for  many  years 
his  home  in  Alabama.  A  cotton  planter, 
lawyer,  a  State  Rights  politician,  and 
thorough  and  persistent  advocate  of  Se- 
cession, he  had  served  in  the  State 


legislature  and  in  Congress,  and,  fully 
prepared  for  the  event,  had  been  one  of 
the  most  active  members  of  the  recent 
revolutionary  convention  of  Alabama. 

The  first  attempt  at  financiering  was 
the  creation  of  a  loan  of  fifteen  millions 
of  dollars,  a  portion  of  which,  in  the 
early  ardor  of  the  rebellion,  was  taken 
by  various  capitalists  and  moneyed  in- 
stitutions in  the  larger  cities  ;  but  the 
enthusiasm  was  hardly  sufficient  to  call 
forth  so  considerable  an  amount  from  the 
pockets  of  the  people,  and  it  was  found 
to  be  a  much  readier  way  of  getting 
along  to  resort  to  the  old  expedient  in 
such  cases,  namely,  to  utter  extraordin- 
ary quantities  of  paper  promissory  notes, 
which  in  the  absence  of  any  thing  better 
—for  gold  and  silver  speedily  disap- 
peared— supplied  the  place  of  a  more 
solid  currency.  By  the  army  act  the 
President  was  authorized  and  directed 
to  assume  control  of  all  military  opera- 
tions in  every  State,  having  reference  to 
a  connection  with  questions  between  the 
said  States,  or  any  of  them,  and  powers 
foreign  to  them,  and  to  receive  from  the 
States  the  arms  and  munitions  of  war 
which  they  had  taken  from  the  forts  and 
arsenals  of  the  United  States.  This  act 
relieved  South  Carolina  of  the  military 
responsibility  of  the  proceedings  hitherto 
under  the  supervision  of  Governor  Pick- 
ens  in  Charleston  Harbor.  Provisions 
were  made  for  the  regular  military  es- 
tablishment of  the  Confederate  States, 
and  for  a  Provisional  army,  by  receiv- 
ing into  the  service  of  the  Government 
such  forces  then  in  the  service  of  the 
separate  States  as  might  be  tendered  or 
who  might  volunteer  by  consent  of  their 
State,  in  such  numbers  as  the  President 
might  require,  for  any  time  not  less  than 
twelve  months,  unless  sooner  discharged, 


76 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


[n  this  proceeding,  followed  by  speedy 
preparations  for  the  field,  more  than  a 
month  before  Sumter  and  the  Proclama- 
tion of  President  Lincoln,  the  Confeder- 
ate Government  took  a  decided  step  to- 
ward "  inaugurating  "  the  war  for  which, 
when  it  broke  out,  the  National  Govern- 
ment was  so  inadequately  prepared.     In 
consideration  of  the  border  and  western 
States,  and  as  an  appeal  to  their  sympa- 
thy the  free  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river  was  granted  by  a  special  act. 
The  choice  of  a  flag  as  a  symbol  of  the 
new  Confederacy  was  naturally  an  early 
subject  of  the  deliberations  of  the  Con- 
vention.    The  matter  excited  consider- 
able interest  in  the  Southern  community, 
and  numerous  plans  and  designs  were 
presented   to   the   congress,   in   several 
of  which  the  familiar  American   eagle 
figured,  while  there  was  a  strong  dispo- 
sition  to   retain   the   old   colors.      The 
discussion  of  the  topic  created  no  little 
excitement,  and  seemed  in  some  danger 
of  awakening  old  associations  not  alto- 
gether in  keeping  with  the  business  of 
the  Convention.      The  ladies  took  the 
affair  in  hand,   and   forwrarded  various 
plans,  exhibiting  more  or  less  fancy  and 
ingenuity.      As  a  characteristic   memo- 
rial of  the  times,  we  present  a  letter 
gallantly  introduced  to  the  Convention 
by  Mr.   Chilton  of  Alabama.      It  was 
from  two  young  ladies,  Rebecca  C.  Fer- 
guson and  Mollie  A.  D.  Sinclair,  pupils 
of  a  seminary  in  Alabama,  and  read  :— 
"The  Undersigned,  pupils  in  the  art  de- 
partment of  the  Tuskegee  Female  Col- 
lege, conscious  of  weakness,  but  ardently 
desirous  to  do  something  for  their  coun- 
try, have  employed  their  pencils  to  pro- 
duce various  designs  for  a  flag  for  the 
Southern  Eepublic.     They  have  found  a 
pleasure  in  trying  to  mix  the  patriot's 


with  the  artist's  flame.  You  will  appre- 
ciate the  difficulties  of  their  task  when 
you  reflect,  that  amidst  all  their  efforts 
at  originality,  there  have  ever  danced 
before  them  visions  of  the  star-gemmed 
flag,  with  its  parti-colored  stripes,  that 
floated  so  proudly  over  the  late  United 
States.  In  the  designs  submitted,  we 
have  endeavored  to  secure  simplicity  with 
an  intelligible  symbolism  and  striking 
conspicuousness  of  color.  Let  us  snatch 
from  the  eagle  of  the  cliff  our  idea  of 
independence,  and  cull  from  the  earth 
diamonds  and  gems  from  the  heavens  to 
deck  the  flag  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
With  cotton  for  king,  there  are  seven 
States  bound  by  a  chain  of  sisterly  love 
that  will  be  strengthened  by  time,  as  on- 
ward, right  onward  they  move  up  the 
glorious  path  of  Southern  independence. 
No.  1.  The  seven  seceding  States  repre- 
sented by  seven  rings,  bound  together  by 
golden  links.  No.  2.  The  opposite  side 
of  the  above,  a  large  cotton  bale.  No. 

3.  Field  gules,   eagle   in  or,  on  a  blue 
shield,  bearing  in  its  beak  a  scroll  with 
our  representative  political  ideas.     No. 

4.  Eagle's  nest,  seven  eaglets,  represent- 
ing seven  seceding  States.      No.  5.  An 
eagle  perched  upon  a  lone  rock,  in  the 
midst  of  a  tempestuous  ocean,  stars  in 
semicircle,  sun  rising.     No.  6.  Eagle  on- 
a  field  of  blue,   diamond  shaped,  olive 
branch  in  one  claw,  arrows  in  the  other, 
scales  in  his   beak.      No.   7.  A  circle, 
within  it  seven  diamonds,  tangent,  form- 
ing a  seven  pointed  star  ;  in  the  centre 
a  cotton  bale." 

After  due  consideration,  Mr.  Miles  of 
South  Carolina  submitted  an  elaborate 
report  of  the  Committee  on  the  nationa1 
flag  which  was  adopted.  An  immense 
number  of  designs  had  been  brought 
before  them,  some  preserving  the  prin- 


CHOICE   OF  A  FLAG. 


77 


cipal  features  of  the  United  States  flag 
with  slight  modifications  ;  others  "very 
elaborate,  complicated  or  fantastical." 
The  objection  to  the  first  was  obvious  ;  a 
flag,  too,  like  the  old  was  like  to  be  con- 
founded with  it.  As  for  any  attachment 
to  "the  stars  and  stripes,"  the  Commit- 
tee confessed  that  they  did  not  all  share 
in  the  sentiment.  There  was  no  pro- 
priety, they  thought,  in  retaining  the  en- 
sign of  a  government  which  had  become 
so  oppressive  and  injurious  to  their  in- 
terests as  to  require  their  separation 
from  it.  It  is  idle,  they  said,  "  to  talk 
of  '  keeping '  the  flag  of  the  United  States 
when  we  had  voluntarily  seceded  from 
them."  Their  revolutionary  forefathers 
had  not  retained  the  flag  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, though  the  youthful  Washington  had 
won  his  spurs  under  it,  and  it  was  "good 
to  imitate  them  in  this  comparatively 
little  matter,  as  well  as  to  emulate  them 
in  greater  and  more  important  ones." 
Besides  Liberia  and  the  Sandwich  Isl- 
ands were  found  to  have  flags  very  simi- 
lar to  that  of  the  United  States,  a  cir- 
cumstance which  afforded  special  and 
peculiar  reasons  for  a  new  choice  :— 
"They  felt  no  inclination  to  borrow  at 
second  hand  what  had  been  pilfered  and 
appropriated  by  a  free  negro  community 
and  a  race  of  savages."  Notwithstand- 
ing this  embarrassment,  however,  the 
Committee  thought  that  something  might 
be  conceded  "  to  what  seemed  so  strong 
and  earnest  a  desire  to  retain  at  least  a 
suggestion  of  the  old  '  stars  and  stripes.' 
Accordingly,  passing  over  a  great  variety 
of  contrivances  foreign  to  the  purpose,— 
"  pretty  when  made  up  by  the  cunning 
skill  of  a  fair  lady's  f  ngers  in  silk,  satin 
and  embroidery,  but  not  appropriate  as 
flags, "--they  hit  upon  a  design  with  a 
certain  resemblance  to  the  old  ensign. 


"A  flag,"  they  considered,  ''should  be 
simple,  readily  made,  and,  above  all, 
capable  of  being  made  up  in  bunting  ; 
it  should  be  different  from  the  flag  of 
any  other  country,  place  or  people  ;  it 
should  be  significant ;  it  should  be  read- 
ily distinguishable  at  a  distance ;  the 
colors  should  be  well  contrasted  and 
durable  ;  and,  lastly,  and  not  the  least 
important  point,  it  should  be  effective 
and  handsome.  The  committee,"  the  re- 
port proceeded,  "humbly  think  that  the 
flag  which  they  submit  combines  these 
requisitions.  It  is  very  easy  to  make. 
It  is  entirely  different  from  any  national 
flag.  The  three  colors  of  which  it  is 
composed — red,  white  and  blue — are  the 
true  republican  colors.  In  heraldry  they 
are  emblematic  of  the  three  great  vir- 
tues— of  valor,  purity  and  truth.  Naval 
men  assure  us  that  it  can  be  recognized 
at  a  great  distance.  The  colors  con- 
trast admirably  and  are  lasting.  In 
effect  and  appearance  it  must  speak  for 
itself.  Your  Committee  therefore  re- 
commend that  the  flag  of  the  Confeder- 
ate States  of  America  shall  consist  of  a 
red  field,  with  a  white  space  extending 
horizontally  through  the  centre,  and 
equal  in  width  to  one  third  the  width  of 
the  flag  ;  the  red  space  above  and  be- 
low to  be  of  the  same  width  as  the 
white  ;  the  union,  blue,  extending  down 
through  the  white  space  and  stopping  at 
the  lower  red  space  ;  in  the  centre  of  the 
union  a  circle  of  white  stars,  correspond- 
ing in  number  with  the  States  of  the 
Confederacy."  The  report  was  adopted 
and  the  new  flag  of  Secessia  given  to 
the  breeze. 

On  the  llth  of  March,  a  permanent 
Constitution  for  the  Confederate  States 
was  adopted.  There  were  several  new 
provisions  engraved  upon  the  Constitu- 


78 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tion  of  the  United  States  in  addition  to 
those  which  we  have  noticed  in  the  Pro- 
visional instrument  on  the  importation 
of  negroes.     The  principle  of  State  sov- 
ereignty was  distinctly  recognized  in  the 
preamble  which  read — "  We,  the  people 
of   the   Confederate   States,  each   State 
acting  in  its  sovereign  and  independent 
character,  in  order  to  form  a  permanent 
Federal  Government,  establish  justice, 
insure  domestic  tranquillity  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and 
our  posterity — invoking  the  iavor  and 
guidance  of  Almighty   G-od — do  ordain 
and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the 
Confederate    States   of   America."      In 
recollection,   perhaps,   of   the  old   New 
England  Fishery  grievance  it  was  pro- 
vided that  no  bounties  shall  be  granted 
from  the  Treasury,  nor  were  any  duties 
to  be  laid  on  foreign  importations  to  fos- 
ter any  branch  of  industry.     The  Post- 
office  Department  was  required  to  pay 
its   expenses   out  of  its   own   revenue. 
There  were  several  regulations  looking 
to  economy  and  responsibility  in  the  ap- 
propriation of  money.     To  give  direct- 
ness to  legislation  and  check  a  dangerous 
practice,  it  was  ordained  that  every  law 
shall  relate  to  but  one  subject  that  shall 
be  expressed  in  the  title.    The  President 


and  Vice  President  were  to  hold  office 
for  six  years  and  the  former  was  not 
to  be  eligible  for  reelection.  Provision 
was  made  for  governing  new  territories 
which  might  be  acquired,  in  all  of  which 
slavery  was  to  be  recognized  and  pro- 
tected. No  law,  it  was  provided,  "de- 
nying or  impairing  the  right  of  property 
in  negro  slaves  "  should  be  passed.  The 
opportunity  for  amendment  of  the  Con- 
stitution was  given  at  the  demand  of  any 
three  States  legally  assembled  in  their 
several  conventions.  At  their  request 
Congress  was  to  summon  a  Convention 
of  all  the  States  to  take  the  suggested 
amendment  into  consideration  and  if  it 
was  there  agreed  upon  it  was,  upon  rati- 
fication by  the  legislatures  of  two  thirds 
of  the  several  States,  or  by  Conventions 
in  two-thirds  thereof,  to  become  a  part 
of  the  Constitution. 

Several  of  these  provisions,  particu- 
larly that  enlarging  the  Presidential 
term,  that  in  reference  to  the  greater 
simplicity  of  legal  enactments,  and  those 
of  an  economical  character,  on  their  pro- 
mulgation, were  commented  upon  with 
favor  at  the  North. 

On  the  16th  of  March  the  Provisional 
Congress  adjourned  to  meet  again  in 
Montgomery  the  second  Monday  of  May. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


INAUGURATION     OF    LINCOLN. 


WHILST  these  proceedings  of  the  rebel 
Confederacy  were  going  on  at  Montgom- 
ery, Abraham  Lincoln,  President  elect 
of  the  United  States,  was  travelling  from 
his  home  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  toward 
Ihe  National  Capital.  Before  accom- 


panying him  on  his  journey,  it  may  not 
be  amiss  to  pause  for  a  moment  and 
glance  at  the  previous  circumstances  of 
a  career  which  was  now  to  be  crowned 
by  the  highest  honor  in  the  gift  of  the 
people.  The  success,  it  will  be  found, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


79 


was  fur  more  due  to  native  intelligence, 
integrity  of  character  and  resolute  per- 
severance, than  to  what  is  usually  called 
education  or  the  gifts  of  fortune. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  now  just  closing 
his  fifty-second  year,  having  first  seen  the 
light  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  in 
February,  1809.  His  grandfather  was 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  .country, 
and  like  msmy  worthy  men  who  in  those 
days  made  their  home  in  that  frontier 
territory,  had  laid  down  his  life,  a  vic- 
tim to  the  warfare  with  the  Indians.  It 
is  as  good  a  title  in  the  West  to  the  grat- 
itude of  posterity  as  if  he  had  fallen  at 
Bunker  Hill,  or  Monmouth.  The  ill-fat- 
ed frontiersman  left  a  family  of  three 
sons,  the  youngest  of  whom,  Thomas,  the 
father  of  the  future  President,  growing 
up  without  education  in  a  life  of  rugged 
labor,  emigrated  to  Indiana.  He  carried 
his  son,  Abraham,  with  him,  tiien  in  his 
eighth  year,  and  the  youth  well  grown 
and  strong,  was  of  much  assistance  in 
clearing  the  forest  for  the  farm.  The 
axe  was  oftener  in  his  hands  than  the 
spelling-book,  his  school  discipline  alto- 
gether riot  exceeding  a  years'  instruction 
and  that  of  the  most  elementary  charac- 
ter. What  he  learned  from  books  he  af- 
terwards acquired  by  himself;  but  his 
education  was  for  a  long  time  in  a  rough, 
practical  school  undecorated  by  the  Mu- 
ses. At  nineteen  he  laid  the  foundation 
for  his  knowledge  of  the  strategic  im- 
portance of  the  Mississippi,  by  a  trip 
down  that  river  to  New  Orleans  in 
the  capacity  of  a  hired  hand  upon  a 
flat-boat.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he 
accompanied  his  father's  family  in  a  new 
emigration  to  Illinois,  where  his  axe  was 
again  brought  into  requisition  in  building 
a  log  cabin  and  splitting  rails  to  fence  the 
new  farm — the  rails  which  gave  him  his 


popular  designation  of  "  the  rail -splitter" 
in  the  canvass  for  the  Presidencj7',  the 
first  time,  probably,  this  vehicle  of  pop- 
ular vengeance  ever  rode  its  victim  to 
any  honorable  political  exaltation.  An- 
other turn  on  the  Mississippi  in  the  trad- 
ing flat-boat  voyaging  followed  by  em- 
ployment in  charge  of  a  mill  at  New 
Salem,  Indiana,  brings  the  young  man  to 
a  new  stage  in  his  career,  as  Captain  of 
a  volunteer  company  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war  of  1832,  where  Jefferson  Davis  and 
other  celebrities  on  both  sides  of  the  pres- 
ent struggle  were  taking  their  first  les- 
sons in  military  life.  He  was  three 
months  in  the  service,  which  he  left  a< 
the  close  of  the  campaign  with  a  stock 
of  popularity  which  encouraged  him  to 
try  his  fortune  in  politics.  He  ran  for 
the  Legislature  as  a  Whig  candidate  ;  but 
the  county  being  democratic  he  was  beat- 
en, while  the  people  of  his  vicinity  were 
for  him  almost  to  a  man.  This,  it  is  said, 
is  the  only  time  he  was  ever  defeated  in 
a  direct  vote  of  the  people.  He  was  next 
engaged  in  a  country  store,  which  did  not 
prove  profitable  ;  when  he  turned  his  at- 
tention to  the  study  of  the  law,  borrow- 
ing the  requisite  books  from  a  neighbor 
in  the  evening  to  return  them  in  the  morn- 
ing. Something  was  thrown  in  his  way 
at  this  time  by  the  surveyor  of  the  coun- 
ty, who  gave  him  a  snare  of  his  employ- 
ment, for  which  Lincoln  rapidly  qualified 
himself.  In  1834,  he  was  sent  to  the  Il- 
linois Legislature,  where  his  "success  is 
proved  by  the  fact  of  his  reelection  for 
three  successive  terms.  He  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar  in  1836,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  removed  to  Springfield,  where 
he  formed  a  legal  partnership  with  Major 
John  F.  Stuart.  His  acuteness  and 
shrewd  sense  soon  made  him  known  in 
the  profession  as  a  master  of  forensic  ar- 


80 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


guraent.  He  at  no  time,  however,  entire- 
ly withdrew  from  politics,  being  earnest- 
ly devoted  to  the  whig  cause  and  an  ac- 
tive champion  of  Henry  Clay,  for  whom 
he  canvassed  the  State  in  1844.  Two 
years  afterwards  he  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress from  the  central  district  of  Illinois, 
and  became  distinguished  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  during  his  term  by 
his  advocacy  of  the  questions — such  as 
domestic  improvements,  and  a  protective 
tariff — with  which  the  whig  party  was 
identified,  while  he  signalized  his  course 
by  a  marked  devotion  to  the  free  soil 
principles,  then  rapidty  rising  in  national 
importance.  He  was  a  candidate  for  the 
United  States  Senate  in  1849,  when  Gen- 
eral Shields  was  chosen  by  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  subsequently,  in  the  summer  of 
1858,  canvassed  the  State  as  a  rival  can- 
lidate  of  the  late  Senator  Douglas  for 
the  same  high  office.  By  an  arrange- 
ment between  the  two,  they  frequently 
spoke  on  the  same  day  at  the  same  place. 
Their  speeches,  delivered  on  these  occa- 
sions, published  together  in  a  single  vol- 
ume, have  been  largely  circulated  and 
certainly  form  a  series  of  the  best  sus- 
tained and  instructive  political  debates 
of  the  kind  on  record.  From  no  other 
source  can  better  information  be  obtained, 
of  the  nature  and  essential  principles  of 
the  present  momentous  political  conflict. 
Having  now  brought  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
the  period  of  his  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, the  facts  connected  with  which 
we  have  already  given,  we  may  properly 
add  to  this  personal  notice  an  interesting 
sketch  of  the  man  and  his  associations 
as  he  appeared  surrounded  by  his  friends, 
at  his  home,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure 
for  his  Inauguration  at  Washington.  An 
intelligent  correspondent  at  Springfield 
writing  at  the  end  of  January  presents 


this  interesting  description  of  the  simple 
scene,  with  the  good  humored  host  and 
bustling  throng  of  visitors.  "  All,"  says 
this  observer,  "  meet  a  hearty  welcome 
and  depart  impressed  with  the  good 
humor,  if  not  good  looks,  of  the  '  tall  man 
eloquent.'  He  has  an  exceedingly  happy 
faculty  in  receiving  all  manner  of  men, 
on  every  conceivable  business,  from  that 
prompted  by  the  '  low  vice  curiosity'  to 
that  involving  the  vital  interests  of  the 
republic.  The  Springfield  White  House 
is  placed  on  the  north-east  corner  of 
Eighth  and  Jackson  streets,  and  is  a 
plain  wooden  structure  of  two  stories, 
painted  brown,  with  green  blinds.  Its 
appearance  is  more  modest  than  that  of 
many  houses  in  its  vicinity.  No  one 
would  suspect  it  of  illustrious  associations. 
Yet  it  is  unquestionably  at  this  writing 
the  most  notable  building  and  important 
centre  in  Springfield,  for  since  Governor 
Yates  took  possession  of  the  Executive 
chamber  at  the  Capitol,  Mr.  Lincoln  is 
only  to  be  seen  at  '  his  warm  but  sim- 
ple home.'  A  polite  mulatto  servant, 
'  William,'  answers  the  bell  and  ushers 
all  callers  into  the  front  parlor,  at  the  left 
of  the  hall,  a  comfortable  though  severely 
plain  room,  with  a  pine  mantel,  an  in- 
grain carpet,  low  ceilings  and  a  wood 
stove.  The  head  of  the  house,  if  not 
already  present,  soon  enters  from  his 
oSice  on  the  second  floor,  and  is  instantly 
in  close  and  familiar  conversation  with 
the  visitor  whoever  he  may  be.  The 
flat-boatman  and  the  statesman,  the  beg- 
gar and  the  millionaire,  are  treated  with 
equal  courtesy,  and  all  heard  with 
marvellous  patience.  Honors  have  not 
changed  the  manners  of  '  Honest  Old 
Abe.'  Every  state  and  territory  sends 
its  representatives.  A  day  or  two  since 
a  gentleman  from  Central  Georgia  made 


LINCOLN   AT  HOME. 


81 


a  long  visit.  Several  have  come  from 
Mississippi ;  and  yesterday  a  Texan  had  a 
most  agreeable  interview.  '  Lincoln  is 
a  fine  man'  said  a  burly  Virginian  to  me 
at  the  hotel  ;  '  he  will  never  intention- 
ally harm  any  one.' 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  rare  social  qualities  have  con- 
tributed much  to  his  political  success. 
Frank,  fluent  and  sparlding  in  conver- 
sation, with  a  keen  relish  for  humor, 

'  Forever  foremost  in  the  ranks  of  fun, 
The  laughing  herald  of  the  harmless  pun,' 

he  has  always  been  a  favorite  at  the  fire- 
side, and  the  life  of  the  court-room.  A 
volume  might  bo  filled  with  his  original 
and  witty  sayings,  as  fondly  treasured  by 
the  community  of  which  he  has  so  long 
been  the  pride.  A  few  days  since,  I 
happened  to  be  present  when  several  old 
friends,  rough  prairie  farmers,  called  to 
see  him,  announcing  as  their  sole  purpose 
a  desire  to  see  a  rail-splitter  turned 
President.  The  occasion  was  adapted  to 
call  forth  his  best  humor,  and  it  did  so  to 
the  great  entertainment  of  his  rustic 
visitors  and  your  correspondent.  Old 
laughter-provoking  stories  of  other  days 
were  rehearsed  with  inimitable  zest,  and 
the  details  of  early  western  life  and 
adventure  dwelt  upon  with  unfeigned 
delight.  No  one  who  knows  Mr.  Lincoln 
thoroughly  can  be  surprised  at  his  great 
popularity  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
He  is  possessed  of  all  the  elements  com- 
posing a  true  western  man,  and  his  purity 
of  character  and  indubitable  integrity  of 
purpose  add  respect  to  admiration  for  his 
private  and  public  life.  His  word  '  you 
may  believe,  and  pawn  your  soul  upon 
il,;  It  is  this  sterling  honesty  (with 
utter  fearlessness),  even  beyond  his  vast 
ability  and  political  sagacity,  that  is  to 
command  confidence  in  his  administration. 
11 


1  A  good  fame  is  better  than  a  good 
face.'  So  the  proverb  tells  us,  and  it  has 
been  gladly  accepted  by  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  who  have  not  dared  to  deny 
his  forbidding  visage.  They  may  now, 
however,  do  so  without  hesitation,  for  a 
vigorous  growth  of  comely  whiskers  has 
entirely  changed  his  facial  appearance. 
The  improvement  is  remarkable.  The 
gaunt,  hollow  cheeks,  and  long,  lank  jaw- 
bones are  so  developed  as  to  give  fulness 
and  rotundity  to  the  entire  face,  and  if 
he  escapes  the  barbers,  Mr.  Lincoln  will 
go  to  Washington  an  exceedingly  pre- 
sentable man.  His  stature  is  truly  tower- 
ing. Gen.  Scott  will  alone,  of  all  the 
official  dignitaries,  be  able  to  compare 
inches  with  him."* 

On  the  morning  of  the  llth  of  Feb- 
ruary, Mr.  Lincoln  parted  with  his 
friends  at  the  railway  station  in  Spring- 
field, addressing  them  a  few  words  from 
the  platform,  marked  by  personal  feel- 
ing and  a  sense  of  the  gravity  of  the 
position  to  which  he  was  called.  "My 
friends,"  said  he,  "no  one  not  in  my 
position  can  appreciate  the  sadness  I 
feel  at  this  parting.  To  this  people  I 
owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have  lived 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ;  here 
my  children  were  born,  and  here  one  of 
them  lies  buried.  I  know  not  how  soon 
I  shall  see  you  again.  A  duty  devolves 
upon  me  which  is,  perhaps,  greater  than 
that  which  has  devolved  upon  any  other 
man  since  the  days  of  Washington.  He 
never  would  have  succeeded  except  for 
the  aid  of  Divine  Providence,  upon 
which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel  that 
I  can  not  succeed  without  the  same  Di- 
vine aid  which  sustained  him  ;  and  in 
the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my  re- 


*  Correspondence  of  the  N.  Y.  Evening  Pott,  Spring 
field,  HI.,  January  28, 1861. 


82 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


liance  for  support,  and  I  hope  you,  my 
friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive 
that  Divine  assistance,  without  which  I 
cannot  succeed,  but  with  which  success 
is  certain.  Again  I  bid  you  all  an  af- 
fectionate farewell."  The  assembly  re- 
sponded to  this  burst  of  emotion  with 
tears,  and  the  country  accepted  it  as  a 
good  indication  of  the  future  that  he  who 
was  to  guide  the  destinies  of  the  nation 
through  so  important  a  period  should 
approach  his  work  with  a  profound  re- 
ligious earnestness. 

Mr.  Lincoln  travelled  with  his  wife 
and  son,  and  was  accompanied  by  a 
number  of  friends  in  military  and  civil 
life,  some  of  whom  were  afterward  dis- 
tinguished in  the  events  which  rapidly 
followed.  Among  these  was  Major  Hun- 
ter, of  the  United  States  Army,  and  a 
young  Colonel  of  the  militia  service,  El- 
mer E.  Ellsworth,  then  engaged  in  study- 
ing law  at  Springfield,  with  his  thoughts, 
however,  more  intent  on  military  equip- 
ments and  organizations.  A  soldier's 
life  was  his  passion.  We  shall  see  him 
chivalrously  hurrying  to  a  soldier's  death. 
Dr.  Wallace,  the  family  physician  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  was  with  him.  Various  local 
political  celebrities  gathered  in  his  train 
as  he  proceeded. 

At  Cincinnati,  the  next  day,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, evidently  addressing  himself  to  an 
audience  other  than  that  before  him,  took 
occasion  to  recall  a  speech  which  he  had 
made  a  year  before  the  election  in  that 
place  to  the  Kentuckians,  who  were  then 
among  his  auditors.  He  had,  at  that 
time,  he  said,  prophesied  that  the  Re- 
publicans would  be  placed  in  power,  and 
had  told  them  by  what  principles,  in  that 
event,  the  incoming  party  would  be  guid- 
ed. This  he  now  repeated  as  an  indica- 
tion of  his  own  future  policy.  "  We 


mean  to  treat  you,"  he  said,  "  as  near  as 
we  possibly  can  as  Washington,  Jeffer- 
son and  Madison  treated  you.  We  meau 
to  leave  you  alone,  and  in  no  way  to  in- 
terfere with  your  institutions  ;  to  abide 
by  all  and  every  compromise  of  the 
Constitution,  and,  in  a  word,  coming 
back  to  the  original  proposition,  to  treat 
you  so  far  as  degenerate  men,  if  we 
have  degenerated,  may,  according  to  the 
example  of  those  noble  fathers,  Wash- 
ington, Jefferson  and  Madison.  We 
mean  to  remember,"  he  added,  with  a 
homely  earnestness,  which,  sure  of  his 
own  honest  meaning,  he  employed,  Avith 
confidence  that  it  would  be  interpreted 
simply  as  it  was  meant,  "  that  you  are 
as  good  as  we  ;  that  there  is  no  differ- 
ence between  us  other  than  the  differ- 
ence of  circumstances.  We  mean  to  re- 
cognize and  bear  in  mind  that  you  have 
as  good  hearts  in  your  bosoms  as  other 
people,  or  as  we  claim  to  have,  and  treat 
you  accordingly."  This  was  not  the  or- 
dinary conventional  language  of  politic- 
ians, but  the  direct  expression  of  a  man 
unused  to  artifice,  who  was  willing  to  say 
a  plain  thing  in  a  plain  way. 

At  Indianapolis,  on  the  same  day,  he 
touched  more  intimately  the  wound  which 
was  afflicting  the  national  life.  In  a  series 
of  tentative  questions,  uttered  as  if  he 
were  thinking  aloud,  in  a  rude  vigorous 
way,  not  without  a  certain  humor  tinging 
the  sagacity,  he  proposed  the  problem, 
rising  in  all  men's  minds,  and  which  all 
felt  and  knew  it  was  the  business  of  the 
coming  Administration  to  solve.  In  this 
way,  in  a  Socratic  mood,  he  stripped  the 
disguises  from  words  and  showed  the  re- 
alities lying  beneath  them.  "The  words 
'  coercion '  and  '  invasion,'  "  said  he,  "  are 
much  used  in  these  days,  and  often  with 
some  temper  and  hot  blood.  Let  us 


ON  THE   WAY   TO   WASHINGTON. 


83 


make  sure,  if  we  car  that  we  do  not 
misunderstand  the  meaning  of  those  who 
use  them.  What  is  '  coercion  ? '  what  is 
'  invasion:  ? '  Would  the  marching  of  an 
army  into  South  Carolina,  without  the 
consent  of  her  people,  and  with  hostile 
intent  toward  them,  be  invasion  ?  I  cer- 
tainly think  it  would  be  '  coercion '  if  the 
South  Carolinians  were  forced  to  submit. 
But  if  the  United  States  should  merely 
hold  and  retake  its  own  forts  and  other 
property,  and  collect  the  duties  on  for- 
eign importations,  or  even  withhold  the 
mails  from  places  where  they  were  ha- 
bitually violated,  would  any  or  all  these 
things  be  '  invasion '  or  '  coercion '  ?  Do 
our  professed  lovers  of  the  Union,  but 
who  spitefully  resolve  that  they  will  re- 
sist coercion  and  invasion,  understand 
that  such  things  as  these,  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  would  be  coercion  or 
invasion  of  a  State  ?  If  so.  their  idea  of 
means  to  preserve  the  object  of  their 
great  affection  would  seem  to  be  exceed- 
ingly thin  and  airy.  If  sick,  the  little 
pills  of  the  homoeopathist  would  be  much 
too  large  for  them  to  swallow.  In  their 
view,  the  Union,  as  a  family  relation, 
would  seem  to  be  no  regular  marriage, 
but  rather  a  sort  of  free  love  arrange- 
ment, to  be  maintained  on  passional  at- 
traction. By  the  way,"  he  continued, 
brushing  away  all  obstructions  in  a  man- 
ner calculated  to  dismay  a  Virginia  poli- 
tician, "  in  what  consists  the  special  sa- 
credness  of  a  State  ?  I  speak  not  of  the 
position  assigned  to  a  State  in  the  Union 
by  the  Constitution,  for  that  by  the  bond 
we  all  recognize.  That  position,  how- 
ever, a  State  cannot  carry  out  of  the 
Union  with  it.  I  speak  of  that  assumed 
primary  right  of  a  State  to  rule  all  which 
is  less  than  itself,  and  to  ruin  all  which  is 
largei  than  itself.  If  a  State  snd  a  coun- 


try, in  a  given  case,  should  be  equal  in 
extent  of  territory,  and  equal  in  num- 
bers of  inhabitants,  in  what,  as  a  matter 
of  principle,  is  the  State  better  than  the 
country  ?  Would  an  exchange  of  names 
be  an  exchange  of  rights  ?  Upon  prin- 
ciple, on  what  rightful  principle,  may  a 
State,  being  no  more  than  one-fiftieth 
part  of  the  nation  in  soil  and  population, 
break  up  the  nation,  and  then  coerce  a 
proportionally  larger  subdivision  of  it- 
self in  the  most  arbitrary  way  ?  What 
mysterious  right  to  play  tyrant  is  con- 
ferred on  a  district  of  country,  with  its 
people  by  merely  calling  it  a  State? 
Fellow  citizens,"  he  concluded,  "  I  am 
not  asserting  anything.  I  am  merely 
asking  questions  for  you  to  consider." 

The  next  day,  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  he 
addressed  the  people  again,  still  prudent- 
ly abstaining  from  declaring  any  fixed 
line  of  policy,  not  knowing  what  future 
events  might  dictate,  and  reserving  to  him- 
self the  liberty  to  act  accordingly.  His 
course  was  then  pursued  by  way  of 
Cleveland,  Buffalo,  and  Albany  to  the 
city  of  New  York,  while  he  was  every- 
where greeted  with  enthusiasm  on  the  way. 
He  reached  New  York  on  the  nineteenth, 
and  was  escorted  from  the  terminus  of  the 
Hudson  River  Eailroad  through  the  Av- 
enues and  Broadway  to  his  quarters  at 
the  Astor  House,  where  he  responded  to 
the  congratulations  of  an  immense  throng 
from  the  balcony.  He  was  received  by 
Mayor  Wood  the  next  day  ,at  the  City 
Hall,  and  in  the  few  words  of  reply 
which  he  made  to  a  species  of  civic  lec- 
ture on  the  crisis,  used  this  illustration  on 
the  subject  of  the  preservation,  of  the 
Union.  He  compared  it  to  a  ship  "  made 
for  the  carrying  and  preservation  of  the 
cargo,"  which  should  never  be  abandon- 
ed so  long  as  it  can  be  saved  with  cargo. 


84 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


but  which,  he  seemed  to  admit,  it  might 
be  necessary  according  to  circumstances 
to  lighten  or  desert.  "  So  long,"  he  ad- 
ded, in  application  of  this  illustration,  "  as 
it  is  possible  that  the  prosperity  and  lib- 
erties of  the  people  can  be  preserved  in 
this  Union,  it  shall  be  my  purpose  at  all 
times  to  use  all  my  power  to  aid  in  its 
perpetuation." 

From  New  York  Mr.  Lincoln  proceed- 
ed by  way  of  Trenton  to  Philadelphia, 
where,  on  the  twenty-second,  Washing- 
ton's birthday,  with  appropriate  ceremo- 
nies, he  raised  the  national  flag  on  Inde- 
pendence Hall.     The  State  of  Kansas 
having  recently  been  admitted   to   the 
Union,  the  occasion  was  marked  by  the 
addition  of  a  new  star,  the  thirty-fourth, 
to  the  field  of  the  banner.     Previous  to 
this  act  he  had  responded  to  an  address 
in  the  Hall,  when,  in  reference  to  the 
principles  which  had  been  consecrated  on 
the  spot,  he  said,  with  feeling  :  "I  have 
often  pondered  over  the  dangers  which 
were  incurred  by  the  men  who  assembled 
here  and  framed  and  adopted  that  Dec- 
laration of  Independence.     I  have  pon- 
dered over  the  toils  that  were  endured 
by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army 
who  achieved  that  Independence.     I  have 
often  inquired  of  myself,  what  great  prin- 
ciple or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  Con- 
federacy so  long  together  ?     It  was  not 
the  mere  matter  of  the  separation  of  the 
Colonies  from  the  mother  land  ;  but  that 
sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence which  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to 
the  people  of  this  country,  but,  I  hope, 
to  the  world  for  all  future  time.     It  was 
that  which  gave  promise  that,  in  due  time, 
the  weight  should  be  lifted  from  the  shoul- 
ders of  all  men.    This  is  a  sentiment  em- 
bodied in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence.    Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country 


be  saved  upon  this  principle  ?  If  it  can, 
I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happi- 
est men  in  the  world,  if  I  can  help  to 
save  it.  If  it  cannot  be  saved  upon  that 
principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful.  But  if 
this  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giv- 
ing up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say, 
I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this 
spot  than  surrender  it."  Circumstances 
soon  occurred  which  called  attention  to 
this  last  sentence.  Its  import,  at  the 
time,  was  not  suspected. 

Thus  far,  indeed,  the  tour  of  the  Pres- 
ident elect  had  proceeded  without  any 
serious  difficulty.     There  had  been  some 
embarrassment  from  the  crowd,  in  the 
absence  of  an  adequate  police  to  main- 
tain order  at  the  station  at  Buffalo,  where 
the  arm  of  Major  Hunter  was  dislocated 
in  the  effort  to  protect  the  party,  and 
there  had  been  some  criticisms  by  the 
politicians,  of  the  style  and  matter  of  the 
occasional  speeches  ;  but  nothing  had  oc- 
curred to  mar  the  general  harmony  or  jus- 
tify the  apprehensions  which  had  been  ex- 
pressed of  a  violent  interruption  of  the 
journey.     It  was  not  to  be  denied,  how- 
ver,  that  there  was  some  uneasiness  in  the 
3ublic  mind.  There  were  darkintimations 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  not  be  allowed  to 
proceed  to  Washington  in  safety,  and  as- 
sassination even  was  vaguely  hinted  at. 
His  friends,  however,  were  on  the  alert, 
and  it  was  evident  from  the  thorough 
police  arrangements  along  the  line  of  the 
procession  in  New  York  that  his  move- 
ments were  guarded.     There  was  nothing 
definite,  however,  to  create  any  particu- 
lar anxiety,  and  the  suspicion  was  passing 
away,  with  many  other  fiendish  threats 
which  had  been  uttered  in  bravado  after 
the  recent  election,  as  the  gossip  of  the 
hour.      Suddenly,  however,  the  public 
was  startled  by  the  intelligence  that  tfo 


PLOT  AT  ASSASSINATION. 


85 


contemplated  line  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  tour 
had  been  broken  up,  and  that,  to  avoid 
the  imminent  danger  of  assassination  he 
had  made  his  way  in  disguise  by  night, 
in  a  special  railway  train  to  Washington. 

The  circumstances  of  this  remarkable 
affair,  as  they  were  related  at  the  time, 
were  these.  We  take  the  account  as  it 
was  published  in  the  Albany  Evening 
Journal,  the  editor  of  which  paper,  Mr. 
Thurlow  Weed,  we  may  mention,  was 
spoken  of  as  one  of  the  persons  to  whom 
the  plot  was  first  communicated  by  the 
police  : — 

"  Some  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  having 
heard  that  a  conspiracy  existed  to  assas- 
sinate him  on  his  way  to  Washington,  set 
on  foot  an  investigation  of  the  matter. 
For  this  purpose  they  employed  a  detec- 
tive of  great  experience,  who  was  en- 
gaged at  Baltimore  in  the  business  some 
three  weeks  prior  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  ex- 
pected arrival  there,  employing  both  men 
and  women  to  assist  him.  Shortly  after 
coming  to  Baltimore,  the  detective  dis- 
covered a  combination  of  men  banded 
together  under  a  solemn  oath  to  assas- 
sinate the  President  elect.  The  leader 
of  the  conspirators  was  an  Italian  refu- 
gee, a  barber,  well  known  in  Baltimore, 
who  assumed  the  name  of  Orsini,  as 
indicative  of  the  part  he  was  to  perform. 
The  assistants  employed  by  the  detective, 
who,  like  himself,  were  strangers  in  Balti- 
more City,  by  assuming  to  be  secession- 
ists from  Louisiana  and  other  seceding 
States,  gained  the  confidence  of  some  of 
the  conspirators,  and  were  intrusted  with 
their  plans.  It  was  arranged  in  case  Mr. 
Lincoln  should  pass  safely  over  the  rail- 
road to  Baltimore,  that  the  conspirators 
should  mingle  with  the  crowd  which  might 
surround  his  carriage,  and  ty  pretending 
to  be  his  friends,  be  enabled  to  approach 


his  person,  when,  upon  a  signal  from  their 
leader,  some  of  them  would  shoot  at  Mr. 
Lincoln  with  their  pistols,  and  others 
would  throw  into  his  carriage  hand- 
grenades  filled  with  detonating  powder, 
similar  to  those  used  in  the  attempted 
assassination  of  the  Emperor  Louis  Nap- 
oleon. It  was  intended  that  in  the  con- 
fusion which  should  result  from  this 
attack,  the  assailants  should  escape  to  a 
vessel  which  was  waiting  in  the  harbor  to 
receive  them,  and  be  carried  to  Mobile, 
in  the  seceding  State  of  Alabama. 

"  Upon  Mr.  Lincoln's  arrival  in  Phil 
adelphia  upon  Thursday,  the  21st  of 
February,  the  detective  visited  Philadel- 
phia, and  submitted  to  certain  friends  of 
the  President  elect,  the  information  he 
had  collected  as  to  the  conspirators  and 
their  plans.  An  interview  was  immedi- 
ately arranged  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
the  detective.  The  interview  took  place 
in  Mr.  Lincoln's  room,  in  the  Continental 
Hotel,  where  he  was  staying  during  his 
visit  to  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Lincoln,  hav- 
ing heard  the  officer's  statement,  informed 
him  that  he  had  promised  to  raise  the 
American  flag  on  Independence  Hall  on 
the  next  morning — the  morning  of  the 
Anniversary  of  Washington's  Birthday — 
and  that  he  had  accepted  the  invitation 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  to  be 
publicly  received  by  that  body  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day.  '  Both  of 
these  engagements,'  said  he,  with  em- 
phasis, '  I  will  keep  if  it  costs  me  my  life. 
If,  however,  after  I  shall  have  concluded 
these  engagements,  you  can  take  me  in 
safety  to  Washington,  I  will  place  myself 
at  your  disposal,  and  authorize  you  to 
make  such  arrangements  as  you  may 
deem  proper  for  that  purpose.' 

"  On  the  next  day,  in  the   morning, 
Mr.  Lincoln  performed  the  ceremony  of 


86 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


raising  the  American  flag  on  Indepen- 
dence Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  according  to 
his  promise,  and  arrived  at  Harrisburg 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  where 
he  was  formally  welcomed  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania Legislature.  After  the  recep- 
tion he  retired  to  his  hotel,  the  Jones 
House,  and  withdrew  with  a  few  con- 
fidential friends  to  a  private  apartment. 
Here  he  remained  until  nearly  6  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  when,  in  company  with 
Col.  Lamon,  he  quietly  entered  a  carriage 
without  observation,  and  was  driven  to 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  where  a 
special  train  for  Philadelphia  was  waiting 
for  him.  Simultaneously  with  his  de- 
parture from  Harrisburg,  the  telegraph 
wires  were  cut,  so  that  his  departure,  if 
it  should  become  known,  might  not  be 
communicated  at  a  distance.  The  special 
train  arrived  in  Philadelphia  at  lOf 
o'clock  at  night.  Here  he  was  met  by 
the  detective,  who  had  a  carriage  in  readi- 
ness into  which  the  party  entered,  and 
were  driven  to  the  depot  of%  the  Phila- 
delphia, Wilmington  and  Baltimore  Rail- 
road. They  did  not  reach  the  depot 
until  Hi  o'clock  ;  but,  fortunately  for 
them,  the  regular  train,  the  hour  of  which 
for  starting  was  eleven,  had  been  delayed. 
The  party  then  took  berths  in  the  sleep- 
ing car,  and  without  change  of  cars, 
passed  directly  through  to  Washington, 
tfhere  they  arrived  at  the  usual  hour, 
6^  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  Saturday 
the  23d.  Mr.  Lincoln  wore  no  disguise 
whatever,  but  journeyed  in  an  ordinary 
travelling  dress. 

"  It  is  proper  to  state  here  that,  prior 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  arrival  in  Philadelphia, 
(Ipneral  Scott  and  Senator  Seward,  in 
Washington,  had  been  apprised  from 
independent  sources,  that  imminent  dan- 
ger threatened  Mr.  Lincoln  in  case  he 


should  publicly  pass  through  Baltimore  ; 
and  accordingly  a  special  messenger,  Mr. 
Frederick  W.  Seward,  a  son  of  Senator 
Seward,  was  despatched  to  Philadelphia, 
to  urge  Mr.  Lincoln  to  come  direct  to 
Washington,  in  a  quiet  manner.  The 
messenger  arrived  in  Philadelphia  late 
on  Thursday  night,  and  had  an  interview 
with  the  President  elect,  immediately 
subsequent  to  his  interview  with  the  de- 
tective. He  was  informed  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  would  arrive  by  the  early  train 
on  Saturday  morning,  and,  in  accordance 
with  this  information,  Mr.  Washburn, 
member  of  Congress  from  Illinois,  awaited 
the  President  elect  at  the  depot  in  Wash- 
ington, whence  he  was  taken  in  a  car- 
riage to  Willard's  Hotel,  where  Senator 
Seward  stood  ready  to  receive  him." 

Little  more  than  a  week  now  inter- 
vened before  the  inauguration  of  the  new 
President.  It  was  spent  in  social  courte- 
sies, and  in  the  study  of  the  momentous 
interests  which  the  old  Administration 
and  the  old  Congress  were  leaving  to 
their  successors.  "After  me,  the  deluge," 
might  have  been  adopted  as  the  motto 
of  the  retiring  President,  who  shook  off 
the  cares  of  office  as  a  heavy  burden 
which  he  would  willingly  part  with. 

Owing  to  the  excellent  provisions  for 
the  safety  of  Washington,  made  under 
the  directions  of  General  Scott,  who, 
from  the  scanty  resources  of  the  army 
as  it  was  then  distributed,  had  assembled 
with  difficulty  some  six  hundred  national 
troops  in  the  city,  there  was  but  little 
danger  of  any  interference  with  the  in- 
auguration ceremonies.  They  took  place 
according  to  the  usual  programme.  There 
was  a  procession  composed  of  the  cus- 
tomary official  personages.  President 
Buchanan  left  the  White  House  in  an 
open  barouche,  and  at  Willard's,  receiv- 


THE   INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 


87 


ed  Mr.  Lincoln,  when  they  proceeded 
together  to  the  capitol.  The  customary 
address  was  delivered  by  the  President 
elect  from  a  platform  on  the  portico  of 
the  building,  where  he  was  surrounded 
by  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  members  of  both  Houses  and  the 
foreign  ministers.  In  front,  many  thou- 
sands of  citizens  were  assembled  from 
all  parts  of  the  country — among  them 
those  who  had  labored  devotedly  for  the 
election  of  a  Republican  President,  and 
who  went  prepared  to  defend  the  inau- 
guration if  necessary,  with  their  lives. 
After  the  reading  of  the  address,  which 
was  delivered  in  a  firm,  clear  tone,  the 
oath  was  administered  by  Chief-Justice 
Taney.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  ninth  Presi- 
dent who  had  come  into  office  during  his 
judicial  career. 

The  Inaugural  Address  was  a  thought- 
ful, manly,  wrell-considered  paper — firm 
in  the  expression  of  a  determination  to 
maintain  the  laws  ;  kind  and  concilia- 
tory in  the  manifest  effort  to  allay  preju- 
dice, and,  if  possible,  find  a  quiet  path 
out  of  existing  embarrassments.  Like 
all  the  compositions  of  its  author,  it 
bore  a  marked  individual  character.  It 
was  evidently  the  result  of  much  anx- 
ious thinking,  worked  out  in  the  writer's 
own  way ;  and,  if  it  occasionally  lacked 
elegance  of  style,  the  frequent  striking, 
pithy  phraseology  made  amends  for  any 
want  of  smoothness.  Without  unneces- 
sary preamble,  the  speaker  at  the  very 
outset,  touched  upon  the  ostensible  griev- 
ance or  complaint  of  the  South,  as  if  he 
would  once  for  all  remove  a  stumbling- 
block  from  the  threshold  of  his  Adminis- 
tration. "Apprehension,"  he  said,  "  seems 
to  exist  among  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States,  that,  by  the  accession  of  a  Repub- 
lican Administration,  their  property  and 


their  peace  and  personal  security  are  to  be 
endangered.  There  has  never  been  any 
reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehension. 
Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the 
contrary  has  all  the  while  existed,  arid 
been  open  to  their  inspection.  It  is 
found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches 
of  him  who  now  addresses  you.  I  do 
but  quote  from  one  of  those  speeches 
when  I  declare  that  '  I  have  no  purpose, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with 
the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States 
where  it  exists.'  I  believe  I  have  no 
lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  in- 
clination to  do  so.  Those  who  nominated 
and  elected  me  did  so  with  a  full  knowl- 
edge that  I  had  made  this,  and  made 
many  similar  declarations,  and  had  never 
recanted  them.  And,  more  than  this, 
they  placed  in  the  platform  for  my  ac- 
ceptance, and  as  a  law  to  themselves  and 
to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic  resolution 
which  I  now  read  : — '  Resolved,  that  the 
maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the 
States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each 
State  to  order  and  control  its  own  do- 
mestic institutions  according  to  its  own 
judgment  exclusively,  is  essential  to  that 
balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfec- 
tion and  endurance  of  our  political  fabric 
depends  ;  and  we  denounce  the  lawless 
invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil  of 
any  State  or  territory,  no  matter  under 
what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of 
crimes.'  I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments, 
and  in  doing  so,  I  only  press  upon  the 
public  attention  the  most  conclusive  evi- 
dence of  which  the  case  is  susceptible, 
that  the  property,  peace  and  security  of 
no  section  are  to  be  in  anywise  endangered 
by  the  now  incoming  Administration.  I 
add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which, 
consistently  with  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws,  can  be  given,  will  be  cheerfully 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


given  to  all  the  States  when  lawfully  de- 
manded, for  whatever  cause,  as  cheer- 
fully to  one  section  as  to  another." 

He  then  recited  the  provision  of  the 
Constitution  requiring  the  delivering  up  of 
fugitives  from  service  or  labor.  "  It  is 
scarcely  questioned,"  he  said,  "  that  this 
provision  was  intended  by  those  who 
made  it  for  the  reclaiming  of  what  we 
call  fugitive  slaves,  and  the  intention  of 
the  lawgiver  is  the  law.  All  members  of 
Congress  swear  their  support  to  the  whole 
Constitution— to  this  provision  as  well  as 
any  other.  To  the  proposition,  then, 
that  slaves  whose  cases  come  within  the 
terms  of  this  clause  '  shall  be  delivered 
up/  their  oaths  are  unanimous.  Now, 
if  they  would  make  the  effort  in  good 
temper,  could  they  not,  with  nearly  equal 
unanimity,  frame  and  pass  a  law  by 
means  of  which  to  keep  good  that  unani- 
mous oath  ?  There  is  some  difference  of 
opinion  whether  this  clause  should  be 
enforced  by  national  or  by  state  author- 
ity, but  surely  that  difference  is  not  a 
very  material  one.  If  the  slave  is  to  be 
surrendered,  it  can  be  of  but  little  con- 
sequence to  him  or  to  others  by  which 
authority  it  is  done  ;  and  should  any  one, 
in  any  case,  be  content  that  this  oath 
shall  go  unkept  on  a  merely  unsubstantial 
controversy  as  to  how  it  shall  be  kept  ? 
Again,  in  any  law  upon  this  subject, 
ought  not  all  the  safeguards  of  liberty 
known  in  the  civilized  and  humane  juris- 
prudence to  be  introduced,  so  that  a  free 
man  be  not,  in  any  case,  surrendered  as 
a  slave  ?  And  might  it  not  be  well  at 
the  same  time  to  provide  by  law  for  the 
enforcement  of  that  clause  in  the  Consti- 
tution which  guaranties  that  '  the  citi- 
zens of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all 
the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens 
in  the  several  states?'  I  take  the  of- 


ficial oath  to-day  with  no  mental  reser- 
vations, and  with  no  purpose  to  construe 
the  Constitution  or  laws  by  any  hyper- 
critical rules,  and  while  I  do  not  choose 
now  to  specify  particular  acts  of  Congress 
as  proper  to  be  enforced,  I  do  suggest 
that  it  will  be  much  safer  for  all,  both  in 
official  and  private  stations,  to  conform 
to  and  abide  by  all  those  acts  which 
stand  unrepealed,  than  to  violate  any  of 
them,  trusting  to  find  impunity  in  having 
them  held  to  be  unconstitutional." 

Having  thus  explicitly  declared  his 
views  on  a  subject  upon  which  there  had 
been  much  misrepresentation  he  pro- 
ceeded to  announce  his  position  in  regard 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  authority  of 
the  Union.  "  It  is  seventy- two  years," 
said  he,  "  since  the  first  inauguration  of 
a  President  under  our  national  Constitu- 
tion. During  that  period  fifteen  different 
and  very  distinguished  citizens  have  in 
succession  administered  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government.  They  have 
conducted  it  through  many  perils,  and 
generally  with  great  success.  Yet,  with 
all  this  scope  for  precedent,  I  now  enter 
upon  the  same  task,  for  the  brief  consti- 
tutional term  of  four  years,  under  great 
and  peculiar  difficulties.  A  disruption  of 
the  federal  Union,  heretofore  only  men- 
aced, is  now  formidably  attempted.  I  hold 
that  in  the  contemplation  of  universal  law 
and  of  the  Constitution  the  union  of  these 
States  is  perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied, 
if  not  expressed,  in  the  fundamental  law 
of  all  national  governments.  It  is  safe 
to  assert  that  no  government  proper  ever 
had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law  for  its 
own  termination.  Continue  to  execute 
all  the  express  provisions  of  our  national 
Constitution,  and  the  Union  will  endure 
forever,  it  being  impossible  to  destroy  it 
except  by  some  action  not  provided  for 


INTENTIONS   OF  THE   GOVERNMENT. 


89 


in  the  instrument  itself.  Again,  if  the 
United  States  be  not  a  government  pro- 
per by  an  association  of  States  in  the 
nature  oi  a  contract  merely,  can  it,  as  a 
contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by  all  the 
the  parties  who  made  it  ?  One  party  to 
a  contract  may  violate  it — break  it,  so  to 
speak — but  does  it  not  require  all  to  law- 
fully rescind  it  ?  Descending  from  these 
general  principles  we  find  the  proposition 
that  in  legal  contemplation  the  Union  is 
perpetual,  confirmed  by  the  history  of 
the  Union  itself.  The  Union  is  much 
older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was 
formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of  Asso- 
ciation in  1774.  It  was  matured  and 
continued  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence in  1776.  It  was  further  matured, 
and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen 
States  expressly  plighted  and  engaged 
that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation  in  1778,  and  finally, 
in  1787,  one  of  the  declared  objects  for 
ordaining  and  establishing  the  Constitu- 
tion was  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union. 
But  if  the  destruction  of  the  Union  by 
one  or  by  a  part  only  of  the  States  be 
lawfully  possible,  the  Union  is  less  than 
before,  the  Constitution  having  lost  the 
vital  element  of  perpetuity.  It  follows 
from  these  views  that  no  State  upon  its 
own  mere  motion  can  lawfully  get  out  of 
the  Union  ;  that  resolves  and  ordinances 
to  that  effect  are  legally  void,  and  that 
acts  of  violence  within  any  State  or 
States  against  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  are  insurrectionary,  or  revolution- 
ary, according  to  circumstances. 

"  I  therefore  consider,"  continued  he, 
in  direct  reference  to  the  policy  to  be 
pursued  under  existing  difficulties,  "that, 
in  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws, 
the  Union  is  unbroken,  and,  to  the  extent 
of  my  ability  I  shall  take  care,  as  the 
12 


Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  upon 
me,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  shall  be 
faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States. 
Doing  this,  which  I  deem  to  be  only  a 
simple  duty  on  my  part,  I  shall  perfectly 
perform  it,  so  far  as  is  practicable,  unless 
my  rightful  masters,  the  American  peo- 
ple, shall  withhold  the  requisition,  or  in 
some  authoritative  manner  direct  the  con- 
trary. I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded 
as  a  menace,  but  only  as  the  declared 
purpose  of  the  Union,  that  it  will  consti- 
tutionally defend  and  maintain  itself.  In 
doing  this  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or 
violence,  and  there  shall  be  none  unless 
it  is  forced  upon  the  national  authority. 
The  power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to 
hold,  occupy  and  possess  ike  property  and 
places  belonging  to  the  government,  and 
collect  the  duties  and  imposts  ;  but  be- 
yond what  may  be  necessary  for  these 
objects  there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  us- 
ing of  force  against  or  among  the  people 
anywhere.  Where  hostility  to  the  United 
States  shall  be  so  great  and  so  universal 
as  to  prevent  competent  resident  citizens 
from  holding  the  federal  offices,  there 
will  be  no  attempt  to  force  obnoxious 
strangers  among  the  people  who  object. 
While  the  strict  legal  right  may  exist  of 
the  government  to  enforce  the  exercise 
of  the  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so  would 
be  so  irritating,  and  so  nearly  impracti 
cable  withal,  that  I  deem  it  better  to 
forego  for  the  time  the  uses  of  such 
offices.  The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will 
continue  to  be  furnished  in  all  parts  of 
the  Union.  So  far  as  possible,  the  peo- 
ple everywhere  shall  have  that  sense  of 
perfect  security  <  which  is  most  favorable 
to  calm  thought  and  reflection.  The 
course  here  indicated  will  be  followed, 
unless  •  current  events  and  experience 
shall  show  a  modification  or  change  to  be 


90 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


proper,  and  in  every  case  and  exigency 
my  best  discretion  will  be  exercised  ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances  actually 
existing,  and  with  a  view  and  hope  of  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  national  troubles 
and  the  restoration  of  fraternal  sympa- 
thies and  affections." 

These  carefully  guarded  declarations, 
which  soon  became  of  momentous  import 
in  the  rapid  progress  of  events  were  sec- 
onded by  an  earnest,  argumentative  ap- 
peal in  behalf  of  the  endangered  Union. 
"  That  there  are  persons,"  he  said,  "  in 
one  section  or  another,  who  seek  to  de- 
stroy the  Union  at  all  events,  and  are 
glad  of  any  pretext  to  do  it,  I  will  nei- 
ther affirm  nor  deny.  But  if  there  be 
such,  I  need  address  no  word  to  them. 
To  those,  however,  who  really  love  the 
Union,  may  I  not  speak  before  entering 
upoc  so  grave  a  matter  as  the  destruction 
of  our  national  fabric,  with  all  its  bene- 
lits,  its  memories  and  its  hopes  ?  Would 
it  not  be  well  to  ascertain  why  we  do  it  ? 
Will  you  hazard  so  desperate  a  step 
while  any  portion  of  the  ills  you  fly  from 
have  no  real  existence  ?  Will  you,  while 
the  certain  ills  you  fly  to  are  greater  than 
all  the  real  ones  you  fly  from  ?  Will  you 
risk  the  commission  of  so  fearful  a  mis- 
cake  ?  All  profess  to  be  content  in  the 
Union  if  all  constitutional  rights  can  be 
maintained.  Is  it  true,  then,  that  any 
right  plainly  written  in  the  constitution 
has  been  denied  ?  I  think  not.  Happily 
the  human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  no 
party  can  reach  to  the  audacity  of  doing 
this.  Think,  if  you  can,  of  a  single  in- 
stance in  which  a  plainly-written  provis- 
ion of  the  constitution  has  ever  been  de- 
nied. If,  by  the  mere  force  of  numbers, 
a  majority  should  deprive  a  minority  of 
any  clearly-written  constitutional  right,  it 
might,  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  justify 


revolution  ;  it  certainly  would,   if  such 
right  were  a  vital  one.     But  such  is  not 
our  case.     All  the  vital  rights  of  minor- 
ities and  of  individuals  are  so  plainly  as- 
sured to  them  by  affirmations  and  nega- 
tions, guaranties  and  prohibitions  in  the 
Constitution,    that   controversies     never 
arise  concerning  them.     But  no  organic 
law  can  ever  be  framed  with  a  provision 
specifically  applicable  to  every  question 
which  may  occur  in  practical  administra- 
tion.    No  foresight  can  anticipate,  nor 
any  document  of  reasonable  length  con- 
tain express  provisions  for  all  possible 
questions.     Shall  fugitives  from  labor  be 
surrendered  by  national  or  by  state  au- 
thorities ?     The  Constitution  does  not  ex- 
pressly say.     Must  Congress  protect  sla- 
very in  the  territories  ?     The  Constitu- 
tion does  not  expressly  say.     From  ques- 
tions of  this  class  spring  all  our  constitu- 
tional controversies,  and  we  divide  upon 
them  into  majorities  and  minorities.     If 
the  minority  will  not  acquiesce,  the  ma- 
jority must,   or   the   government   must 
cease.     There  is  no  alternative  for  con- 
tinuing the  government  but  acquiescence 
on  the  one  side  or  the  other.     If  a  mi- 
nority in  such  a  case  will  secede  rather 
than  acquiesce,  they  make  a  precedent 
which  in  turn  will  ruin  and  divide  them, 
for  a  minority  of  their  own  will  secede 
from  them  whenever  a  majority  refuses 
to  be  controlled  by  such  a  minority.    For 
instance,  why  not  any  portion  of  a  new 
confederacy,  a  year  or  two  hence,  arbi- 
trarily secede  again,  precisely  as  portions 
of  the  present  Union  now  claim  to  secede 
from  it  ?    All  who  cherish  disunion  sen- 
timents are  now  being  educated  to  the  ex- 
act temper  of  doing  this.     Is  there  such 
perfect   identity  of  interests  among  the 
states  to  compose  a  new  Union  as  to  pro- 
duce harmony  only,  and  prevent  renew- 


THE   SUPREME   COURT. 


91 


ed  secession  ?     Plainly,  the  central  idea 
of  secession  is  the  essence  of  anarchy. 

"  A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  con- 
stitutional check  and  limitation,  and  al- 
ways changing  easily  with  deliberate 
changes  of  popular  opinions  and  senti- 
ments, is  the  only  true  sovereign  of  a  free 
people.  Whoever  rejects  it,  does,  of  ne- 
cessity, fly  to  anarchy  or  to  despotism. 
Unanimity  is  impossible.  The  rule  of  a 
majority,  as  a  permanent  arrangement, 
is  wholly  inadmissible  ;  so  that,  reject- 
ing the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or 
despotism  in  some  form  is  all  that  is  left. 
I  do  not  forget  the  position  assumed  by 
some  that  constitutional  questions  are  to 
be  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court,  nor  do 
I  deny  that  such  decisions  must  be  bind- 
ing in  any  case  upon  the  parties  to  a  suit, 
as  to  the  object  of  that  suit,  while  they 
are  also  entitled  to  very  high  respect  and 
consideration  in  all  parallel  cases  by  all 
other  departments  of  the  government ; 
and  while  it  is  obviously  possible  that 
such  decision  may  be  erroneous  in  any 
given  case,  still  the  evil  effect  following 
it,  being  limited  to  that  particular  case, 
with  the  chance  that  it  may  be  overruled 
and  never  become  a  precedent  for  other 
cases,  can  better  be  borne  than  could  the 
evils  of  a  different  practice.  At  the 
same  time,  the  candid  citizen  must  con- 
fess that  if  the  policy  of  the  government 
upon  the  vital  questions  affecting  the 
whole  people  is  to  be  irrevocably  fixed 
by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  instant  they  are  made,  as  in  ordinary 
litigation  between  parties  in  personal  ac- 
tions, the  people  will  have  ceased  to  be 
theii  own  masters,  unless  having  to  that 
extent  practically  resigned  their  govern- 
ment into  the  hands  of  that  eminent  tri- 
bunal. Nor  is  there  in  this  view  any  as- 
sault upon  the  court  or  the  judges.  It  is 


a  duty  from  which  they  may  not  shrink, 
to  decide  cases  properly  brought  before 
them,  and  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  if  oth- 
ers seek  to  turn  their  decisions  to  politi- 
cal purposes.  One  section  of  our  coun- 
try believes  slavery  is  right  and  ought  to 
be  extended,  while  the  other  believes  it 
is  wrong  and  ought  not  to  be  extended  ; 
and  this  is  the  only  substantial  dispute  ; 
and  the  fugitive  slave  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  the  law  for  the  suppression 
of  the  foreign  slave  trade,  are  each  as 
well  enforced,  perhaps,  as  any  law  can 
ever  be  in  a  community  where  the  moral 
sense  of  the  people  imperfectly  supports 
the  law  itself.  The  great  body  of  the 
people  abide  by  the  dry  legal  obligation 
in  both  cases,  and  a  few  break  over  in 
each.  This,  I  think,  cannot  be  perfectly 
cured,  and  it  would  be  worse  in  both  ca- 
ses after  the  separation  of  the  sections 
than  before.  The  foreign  slave  trade, 
now  imperfectly  suppressed,  would  be  ul- 
timately revived,  without  restriction,  in 
one  section,  while  fugitive  slaves,  now 
only  partially  surrendered,  would  not  be 
surrendered  at  all  by  the  other.  Physi- 
cally speaking,  we  cannot  separate — we 
cannot  remove  our  respective  sections 
from  each  other,  nor  build  an  impassable 
wall  between  them.  A  husband  and 
wife  may  be  divorced  and  go  out  of  the 
presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each 
other,  but  the  different  parts  of  our  coun- 
try cannot  do  this.  They  cannot  but  re- 
main face  to  face,  and  intercourse,  either 
amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  between 
them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that 
intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more 
satisfactory  after  separation  than  before  ? 
Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than 
friends  can  make  laws  ?  Can  treaties  be 
more  faithfully  enforced  between  aliens 
than  laws  among  friends  ?  Suppose  you 


92 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


go  to  war,  you  cannot  fight  always  ;  and 
when,  after  much  loss  on  both  sides  and 
no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the 
identical  questions  as  to  terras  of  inter- 
course are  again  upon  you." 

Nor  was  he  unwilling  to  recognize  the 
desire  of  a  portion  of  the  people,  that  new 
provisions  should  be  engrafted  on  the 
Constitution  to  reconcile,  if  possible,  any 
conflicting  interests.  "  This  country," 
was  his  language  on  this  subject,  "  with 
its  institutions,  belongs  to  the  people  who 
inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow 
weary  of  the  existing  government  they 
can  exercise  their  constitutional  right  of 
amending,  or  their  revolutionary  right  to 
dismember  or  overthrow  it.  I  cannot  be 
ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  many  worthy 
and  patriotic  citizens  are  desirous  of  hav- 
ing the  national  Constitution  amended. 
While  I  make  no  recommendations  of 
amendment,  I  fully  recognize  the  full  au- 
thority of  the  people  over  the  whole  sub- 
ject, to  be  exercised  in  either  of  the 
modes  prescribed  in  the  instrument  itself, 
and  I  should,  under  existing  circumstan- 
ces, favor,  rather  than  oppose,  a  fair  op- 
portunity being  afforded  the  people  to 
act  upon  it.  I  will  venture  to  add,  that 
to  me  the  convention  mode  seems  prefer- 
able, in  that  it  allows  amendments  to  or- 
iginate with  the  people  themselves,  in- 
stead of  only  permitting  them  to  take  or 
reject  propositions  originated  by  others 
not  especially  chosen  for  the  purpose, 
and  which  might  not  be  precisely  such 
as  they  would  wish  either  to  accept  or 
refuse.  I  understand  that  a  proposed 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  (which 
amendment,  however,  I  have  not  seen) 
has  passed  Congress,  to  the  effect  that 
the  federal  government  shall  never  in- 
terfere with  the  domestic  institutions  of 
States,-  including  that  of  persons  held  to 


service.  To  avoid  misconstruction  of 
what  I  have  said,  I  depart  from  my  pur- 
pose not  to  speak  of  particular  amend- 
ments, so  far  as  to  say  that,  holding  such 
a  provision  to  now  be  implied  constitu- 
tional law,  I  have  no  objection  to  its  be- 
ing made  express  and  irrevocable." 

In  regard  to  his  own  especial  position 
in  the  Government,  he  said,  recalling  to 
the  rninds  of  the  people  that  they  were 
the  real  source  of  authority  : — "  The 
Chief  Magistrate  derives  all  his  autho- 
rity from  the  people,  and  they  have  con- 
ferred none  upon  him  to  fix  the  terms  for 
the  separation  of  the  States.  The  peo- 
ple themselves,  also,  can  do  this  if  they 
choose,  but  the  Executive,  as  such,  has 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  His  duty  is  to 
administer  the  present  government  as  it 
came  to  his  hands,  and  to  transmit  it  un- 
impaired by  him  to  his  successor.  Why 
should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence 
in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people  ?  Is 
there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the 
world  ?  In  our  present  differences,  is 
either  party  without  faith  of  being  in 
the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of 
Nations,  with  his  eternal  truth  and  jus- 
tice, be  on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on 
yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that 
justice  will  surely  prevail  by  the  judg- 
ment of  this  great  tribunal,  the  Ameri- 
can people.  By  the  frame  of  the  gov- 
ernment under  which  we  live,  this  same 
people  have  wisely  given  their  public 
servants  but  little  power  for  mischief, 
and  have  with  equal  wisdom  provided 
for  the  return  of  that  little  to  their  own 
hands  at  very  short  intervals.  While 
the  people  retain  their  virtue  and  vigi- 
lance, no  administration,  by  any  extreme 
wickedness  or  folly,  can  very  seriously 
injure  the  government  in  the  short  space 
of  four  years." 


Johnson J?Ty  &  Co.  PiibUhhers   New  York. 

• 


THE   NEW   CABINET. 


93 


"  My  countrymen/'  he  exclaimed,  in  a 
final  appeal,  closing  an  address  which, 
while  it  unequivocally  expressed  a  deter- 
mination to  maintain  the  Union,  breathed 
peace  and  moderation  throughout,  ".  my 
countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly 
and  well  upon  this  whole  subject.  Noth- 
ing valuable  can  be  lost  by  taking  time. 
If  there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of 
you,  in  hot .  haste,  to  a  step  which  you 
would  never  take  deliberately,  that  ob- 
ject will  be  frustrated  by  taking  time  ; 
but  no  good  object  can  be  frustrated  by 
it.  Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied 
still  have  the  old  Constitution  unim- 
paired, and  on  the  sensitive  point,  the 
laws  of  your  own  framing  under  it  ; 
while  the  new  administration  will  have 
no  immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to 
change  either.  If  it  were  admitted  that 
you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the  right 
side  in  the  dispute,  there  is  still  no  sin- 
gle reason  for  precipitate  action.  Intelli- 
gence, patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a 
firm  reliance  on  Him  who  has  never  yet 
forsaken  this  favored  land,  are  still  com- 
petent to  adjust,  in  the  best  way,  all  our 
present  difficulties.  In  your  hands,  my 
dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and  not 
in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil 
war.  The  government  will  not  assail 
you.  You  can  have  no  conflict  without 
being  yourselves  the  aggressors.  You 
have  no  oath  registered  in  Heaven  to 
destroy  the  government ;  while  I  shall 
have  the  most  solemn  one  to  '  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend '  it.  I  am  loath  to 
close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends. 
We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  pas- 
sion may  have  strained,  it  must  not 
break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mys- 
tic cords  of  memory,  stretching  from 
every  battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to 
every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all 


over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union,  when  <*gain  touched, 
as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  an- 
gels of  our  nature." 

The  next  day  the  Senate  in  extra  ses- 
sion confirmed  the  appointments  by  the 
President  of  his  Cabinet.  It  was  thus 
composed  : — William  H.  Seward  of  New 
York,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Salmon  P. 
Chase  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury ;  Simon  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania, 
Secretary  of  War  ;  Gideon  Welles  of 
Connecticut,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ; 
Caleb  B.  Smith  of  Indiana,  Secretary  of 
the  Interior ;  Montgomery  Blair  of  Mary- 
land, Postmaster  General,  and  Edward 
Bates  of  Missouri,  Attorney  General. 
The  leading  position  was  justly  consid- 
ered by  the  friends  of  the  Administra- 
tion to  belong  to  Mr.  Seward.  He  had 
long  been  an  advocate  of  the  principles 
of  the  party,  and  on  the  score  of  the 
eminent  services  he  had  rendered  would 
have  been  entitled  to  its  highest  honors. 
His  former  office  of  Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  his  late  career  in 
the  Senate,  his  generally  recognized  abil- 
ity as  a  writer  and  speaker,  his  repute  as 
a  statesman,  justified  his  appointment  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  who  relied  upon 
his  politic  skill  and  adaptation  in  turning 
events  to  the  best  advantage. 

The  antecedents  of  Mr.  Chase,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  were  all  in 
his  favor.  Born  in  1808,  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  early  deprived  of  his  father, 
his  education  had  been  directed  by  his 
uncle,  the  venerable  Bishop  of  the  Epis- 
copal church,  at  his  seminary  in  Ohio. 
Returning  to  his  native  State,  he  entered 
Dartmouth,  and  became  a  graduate  of 
that  institution,  from  which  he  passed  to 
the  study  of  the  law  in  Washington,  un- 
der the  guidance  of  the  distinguished 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


William  Wirt.  the  most  genial  and  in- 
spiring of  legal  preceptors.  At  the 
capital  he  gained  the  means  of  support- 
ing himself  while  pursuing  his  studies  by 
giving  instruction  to  a  select  school  of 
boys,  the  sons  of  Henry  Clay,  "Wirt  and 
other  celebrities.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in 
1829,  and  immediately  after  took  up  his 
residence  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  He  soon 
became  known  in  his  profession,  especial- 
ly by  his  engagement  in  various  cases 
involving  the  position  of  the  general 
government  in  reference  to  slavery.  In 
all  of  these  his  powers  were  exerted  in 
behalf  of  freedom.  He  was  prominent 
in  the  early  free  soil  political  organiza- 
tion in  the  West,  which  prepared  the 
way  of  the  Eepublican  party,  giving  his 
support  in  1848  to  the  nomination  for 
the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren.  He 
was  sent  by  Ohio,  the  following  year,  to 
the  United  States  Senate,  and  in  1855 
was  elected  Governor  of  his  State,  in 
which  capacity  he  rendered  eminent  ser- 
vice at  a  critical  period  by  his  financial 
skill  and  integrity.  He  had  just  been 
reflected  to  the  United  States  Senate 
when  he  was  called  by  President  Lin- 
coln to  the  cabinet. 

The  Attorney-General,  Mr.  Bates,  was 
one  of  the  most  honored  citizens  of  Mis- 
souri, havwig  been  identified  with  its 
political  history  since  its  formation  as  a 
State.  A  native  of  Virginia,  of  Quaker 
descent,  he  had  early  shown  an  im- 
patience of  the  quiet  traditions  of  his 
family  by  seeking  a  midshipman's  warrant 
in  the  navy,  which  he  was  compelled  to 
relinquish  by  the  solicitations  of  his 
mother,  who  could  not  endure  the  trade 
of  war.  The  youth,  however, — he  was 
nineteen  at  the  time, — managed  to  get 
off  to  Norfolk  as  a  volunteer  when  the 


British,  in  1813  threatened  an  invasion 
of  the  State.  He  served  in  the  army 
during  that  year,  and  in  the  ensuing  spring 
followed  his  brother,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Territory  of  Missouri,  to  St.  Louis,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  law  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar.  When  the 
State  Government  was  put  in  action  in 
1820  he  was  appointed  the  first  Attorney- 
General.  He  held  other  offices  in  the 
State  and  was  sent  to  the  national  House 
of  Representatives  in  1826.  He  was 
afterward  again  in  office  in  Missouri  in 
the  legislature  and  in  1833  and  the  two 
following  years  as  Judge  of  the  Land 
Court  of  St.  Louis  County.  His  leading 
position  in  his  State  and  in  the  councils 
of  the  Whig  party  induced  President 
Filhnore  to  appoint  him  to  a  seat  in  the 
Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War,  which  he 
was  impelled  from  personal  and  domestic 
reasons  to  decline.  No  one  took  a  pro- 
founder  interest  in  the  formation  and 
advancement  of  the  Republican  party, 
or  was  more  relied  on  in  its  councils  for 
his  solidity  and  intelligence.  His  sup- 
port of  Mr.  Lincoln  had  greatly  aided 
him  in  his  election  to  the  Presidency. 

Simon  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
was  a  native  of  Lancaster  County,  Penn- 
sylvania. By  the  death  of  his  father  he 
was  thrown  in  his  youth  upon  his  own 
resources.  In  1817  he  bound  himself  as 
apprentice  to  the  printing  business  at 
Harrisburg,  whence,  on  coming  of  age, 
he  made  his  way  to  Washington,  where 
he  was  employed  as  a  journeyman.  He 
soon  became  engaged  in  political  life  and 
rose  rapidly  in  influence,  becoming  Ad- 
jutant-General of  Pennsylvania  in  1828. 
In  1832  he  was  elected  Cashier  of  the 
Middletown  Bank  and  held  the  position 
for  twenty-seven  years.  During  this 
period  he  became  widely  known  by 


GENERAL    BEAUREGARD. 


97 


the  State  of  South  Carolina  having  re- 
signed its  boasted  military  prerogative 
into  the  supreme  hands  of  the  Confeder- 
ate Government  at  Montgomery,  a  new 
actor  appeared  upon  the  scene  in  the 
person  of  a  military  officer,  pars  belli 
hand  temnenda,  sent  by  President  Jef- 
ferson Davis  to  take  command  of  the  forces 
at  Charleston.  This  was  General  Peter 
Gustav  Toutant  Beauregard,  late  a  Major 
in  the  United  States  Service.  A  native 
of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  of  Canadian  de- 
scent, he  had  entered  the  Military  Acad- 
emy at  West  Point  at  an  early  age,  and 
after  a  career  of  distinguished  credit, 
graduated  in  1838,  the  second  of  a  class 
of  forty-five,  with  the  appointment  of  Se- 
cond Lieutenant  in  the  First  regiment  of 
Artillery.  He  was  then  immediately 
transferred  to  the  Corps  of  Engineers, 
in  which  he  was  promoted  the  following 
year  to  be  First  Lieutenant.  He  served 
with  great  distinction  in  that  capacity 
with  the  army  of  General  Scott  during 
the  Mexican  War,  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the 
capital,  being  brevetted  Captain  for  his 
gallant  conduct  at  Contreras  and  Churu- 
busco,  and  Major  for  like  honorable  ser- 
vice at  Chapultepec.  General  Scott 
handsomely  acknowledged  his  merits  in 
the  Official  Reports,  making  particular 
mention  of  his  share  in  the  brilliant 
achievements  at  entering  the  city  of 
Mexico,  where  he  was  wounded  at  the 
assault  on  the  Belen  Gate.  Among  his 
honored  companions  on  that  occasion 
were  Lieutenants  G.  W.  Smith  and 
George  B.  McClellan,  both  destined 
to  be  prominent  with  him  in  the  Re- 
bellion, one  his  associate  in  arms,  the 
other  his  antagonist.  After  the  war 
Major  Beauregard  was  employed  by  the 
Government  in  the  construction  of  the 
fortifications  at  the  entrance  to  the  Mis- 
13 


sissippi.  On  the  eve  of  the  Rebellion 
he  was  appointed  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  Ad- 
ministration to  the  important  duty  of 
Superintendent  of  the  Military  Acade- 
my at  West  Point,  as  the  successor  of 
Major  Delafield,  but  had  hardly  time  to 
think  of  the  office  before  he  was  precip- 
itated with  his  State  in  the  Revolt.  He 
resigned  his  commission  in  the  Corps  of 
Engineers  of  the  United  States  Army  on 
the  20th  of  February,  1861,  two  days 
after  the  inauguration  of  Jefferson  Davis 
as  President  of  the  Confederate  States. 
His  exact  professional  knowledge,  united 
with  his  energy  of  character,  immedi- 
ately on  his  arrival  at  Charleston,  gave 
increased  efficiency  to  the  military  pre- 
parations for  the  reduction  of  Sumter, 
which  now  awaited  the  conclusion  of  the 
negotiation  at  Washington. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Confederate 
Government  at  Montgomery  was  to  send 
three  distinguished  citizens  of  the  South, 
Messrs.  A.  B.  Roman  of  Louisiana,  for- 
merly Governor  of  the  State ;  John 
Forsyth  of  Alabama,  Minister  to  Mexico 
in  President  Buchanan's  administration  ; 
Martin  J.  Crawford  of  Georgia,  one  of 
the  seceding  members  of  the  recent  Con- 
gress, as  commissioners  to  open  negotia- 
tions with  the  Government  at  Washing- 
ton concerning  all  questions  growing  out 
of  the  separation,  with  a  view  to  their 
peaceable  solution.  They  arrived  at  the 
capital  the  day  after  President  Lincoln's 
inauguration,  and  a  week  later,  on  the 
twelfth,  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford 
addressed  a  formal  communication  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  setting  forth  the  mo- 
tive of  their  visit,  and  asking  the  appoint- 
ment of  an  early  day  to  present  their 
credentials  and  the  ..objects  of  the  mis- 
sion, to  the  President.  To  this  Mr. 
Seward  wrole  an  answer,  that  he  was 


98 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


unable  to  comply  with  the  request,  and 
that  he  had  no  authority,  nor  was  he  at 
liberty  to  recognize  them  as  diplomatic 
agents,  or  hold  correspondence  or  other 
communication  with  them.  The  refusal 
thus  decided  was  courteously  expressed, 
and  was  accompanied  by  this  explanation 
of  the  writer's  view  of  the  position  of 
affairs  : — "The  Secretary  of  State  frankly 
confesses  that  he  understands  the  events 
which  have  recently  occurred,  and  the 
condition  of  political  affairs  which  actu- 
ally exists  in  the  part  of  the  Union  to 
which  his  attention  has  thus  been  directed, 
very  differently  from  the  aspect  in  which 
they  are  presented  by  Messrs.  Forsyth 
and  Crawford.  He  sees  in  them,  not  a 
rightful  and  accomplished  revolution  and 
an  independent  nation,  with  an  established 
government,  but  rather  a  perversion  of  a 
temporary  and  partisan  excitement  to 
the  inconsiderate  purposes  of  an  unjusti- 
fiable and  unconstitutional  aggression 
apon  the  rights  and  tL<i  authority  vested 
in  the  federal  government,  and  hitherto 
benignly  exercised,  as  from  their  very 
nature  they  always  must  so  be  exercised, 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  the 
preservation  of  liberty,  and  the  secur- 
ity, peace,  welfare,  happiness,  and  ag- 
grandizement of  the  American  people. 
The  Secretary  of  State,  therefore,  avows 
to  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  that  he 
looks  patiently,  but  confidently,  to  the 
cure  of  evils  which  have  resulted  from 
proceedings  so  unnecessary,  so  unwise,  so 
unusual,  and  so  unnatural,  not  to  irregu- 
lar negotiations,  having  in  view  new  and 
untried  relations  with  agencies  unknown 
to  and  acting  in  derogation  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws,  but  to  regular  and 
considerate  action  of  the  people  of  those 
States,  in  cooperation  with  their  brethren 
in  the  other  States,  through  the  Congress 


of  the  United  States,  and  such  extra- 
ordinary conventions,  if  there  shall  be 
need  thereof,  as  the  federal  Constitution 
contemplates  and  authorizes  to  be  as- 
sembled." 

This  reply  of  Mr.  Seward  was  dated 
March  15th  but,  by  agreement  was  not 
called  for  or  delivered  till  the  8th  of 
April ;  a  delay  for  which  the  Commis- 
sioners, in  the  letter  which  they  wrote 
on  its  receipt,  thus  accounted.  They  were 
assured  at  the  outset,  they  said,  "  by  a 
person  occupying  a  high  official  position 
in  the  Government,  and  who,  as  they 
believed,  was  speaking  by  authority,  that 
Fort  Sumter  would  be  evacuated  within 
a  very  few  days,  and  that  no  measure 
changing  the  existing  status  prejudicially 
to  the  Confederate  States,  as  respects 
Fort  Pickens,  was  then  contemplated,  and 
these  assurances  were  subsequently  re- 
peated, with  the  addition  that  any  con- 
templated change  as  respects  Pickens, 
would  be  notified  to  them.  On  the  1st 
of  April  they  were  again  informed  that 
there  might  be  an  attempt  to  supply 
Fort  Sumter  with  provisions,  but  that 
Grov.  Pickens  should  have  previous  notice 
of  this  attempt.  There  was  no  sugges- 
tion of  any  reinforcements.  They  did 
not  hesitate  to  believe  that  these  assur- 
ances expressed  the  intentions  of  the 
Administration  at  the  time,  or  at  all 
events  of  prominent  members  of  that 
Administration.  This  delay  was  assented 
to,  for  the  express  purpose  of  attaining 
the  great  end  of  their  mission,  to  wit : 
A  pacific  solution  of  existing  complica- 
tions. A\  ai  .  It  was  only  when  all  these 
anxious  efforts  for  peace  had  been  ex- 
hausted, and  it  became  clear  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  determined  to  appeal  to  the 
sword  to  reduce  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federate States  to  the  will  of  the  section 


DEFIANCE   OF  TEE   COMMISSIONERS. 


or  party  whose  President  he  is,  that  they 
resumed  the  official  negotiation  tempor- 
arily suspended,  and  sent  their  Secretary 
for  a  reply  to  their  official  note  of 
March  12." 

In  the  same  communication,  among  oth- 
er threatening  intimations,  they  thus, 
with  a  calm  confidence  in  the  result,  re- 
plied to  the  pacific  suggestions  of  nego- 
tiation by  Mr.  Seward,  which*  we  have 
just  cited  from  his  letter  : — "  The  under- 
signed, like  the  Secretary  of  State,  have 
no  purpose  '  to  invite  or  engage  in  dis- 
cussion' of  the  subject  on  which  their  two 
Governments  are  so  irreconcilably  at  va- 
riance. It  is  this  variance  that  has  bro- 
ken up  the  old  Union,  the  disintegration 
of  which  has  only  begun.  It  is  proper, 
however,  to  advise  you  that  it  were  well 
to  dismiss  the  hopes  you  seem  to  enter- 
tain that,  by  any  of  the  modes  indicated, 
the  people  of  the  Confederate  States  will 
ever  be  brought  to  submit  to  the  author- 
ity of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  You  are  dealing  with  delusions, 
too,  when  you  seek  to  separate  our  peo- 
ple from  our  Government,  and  to  charac- 
terize the  deliberate,  sovereign  act  of  the 
people  as  a  '  perversion  of  a  temporary 
and  partisan  excitement.'  If  you  cher- 
ish these  dreams  you  will  be  awakened 
from  them  and  find  them  as  unreal  and 
unsubstantial,  as  others  in  which  you 
have  recently  indulged.  The  undersign- 
ed would  omit  the  performance  of  an  ob- 
vious duty  were  they  to  fail  to  make 
known  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  that  the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States  have  declared  their  independence 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  all  the  responsi- 
bilities of  that  act,  and  with  as  firm  a  de- 
termination to  maintain  it  by  all  the 
means  with  which  nature  has  endowed 
them,  as  ihat  which  sustained  their  fath- 


ers when  they  threw  off  the  authority  of 
the  British  crown."* 

The  immediate  cause  of  this  explosion 
was  that  the  Government,  in  accordance 
with  the  understanding  alluded  to  by  the 
Commissioners,  had  announced  its  inten- 
tion to  provision  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter,  which,  by  an  order  of  General  Beau- 
regard  of  the  5th  of  April,  had  been  de- 
prived of  its  carefully  regulated  daily  sup- 
ply of  food  from  the  city.  Lieutenant  Tal- 
bot  was  sent  from  Washington  to  commu- 
nicate this  resolve  to  Governor  Pickens. 
He  arrived  in  Charleston  on  the  8th, 
and  delivered  his  message.  On  its  re- 
ceipt General  Beauregard  thus  addressed 
Mr.  L.  P.  Walker,  the  Secretary  of  War 
of  the  Confederate  States,  at  Montgome- 
ry, by  telegraph  : — "  An  authorized  mes- 
senger from  President  Lincoln,  just  in- 
formed Governor  Pickens  and  myself 
that  provisions  will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sum- 
ter  peaceably,  or  otherwise  by  force." 
To  this  the  following  reply  was  received, 
dated  the  10th  : — "  If  you  have  no  doubt 
of  the  authorized  character  of  the  agent 
who  communicated  to  you  the  intention 
of  the  Washington  Government,  to  sup- 
ply Fort  Sumter  by  force,  you  will  at 
once  demand  its  evacuation,  and  if  this 
is  refused,  proceed  in  such  a  manner  as 
you  may  determine  to  reduce  it.  An- 
swer." Word  was  sent  back  the  same 
day  : — "  The  demand  will  be  made  to- 
morrow at  twelve  o'clock."  To  this  the 
Secretary  of  War  immediately  answer- 
ed : — "  Unless  there  are  especial  reasons 
connected  with  your  own  condition  it  is 
considered  proper  that  you  should  make 
the  demand  at  an  early  hour  ;" — to  which 
urgent  message  it  was  responded : — "  The 
reasons  are  special  for  twelve  o'clock." 

*  Letter  of  Messrs.  Forsyth,  Crawford,  and  Roman  to 
B  i.  W.  H.  Seward,  Waslrpgtcn,  April  9,  1861. 


100 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Two  hours  later  than  the  time  appointed, 
his  military  preparations  having  been 
carefully  made,  General  Beauregard  sent 
a  letter  to  Major  Anderson,  stating  that 
"  the  Government  of  the  Confederate 
States  had  hitherto  forborne  from  any  hos- 
tile demonstration  against  Fort  Sumter,  in 
the  hope  that  the  Government  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  with  a  view  to  the  amicable  ad- 
justment of  all  questions  between  the  two 
Governments,  and  to  avert  the  calamities 
of  war,  would  voluntarily  evacuate  it." 
There  was  reason,  he  asserted,  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  would,  at  the  time,  have  pursued 
such  a  course,  and,  with  this  impression 
no  demand  had  hitherto  been  made  for 
the  surrender.  Now,  however,  the  Con- 
federate States  could  "  no  longer  delay 
assuming  actual  possession  of  a  fortifica- 
tion commanding  the  entrance  of  one  of 
their  harbors  and  necessary  to  its  defense 
and  security."  He  then  communicated 
in  the  name  of  his  Government  a  demand 
of  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,  offer- 
ing "  all  proper  facilities  for  the  removal 
of  yourself  and  command,  together  with 
company  arms  and  property,  and  all  pri- 
vate property,  to  any  port  in  the  United 
States  which  you  may  elect.  The  flag 
which  you  have  upheld  so  long  and  with 
so  much  fortitude,  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances,  may  be  saluted  by  you  on 
taking  it  down."  This  demand  was  car- 
ried by  Colonel  Chesnut  and  Captain  Lee, 
Aids  of  General  Beauregard.  The  reply 
of  Major  Anderson  was  immediate,  in  few 
words  : — "I  have  the  hon^r  to  acknowl- 
edge the  receipt  of  your  communication 
demanding  the  evacuation  of  this  fort ; 
and  to  say  in  reply  thereto  that  it  is  a 
demand  with  which  I  regret  my  sense  of 
honor  and  of  my  obligation  to  my  Gov- 
ernment prevent  my  compliance."  An  ac- 


knowledgement was  added  of  "the  fair, 
manly  and  courteous  terms  proposed" 
and  "  the  high  compliment"  paid  him. 
There  were  also  some  remarks  made  by 
Major  Anderson  to  the  Aids,  to  the  effect 
that  in  the  present  condition  of  the  fort, 
his  forces  would  soon  be  starved  out,  if 
they  were  not  in  the  meantime  battered 
to  pieces.  This  reply  presently  brought 
from  General  Beauregard  the  following 
communication  to  Major  Anderson,  dated 
an  hour  before  midnight  of  the  same 
day  : — "  In  consequence  of  the  verbal 
observations  made  by  you  to  my  Aids, 
Messrs.  Chesnut  and  Lee,  in  relation  to 
the  condition  of  your  supplies,  and  that 
you  would  in  a  few  days  be  starved  out  if 
our  guns  did  not  batter  you  to  pieces — or 
words  to  that  effect ; — and  desiring  no 
useless  effusion  of  blood,  I  communicated 
both  the  verbal  communication  and  your 
written  answer  to  my  *  communication  to 
my  Government.  If  you  will  state  the 
time  at  which  you  will  evacuate  Fort 
Sumter,  and  agree  that  in  the  meantime 
you  will  not  use  your  guns  against  us, 
unless  ours  shall  be  employed  against 
Fort  Sumter,  we  will  abstain  from  open- 
ing fire  upon  you.  Colonel  Chesnut  and 
Captain  Lee  are  authorized  by  me  to  en- 
ter into  an  agreement  with  you.  You 
are,  therefore,  requested  to  communicate 
to  them  an  open  answer."  Two  hours 
after  it  was  written,  at  one  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  12th — there  was  little 
sleep  that  night  for  the  military  authori- 
ties— this  missive  was  presented  at  the 
fort  by  an  embassy  consisting  of  four  Aids 
of  General  Beauregard,  Colonel  Chesnut, 
Colonel  Chisholm,  Captain  Lee,  and  Mr. 
Pryor  of  Yirginia.  The  letter  was  at 
once  considered  by  Major  Anderson  and 
the  following  reply  addressed  to  General 
Beauregard,  dated  half-past  two  o'clock 


OPENING   OF  THE  ATTACK. 


101 


the  same  morning,  submitted  to  the  em- 
bassadors  :— "  General,  I  have  the  honor 
to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  sec- 
ond communication  of  the  llth  inst.,  by 
Colonel  Chesrmt,  and  to  state,  in  reply, 
that  cordially  uniting  with  you  in  the  de- 
sire to  avoid  the  useless  effusion  of  blood, 
I  will,  if  provided  with  the  proper  and 
necessary  means  of  transportation,  evac- 
uate Fort  Sumter  by  noon  on  the  15th 
instant,  should  I  not  receive,  prior  to  that 
time,  controlling  instructions  from  my 
Government  or  additional  supplies  ;  and 
that  I  will  not,  in  the  meantime,  open  my 
fire  upon  your  forces,  unless  compelled 
to  do  so  by  some  hostile  act  against  this 
fort,  or  the  flag  of  my  Government  by 
the  forces  under  your  command,  or  by 
some  portion  of  them,  or  by  the  perpe- 
tration of  some  act  showing  a  hostile  in- 
tention on  your  part  against  this  fort  or 
the  flag  it  bears."  In  accordance  with 
their  instructions  this  communication  was 
read  by  Colonel  Chesnut  and  Captain  Lee 
and  immediately  answered,  on  the  spot, 
in  the  following  reply,  dated  twenty  min- 
utes past  three  : — "  Sir  :  By  authority  of 
Brigadier-General  Beauregard,  command- 
ing the  Provisional  Forces  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  we  have  the  honor  to  no- 
tify you  that  he  will  open  the  fire  of  his 
batteries  on  Fort  Sumter  in  one  hour  from 
this  time." 

The  position  of  the  respective  forces 
in  this  conflict  may  be  thus  generally  in- 
dicated. Entering  the  harbor  of  Charles- 
ton by  the  main  channel  from  the  Atlan- 
tic there  were  to  the  right,  on  the  north, 
Sullivan's  Island  with  the  defences  of 
Fort  Moultrie  and  several  adjoining  bat- 
teries commanding  the  approach  from 
th  3  sea  ;  within,  on  the  upper  end  of  the 
island,  in  an  advantageous  position  for 
sweeping  the  left  flank  of  Fort  Sumter, 


a  floating  battery,  constructed  of  palmet- 
to logs  with  iron  facings,  mounting  two 
42  and  two  32-pounders  ;  while  beyond, 
toward  the  city,  a  mortar  battery  was 
erected  at  Mount  Pleasant.  On  the 
south,  at  Cummings'  Point,  a  projection 
of  Morris'  Island,  there  was  a  formid- 
able iron  protected  battery,  and  beyond, 
on  another  point  of  land  on  James  Is- 
land, a  mortar  battery  at  Fort  Johnson. 
In  front  of  the  two  positions  just  named, 
though  at  unequal  distances,  commanding 
the  channel  and  facing  Fort  Moultrie, 
stood  Fort  Sumter. 

Before  daylight,  at  half-past  four,  of 
Friday,  the  12th  of  April,  the  hostile 
proceedings  commenced  with  the  firing 
of  a  signal  shell  from  Fort  Johnson,  and 
in  half  an  hour  the  fire  from  the  rebel 
batteries  became  general.  It  was  not 
returned,  however,  from  Fort  Sumtor 
till  a  few  minutes  before  seven  o'clock, 
when  Major  Anderson,  having  divided 
his  small  force  into  three  relief  parties, 
each  to  serve  for  two  hours,  commenced 
a  vigorous,  but,  as  it  proved,  ineffectua. 
attack  upon  the  iron  battery  at  Cum- 
mings'  Point.  The  enemy's  aim  from 
that  powerful  battery  and  the  two  oth- 
ers at  the  Point,  as  well  as  from  their 
Enfilade  Battery,  Floating  Battery,  and 
Dahlgren  Battery,  at  Sullivan's  Island, 
was  to  prevent  the  working  and  dis- 
mount the  barbette  guns  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter, and  so  well  were  these  stations 
taken  and  their  guns  handled  for  the 
purpose,  that  the  attempt  was  successful, 
without  any  extraordinary  difficulty  or 
risk  to  the  assailants,  who,  well  instruct- 
ed and  well  protected,  skillfully  avoided 
the  shot  which  were  poured  upon  them. 
"  During  the  day,"  says  General  Beaure- 
gard, in  his  report  of  the  engagement, 
"  the  fire  of  my  baiteries  was  kept  up 


102 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


most  spiritedly,  the  guns  and  mortars 
being  worked  in  the  coolest  manner,  pre- 
serving the  prescribed  intervals  of  firing. 
Towards  evening  it  became  evident  that 
our  fire  was  very  effective,  as  the  enemy 
was  driven  from  his  barbette  guns,  which 
he  •attempted  to  work  in  the  morning, 
and  his  fire  was  confined  to  his  casemat- 
ed  guns,  but  hi  a  less  active  manner  than 
in  the  morning,  and  it  was  observed  that 
several  of  his  guns  en  barbette  were  dis- 
abled." The  fire  of  Fort  Sumter,  beside 
its  assault  upon  the  Cummings'  Point 
Battery,  was  mainly  directed  upon  Fort 
Moultrie  and  its  adjoining  batteries,  and, 
it  is  admitted,  was  skillfully  employed. 
The  assailing  works  of  the  South  Caro- 
linians, however,  were  too  numerous  and 
powerful  in  comparison,  and  the  well- 
trained  men  who  occupied  them  had 
been  suffered  too  long  to  make  their 
ample  preparations  to  render  the  con- 
test anything  but  an  unequal  one.  The 
combatants  surrounding  the  beleaguered 
fort  were  at  least  fifty  to  one,  amply 
furnished  with  all  the  munitions  of  war 
and  with  powerful  reserves  at  hand  ; 
within,  a  handful  of  defenders  with  a 
scant  supply  of  food,  were  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  hold  out  long,  even  if  the  assault 
were  indifferently  conducted.  But,  as  it 
happened,  it  was  attended  with  some  un- 
usual embarrassments.  Three  times  on 
Friday,  the  barracks  were  set  on  fire 
and  gallantly  extinguished  by  the  men. 
There  were  many  other  individual  acts  of 
courage,  in  manning  the  guns  under  the 
heavy  assault,  performed  that  day  by 
the  little  band.  One  of  the  workmen, 
it  is  said,  was  found  at  a  gun  which 
from  its  exposed  position  had  been  aban- 
doned. "  What  are  you  doing  here  with 
that  gun  ? "  he  was  asked.  "  Hit  it  right 
in  the  centre,"  was  the  reply,  indicating 


his  successful  shot  aimed  at  the  floating 
battery.  Another,  Sergeant  Kearney, 
an  old  Mexican  war  veteran,  was  struck 
on  the  head  and  knocked  down  l^y  a  por- 
tion of  the  concrete,  dashed  by  the  accu- 
rate fire  of  the  enemy,  from  an  embras- 
ure. He  was  asked  if  he  was  hurt  badly. 
"  No,"  said  he,  as  he  resumed  his  work, 
"  I  was  only  knocked  down  temporarily." 
The  enemy's  batteries  having  readily 
gained  the  range  of  the  fort,  a  steady 
fire  of  shell  from  the  mortars  was  thrown 
at  regular  intervals  of  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  within  its  enclosure,  effectually 
depriving  the  garrison  of  rest  during  the 
night  of  Friday,  which  proved  rainy  and 
dark,  with  a  high  wind.  A  guard  was- 
kept  up  by  Major  Anderson  at  different 
points  of  the  work,  that  he  might  be 
ready  to  repel  assailants  from  the  bay  or 
receive  the  expected  reinforcements  from 
the  United  States  vessels  of  the  relieving 
expedition  which  had  arrived  off  the 
bar,  and  been  seen  from  the  fort  in  the 
afternoon.  The  following  morning  the 
sun  rose  in  a  cloudless  sky,  and  the  fir- 
ing was  vigorously  resumed  on  both 
sides.  Presently  at  nine  o'clock,  smoke 
was  discovered  issuing  from  Sumter. 
The  wood-work  of  the  quarters  was  in 
flames.  Upon  this  the  fire  of  the  be- 
sieging batteries  was  plied,  ii  possible, 
with  greater  vigor,  red  hot  shot  being 
thrown  into  the  fort.  When  the  smoke 
was  seen,  says  Beauregard,  "  the  fire  of 
our  batteries  was  increased  as  a  matter 
of  course,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
the  enemy  to  terms  as  speedily  as  pos- 
sible, inasmuch  as  his  flag  was  still  float- 
ing defiantly  above  him.  Fort  Sumter 
continued  to  fire  from  time  to  time,  but 
at  long  and  irregular  intervals,  amid  the 
dense  smoke  -flying  shot  and  bursting 
shells.  Our  brave  troops,  carried  away 


PERILS   OF  THE   GARRISON. 


103 


by  their  naturally  generous  impulses, 
mounted  the  different  batteries,  and  at 
every  discharge  from  the  fort  cheered 
the  garrison  for  its  pluck  and  gallantr}7, 
and  hooted  the  fleet  lying  inactive  just 
outside  the  bar." 

The  flag  of  Sumter  which  was  raised 
on  a  staff  in  the  open  parade,  had  gal- 
lantly resisted  the  perils  of  the  previous 
day.  The  halyards  had  been  cut  by  the 
bursting  shell,  but,  entangled  with  the 
ropes,  it  still  adhered  to  its  position.  It 
was  now,  however,  destined  to  succumb 
to  the  incessant  fire  when  an  hour  after 
midday  the  staff  itself  was  shot  away 
some  fifty  feet  from  the  truck,  it  being 
the  ninth  time,  it  was  said,  that  it  had 
been  hit.  The  flag  was  then  nailed  to 
a  temporary  staff,  and  planted  upon  the 
ramparts.  This  gallant  act  was  per- 
formed by  a  member  of  the  police  force 
of  New  York,  named  Peter  Hart,  who 
had  accompanied  Mrs.  Anderson,  the  wife 
of  the  commander,  on  a  visit  to  the  fort 
soon  after  its  occupation,  and  who,  on 
her  departure,  had  been  suffered  to  re- 
main. Though  not  enlisted  in  the  ser- 
vice, he  was  quite  willing  to  encounter 
the  fiery  storm  descending  upon  the  area, 
and  peril  his  life  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  flag. 

Meanwhile,  it  being  found  impossible 
to  extinguish  the  flames,  the  efforts  of 
officers  and  men  who  were  not  imme- 
diately employed  at  the  guns,  were  di- 
rected to  remove  the  powder  from  the 
magazine  before  the  rapid  spread  of  the 
conflagration  should  compel  it  to  be 
closed  and  rendered  inaccessible.  Fifty 
barrels  were  thus  removed  and  distribut- 
ed through  the  casemates,  when  the  heat 
made  it  necessary  to  close  the  magazine 
doors  and  pack  earth  upon  them.  As 
the  fire  increased,  clouds  of  smoke  and 


cinders  were  driven  into  the  casemates, 
exposing  the  powder  in  its  new  situation 
to  great  risk  of  explosion,  when,  by 
order  of  the  commanding  officer,  all  but 
five  barrels  were  thrown  out  of  the 
embrasures  into  the  water.  The  supply 
of  cartridges  was  so  short  that  the  men 
were  employed  during  the  bombard- 
ment in  manufacturing  the  bags  from 
blankets,  shirts,  sheets  and  such  acci- 
dental materials.  Shell  lying  exposed 
were  exploded  by  the  shot  or  the  flames 
from  the  barracks,  which  it  was  a  vain 
endeavor  of  the  officers  and  men  to 
check.  The  gunners,  begrimed,  weary, 
exhausted,  oppressed  almost  to  suffoca- 
tion by  the  stifling  atmosphere,  could 
breathe  the  infected  air  only  by  throw- 
ing themselves  with  their  faces  to  the 
ground,  and  protecting  their  respira- 
tion with  wet  cloths  and  handkerchiefs. 
Fortunately  the  men  were  few  in  number 
or  the  slaughter  would  have  been  fearful, 
from  the  inability  to  secure  shelter. 
This  continued  for  hours,  the  fire  of  the 
assailants  being  still  poured  in  with  in- 
creasing fury,  while  the  defenders  could 
reply  only  at  intervals  with  an  occasional 
shot.  It  was  evident  to  the  combatants 
on  the  bay,  and  to  the  eager  spectators 
at  Charleston,  who  witnessed  the  smoke, 
flames  and  explosions,  that  such  a  scene 
must  soon  end  in  the  utter  desiruction, 
if  not  of  the  fort,  at  least  of  its  inmates. 
At  this  crisis,  when  the  flag  had  dis- 
appeared from  the  staff  and  not  yet  been 
seen  on  the  ramparts,  a  boat  was  sent  in 
the  midst  of  a  heavy  fire  of  shot  and 
shell  to  the  fort  from  Cummings'  Point, 
bearing  Colonel  Louis  T.  Wigfall  of 
Texas,  a  seceding  United  States  Senator 
of  the  late  Congress,  at  present  a  volun- 
teer aid  of  General  Beauregard.  He 
had  been  detached  by  that  officer  lor 


104 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


special  duty  on  Morris'  Island  and  was 
now  crossing  by  order  of  Brigadier- 
General  Simons  with  a  flag  of  truce — a 
white  handkerchief  elevated  on  the  point 
of  his  sword — "to  ascertain  from  Major 
Anderson  whether  his  intention  was  to 
surrender,  his  flag  being  down  and  his 
quarters  in  flames."  On  arriving  outside 
the  fort  he  announced  himself  and  called 
for  Major  Anderson  who,  immediately, 
accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Snyder, 
passed  through  the  blazing  gateway  to 
meet  him.  Before  they  could  reach  him, 
however,  Colonel  Wigfall  had  been  ad- 
mitted through  an  embrasure  into  the 
fort  where  he  was  met  by  Captain  Foster, 
Lieutenant  Mead  and  Lieutenant  Davis, 
when  the  following  conversation  is  re- 
ported to  have  occurred.  Hastily  asking 
to  see  Major  Anderson,  he  added  in  an 
excited  manner,  "  Let  us  stop  this  firing. 
You  are  on  fire  and  your  flag  is  down.  Let 
us  quit."  To  this  Lieutenant  Davis  replied, 
"  No,  sir,  our  flag  is  not  down.  Step  out 
here  and  you  will  see  it  waving  over  the 
ramparts."  "Let  us  quit  this,"  said  Wig- 
fall.  "  Here's  a  white  flag.  Will  any 
body  wave  it  out  of  the  embrasure."  One 
of  the  officers  replied,  "That  is  for  you 
to  do,  if  you  choose."  Wigfall  responded. 
"  If  there  is  no  one  else  to  do  it,  I  will," 
and  jumping  into  the  embrasure  waved 
the  flag  toward  Moultrie,  while  the  firing 
was  still  continued  from  that  fort  and  the 
batteries  on  Sullivan's  Island.  Having 
thus  made  the  act  his  own,  at  his  request, 
he  was  relieved  of  this  hazardous  occu- 
pation by  a  corporal  who  was  directed 
to  hold  "  Colonel  Wigfall's  flag."  The  new 
incumbent,  however,  soon  grew  as  im- 
patient of  the  duty  as  the  rebel  Senator. 
When  several  shots  had  presently  struck 
around  him  he  started  back  exclaiming, 
"  D-  -n  it.  I  won't  hold  that  flag,  for  they 


don't  respect  it.  They  are  firing  at  it. 
They  struck  their  colors  but  we  never 
did."  Upon  which  Wigfall  remarked, 
"  They  fired  at  me  two  or  three  times 
and  I  stood  it ;  and  I  should  think  you 
might  stand  it  once;"  adding,  "If  you 
will  show  a  white  flag  from  your  ram- 
parts they  will  cease  firing."  Lieutenant 
Davis  replied,  "  If  you  request  that  a 
flag  shall  be  shown  there  while  you  hold 
a  conference  with  Major  Anderson,  and 
for  that  purpose  alone,  it  may  be  done." 

At  this  point  Major  Anderson  came 
up,  having  reentered  through  an  embra- 
sure, when  the  Colonel  introduced  himself. 
"  Major  Anderson,"  said  he,  "  you  have 
defended  your  flag  nobly,  sir.  You  have 
done  all  that  is  possible  for  men  to  do,  and 
General  Beauregard  wishes  to  stop  the 
fight.  On  what  terms,  Major  Anderson, 
will  you  evacuate  the  fort  ?"  To  this 
Major  Anderson  replied,  "General  Beau- 
regard  is  already  acquainted  with  my 
only  terms."  "  Do  I  understand  that 
you  will  evacuate  upon  the  terms  pro- 
posed the  other  day?"  "  Yes,  sir,  and 
on  those  conditions  only."  "  Then,  sir," 
said  Colonel  Wigfall,  "  I  understand  that 
the  fort  is  to  be  ours  ?"  "  On  those  con- 
ditions only,  I  repeat."  "  Very  well," 
said  Wigfall,  and  he  retired.  Such  was 
the  conversation  as  it  was  understood 
and  reported  by  the  inmates  of  Fort 
Sumter.  The  commanding  officer  under- 
stood the  conditions  to  be  accepted  on 
the  basis  spoken  of,  and  the  white  flag 
was  raised  and  the  United  States  flag 
lowered  accordingly. 

Shortly  after  this  scene  a  new  deputa- 
tion appeared  at  the  fort,  sent  by  Gen- 
eral Beauregard  himself,  on  noticing  the 
change  of  the  flag,  to  offer  assistance  to 
the  garrison  in  their  evident  extremity. 
It  consisted  of  three  of  his  Aids,  Cap- 


INCIDENTS   OF  THE  SURRENDER. 


105 


tains  Lee,  Roger  A.  Pryor  and  W.  Por- 
cLer  Miles.  They  delivered  their  mes- 
sage, proffering  assistance,  and  Major 
Anderson  replied,  that  he  had  already 
agreed  upon  the  terms  of  evacuation, 
when  it  appeared  that  some  misunder- 
standing had  arisen,  or  that  Wigfall  had 
acted  without  the  authority  of  the  Com- 
mander in  Chief.  This  new  embarrass- 
ment, however,  was  cured  by  the  prompt 
arrival  of  another  embassy  sent  by  Gen- 
eral Beauregard,  consisting  of  Major  D. 
R.  Jones,  the  chief  of  his  Staff,  with  sev- 
eral other  Aids,  charged  with  the  volun- 
tary offer  of  substantially  the  same  pro- 
positions submitted  to  Major  Anderson 
in  the  correspondence  a  few  days  pre- 
ceding the  bombardment,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  privilege  of  saluting  his 
flag.  To  this  Major  Anderson  replied— 
we  cite  here  the  language  of  General 
Beau  regard's  Report — "  It  would  be  ex- 
ceediigly  gratifying  to  him,  as  well  as  to 
his  command,  to  be  permitted  to  salute 
their  flag,  having  so  gallantly  defended 
the  fort,  under  such  trying  circumstan- 
ces, and  he  hoped  that  General  Beaure- 
gard would  not  refuse  it,  as  such  a  priv- 
ilege was  not  unusual."  He  further  said, 
"  he  would  not  urge  the  point,  but  would 
prefer  to  refer  the  matter  again  to  Gen- 
eral Beauregard."  "  The  point  was, 
therefore,"  continues  General  Beaure- 
gard, "  left  open  until  the  matter  was 
submitted  to  me.  I  very  cheerfully 
agreed  to  allow  the  salute  as  an  honor- 
able testimony  to  the  gallantry  and  for- 
titude with  which  Major  Anderson  and 
his  command  had  defended  their  post, 
and  I  informed  Major  Anderson  of  my 
decision  about  half-past  seven  o'clock, 
through  Major  Jones."  Previous  to  the 
return  of  Major  Jones,  it  should  be  add- 
ed, General  Beauregard  sent  a  fire-en- 
14 


gine,  under  Mr.  H.  Nathan,  Chief  of  the 
Fire  Department,  and  Surgeon-General 
Gibbes  of  South  Carolina,  with  several 
of  his  Aids,  to  offer  further  assistance  to 
the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter,  which  was 
declined.* 

An  incident  is  related  as  having  oc- 
curred in  the  somewhat  confused  embas- 
sies attending  the  surrender,  which,  hap- 
pily escaping  the  tragic,  is  not  without 
that  tinge  of  the  ludicrous  which  is  found 
often  provokingly  blended  with  the  dig- 
nity of  great  and  imposing  events.  We 
give  the  story  as  we  find  it  in  a  news- 
paper of  the  day — a  specimen  of  the 
rough  humors  of  the  war.  "  Roger  A. 
Pryor  of  Virginia,  ex-Member  of  Con- 
gress, was  one  of  the  second  deputation 
that  waited  upon  Major  Anderson.  He 
was  the  very  embodiment  of  Southern 
chivalry.  Literally  dressed  to  kill,  brist- 
ling with  bowie-knives  and  revolvers, 
like  a  walking  arsenal,  he  appeared  to 
think  himself  individually  capable  of 
capturing  the  fort,  without  any  extran- 
eous assistance.  Inside  of  the  fort  he 
seemed  to  think  himself  master  of  every 
thing — monarch  of  all  he  surveyed — and, 
in  keeping  with  this  pretension,  seeing 
upon  the  table  what  appeared  to  be  a 
glass  of  brandy,  drank  it  without  cere- 
mony. Surgeon  Crawford,  who  had  wit- 
nessed the  feat,  approached  him  and 
said  :  "  Sir,  what  you  have  drunk  is  poi- 
son— it  was  the  iodide  of  potassium — 
you  are  a  dead  man."  The  representa- 
tive of  chivalry  instantly  collapsed,  bow- 
ie-knives, revolvers  and  all,  and  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Surgeon  Crawford,  who, 
by  purgings,  pumpings,  and  pukings,  de- 
feated his  own  prophecy  in  regard  to  his 

*  Official  Report  of  Brigadier-General  G.  T.  Beauregard 
to  Brigadier-General  Cooper,  Adjutant-General  C.  S.  A., 
Headquarters  Provisional  Army,  Charleston,  S.  C.,  ApiU 
27,  1861. 


106 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


fate.     Mr.  Pry  or  left  Fort  Sumter  "  a 
wiser,  if  not  a  better  man."  * 

It  was  arranged  at  the  request  of  Major 
Anderson,  in  accordance  with  the  liberal 
terms  of  the  surrender,  that  the  formal 
evacuation  should  take  place  on  Sunday, 
the  day  after  the  final  bombardment.     A 
steamer  was  to  be  placed  at  his  disposal 
for  the  removal  of  his  command   with 
their  effects,  and  the  flag  was  to  be  sa- 
luted by  the  force-  in  the  garrison  pre- 
vious to  embarkation.  Lieutenant  Snyder 
was  sent  from  the  fort  to  communicate 
with  the  fleet  lying  off  the  harbor,  to 
arrange  for  the  reception  on  board  the 
national   vessels.     Saturday  night  was 
mostly  spent  in  packing  up  the  personal 
property  and  hospital  stores  for  the  de- 
parture.    Early  the  next  morning  the 
preparations  were  completed.  Lieutenant 
Snyder  was  conducted  to  the  fleet  by  Com- 
modore Hartstein  and  several  officers  of 
General  Beauregard's  staff,  and  presently 
returned  with  Captain  Gillis  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  the  commander  of  the  Poca- 
hontas,  to  the  fort.  The  Charleston  steam- 
er Isabel,  which  had  been  provided  by 
the  military  authorities,  was  brought  up  to 
conduct  the  garrison  to  the  ships  ;  while 
the  old  flag,  stained  and  torn  in  battle^ 
which  for  nearly  four  months  had  ani- 
mated the  spirits  of  the  defenders  during 
the  anxious  siege,  and  which  they  had  so 
gallantly  sustained  during  the  last  two 
days  in  the  fiery  attack  of  shot  and  shell 
and  the  more  fearful  conflagration,  was 
raised  upon  the  ramparts   waiting  the 
honors  of  the  parting  salute.     It  is  stated 
to   have   been   the   intention   of  Major 
Anderson  to  have  fired  a  salute  of  one 
hundred  guns,  but  the  number  was  re- 
duced to  fifty  by  an  untoward  accident, 

*  N.  T.  Tribune,  April  19,  1861.    Moore's  Rebellion  Re- 
cord, I,  Incidents,  Ac.,  p.  28. 


which  imparted  an  additional  gloom  to 
the  melancholy  scene.  In  the  course  of 
the  firing  a  quantity  of  ammunition  near 
the  guns  was  exploded,  instantly  killing 
one  of  the  men  and  fatally  wounding 
another,  while  several  others  were  more 
or  less  injured.  Every  attention  was 
paid  to  the  sufferers  by  Dr.  Crawford  of 
the  garrison,  assisted  by  Prof.  Chisholm 
of  Charleston,  Assistant-Surgeon  Maddox 
of  the  State  forces,  and  others.  When 
the  salute  was  finished,  the  victim  of  the 
disaster,  private  Hough,  was  buried  with 
military  honors  in  the  centre  of  the 
parade  ground,  the  Chaplain  of  the  Con- 
federate troops  assisting  at  the  funeral 
service.  After  this  ceremony  the  United 
States  troops,  dressed  in  fall  uniform, 
wearing  their  arms,  were  formed  into  line, 
and,  to  the  national  air  of  "Yankee 
Doodle,"  marched  out  of  the  fort. 

Whilst  this  was  taking  place  at  Sum- 
ter a  distinguished  party  of  the  civil  and 
military  authorities  of  South  Carolina 
and  the  Confederate  Government  were  on 
their  way  to  the  spot,  the  story  of  whose 
visit,  as  narrated  at  the  time  in  the 
Charleston  Mercury  will  convey  to  the 
reader  a  vivid  impression  of  the  scenes 
of  the  day.  "  At  half-past  twelve,"  says 
the  writer,-  "  his  Excellency  Governor 
Pickens,  with  his  Aids,  and  Messrs.  Jam- 
ison, Harllee  and  Magrath,  of  his  Exec- 
utive Council,  and  General  Beauregard, 
with  his  Aids,  Messrs.  Miles,  Prior, 
Manning,  Chesnut  and  Jones,  and  many 
distinguished  gentlemen,  invited  to  be 
present,  took  their  departure  in  a  steam- 
er from  Southern  Wharf,  and  were  borne 
in  the  direction  of  the  Fort.  As  we  ad- 
vanced, it  was  apparent,  however,  that 
the  evacuation  was  not  completed. 
Though  the  steamer  Isabel,  at  the  request 
of  Major  Anderson  had  been  present 


A  PARTY  FROM   CHARLESTON. 


107 


from  nine  o'clock,  and  the  expectation 
bad  been  occasioned  that  very  soon  there- 
after his  command  would  be  under  way, 
still  causes  of  delay  had  intervened.  To 
avoid  the  embarrassments  of  a  prema- 
ture arrival,  the  party  was  landed  on 
Sullivan's  Island.  Availing  themselves 
of  the  opportunities  thus  afforded,  they 
visited  the  floating  battery,  the  Dahl- 
gren  battery,  the  enfilading  battery,  and 
were  ascending  the  mortar  battery,  when 
the  booming  of  the  guns  upon  the  para- 
pets of  Fort  Sumter,  announced  the  low- 
ering of  the  "  stars  and  stripes."  In  the 
terms  of  the  capitulation  it  was  allowed 
to  Major  Anderson  to  salute  his  flag,  and 
it  was  perhaps  expected  that  he  would 
fire  the  usual  complement  of  twenty-one 
guns  ;  but,  reaching  that  number,  he  still 
went  on  to  fire,  and  the  apprehension  was 
that  he  might  exhibit  the  discourtesy  of 
numbering  thirty-four.  But  he  continued 
still  to  fire,  up  to  fifty,  and  then  slowly 
lowering  his  flag,  the  shouts  from  assem- 
bled thousands,  upon  the  shores  and  the 
steamers,  and  every  species  of  water 
craft,  announced  that  the  authority  of  the 
late  United  States  upon  the  last  foot  of 
Carolina's  soil  was  finally  withdrawn.  It 
had  been  noticed  that  at  the  firing  of  the 
seventeenth  gun,  there  was  the  sound  as 
of  two  reports,  and  the  impression  was, 
that  two  guns  had  been  fired  together  ; 
but,  as  the  party,  reembarking,  were  on 
their  way  to  Fort  Sumter,  they  were  met 
by  a  boat,  which  announced  that  one  of 
the  caissons  had  exploded,  and  made  the 
earnest  request  that  the  boat  would  re- 
turn to  Sullivan's  Island  for  a  fire-engine, 
from  the  apprehension  that  the  magazine 
might  be  in  danger.  This  obtained,  the 
party  again  started  for  the  fort,  and  made 
their  entrance. 

41  It  were  vain  to  attempt  a  detailed 


I  description  of  the  scene.  Every  point 
and  e-ery  object  in  the  interior  of  the 
fort,  to  which  the  eye  was  turned,  except 
the  outer  walls  and  casemates,  which  are 
still  strong,  bore  the  impress  of  ruin.  It 
were  as  if  the  Genius  of  Destruction  had 
tasked  its  energies  to  make  the  thing  com- 
plete, brooded  over  by  the  desolation  of 
ages.  It  could  scarce  have  been  devel- 
oped to  a  more  full  maturity  of  ruin.  The 
walls  of  the  internal  structure,  roofless, 
bare,  blackened,  and  perforated  by  shot 
and  shell,  hung  in  fragments,  and  seemed 
in  instant  readiness  to  totter  down 
Near  the  centre  of  the  parade-ground 
was  the  hurried  grave  of  one  who  had 
fallen  from  the  recent  casuality.  To  the 
left  of  the  entrance  was  a  man  who  seem- 
ed to  be  at  the  verge  of  death.  In  the 
ruins,  to  the  right,  there  was  another. 
The  shattered  flag-staff,  pierced  by  four 
balls,  lay  sprawling  on  the  ground.  The 
parade-ground  was  strewn  with  fragments 
of  shell  and  of  the  dilapidated  buildings. 
At  least  four  guns  were  dismounted  on 
the  ramparts,  and  at  every  step  the  way 
was  impeded  by  portions  of  the  broken 
structure.  And  so  it  was  that  the  author- 
ities, compelled  to  yield  the  fortress,  had 
at  least  the  satisfaction  of  leaving  it  in  a 
condition  calculated  to  inspire  the  least 
possible  pleasure  to  its  captors. 

"  Of  all  this,  however,  the  feeling  was 
lost  when,  ascending  to  the  parapet,  the 
brilliant  panorama  of  the  bay  appeared. 
And  when,  from  this  key  to  the  harbor, 
the  view  expanded  to  the  waving  outline 
of  main  and  island,  and  when,  upon  this 
key,  the  flag  of  the  Confederacy,  togeth- 
er with  the  Palmetto  flag,  were  both  ex- 
panded to  the  breeze  ;  and  when  the 
deafening  shouts  arose  from  the  masses 
clustered  upon  boats  and  upon  the  shores, 
and  when  the  batteries  around  the  entire 


108 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION 


circuit  shook  the  fortress  with  the  thun- 
ders of  their  salutation,  the  feeling  that 
the  victory  was  indeed  complete  ;  that 
the  triumph  was  a  fact  accomplished  ; 
(hat  liberty  had  indeed  been  vindicated, 
and  that  the  State  had  established  her 
claim  to  the  skill  and  courage  necessary 
to  the  cause  she  had  the  intellectual  in- 
trepidity to  avow,  thrilled  in  the  breast 
of  every  one  of  Carolina's  sons,  as  sel- 
dom has  such  feeling  thrilled  in  the 
breasts  of  any  men  before.  Shortly  af- 
ter the  arrival,  the  garrison  marched  out, 
and  were  received  on  board  the  Isabel ; 
which,  however,  from  the  condition  of  the 
tide  was  unable  to  move  off,  and  it  was  a 
somewhat  unpleasant  circumstance  that 
Major  Anderson  and  his  command  should 
have  been  made  unwilling  spectators  of 
the  exultations  inspired  by  their  defeat." 
We  may  indeed,  severely  as  all  pat- 
riots must  censure  the  fatal  policy  of  the 
attack  upon  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  wicked 
counsels  of  the  conspirators  against  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  the  nation  which 
inspired  it,  allow  the  authorities  at 
Charleston  credit  for  a  certain  gener- 
osity in  their  manner  of  proceeding  after 
the  work  was  taken — though  it  would 
have  added  to  their  claims  to  respect,  if 
the  firing  had  not  been  so  ruthlessly  con- 
tinued, and  even  augmented,  when  the 
fort  was  in  flames.  The  leaders  appear 
to  have  been  touched  by  the  gallantry 
of  the  defenders.  In  their  own  view  of 
the  matter,  they  doubtless  thought  they 
were  making  considerable  concessions  to 
a  fallen  foe  in  the  easy  and  honorable 
terms  of  surrender.  What  that  point 
of  view  was,  and  how  the  capitulation 
was  represented  at  the  South,  we  may 
learn  from  an  extraordinary  passage  in 
the  Message  at  the  close  of  the  month, 
of  FVesident  Jefferson  Davis  to  his  Con- 


federate Congress.  "  I  cannot  refrain," 
says  he,  in  that  document,  "from  a  well 
deserved  tribute  to  the  noble  State,  the 
eminent  soldierly  qualities  of  whose  peo- 
ple were  so  conspicuously  displayed  in 
the  port  of  Charleston.  For  months  they 
had  been  irritated  by  the  spectacle  of  a 
fortress  held  within  their  principal  har- 
bor, as  a  standing  menace  against  their 
peace  and  independence.  Built  in  part 
with  their  own  money,  its  custody  con- 
fided with  their  own  consent  to  an  agent 
who  held  no  power  over  them,  other  than 
such  as  they  had  themselves  delegated 
for  their  own  benefit,  intended  to  be  used 
by  that  agent  for  their  own  protection 
against  foreign  attack,  they  saw  it  held 
with  persistent  tenacity  as  a  means  of 
offence  against  them  by  the  very  gov- 
ernment which  they  had  established  for 
their  protection.  They  had  beleagured 
it  for  months— felt  entire  confidence  in 
their  power  to  capture  it — yet  yielded 
to  the  requirements  of  discipline,  curbed 
their  impatience,  submitted  without  com- 
plaint to  the  unaccustomed  hardships, 
labors  and  privations  of  a  protracted 
siege  ;  and  when  at  length  their  patience 
was  rewarded  by  the  signal  for  attack, 
and  success  had  crowned  their  steady 
and  gallant  conduct — even  in  the  very 
moment  of  triumph — they  evinced  a 
chivalrous  regard  for  the  feelings  of  the 
brave  but  unfortunate  officer  who  had 
been  compelled  to  lower  his  flag.  All 
manifestations  of  exultation  were  check- 
ed in  his  presence.  Their  commanding 
general,  with  their  cordial  approval  and 
the  consent  of  his  Government,  refrain- 
ed from  imposing  any  terms  that  could 
wound  the  sensibilites  of  the  comman- 
der of  the  fort.  He  was  permitted  to 
retire  with  the  honors  of  war — to  salute 
his  flag,  to  depart  freely  with  all  his 


MAJOR  ANDERSON'S   DESPATCH. 


109 


command,  and  was  escorted  to  the  vessel 
in  wLich  he  embarked  with  the  highest 
marks  of  respect  from  those  against 
whom  his  guns  had  been  so  recently 
directed.  Not  only  does  every  event 
connected  with  the  siege  reflect  the  high- 
est honor  on  South  Carolina,  but  the  for- 
bearance of  her  people,  and  of  this  gov- 
ernment, of  making  any  harsh  use  of  a 
victory  obtained  under  circumstances  of 
such  peculiar  provocation,  attest  to  the 
fullest  extent  the  absence  of  any  purpose 
beyond  securing  their  own  tranquility, 
and  the  sincere  desire  to  avoid  the  cal- 
amities of  war." 

Major  Anderson,  with  his  command, 
remained  Sunday  night  in  the  harbor  on 
board  the  Isabel.  On  Monday  morning 
they  were  transported  to  the  steamer 
Baltic,  and  sailed  immediately  for  the 
north.  When  the  men  were  all  em- 
barked, the  flag  of  Sumter  was  raised  to 
the  mast  head  and  saluted  by  the  guns 
of  the  Baltic,  the  Pocahontas,  the  Paw- 
nee and  Harriet  Lane.  As  the  ship 
entered  the  bay  of  New  York,  on  the 
morning  of  the  18th,  the  flag  was  again 
elevated  and  greeted  with  the  salutes  of 
the  forts  and  the  cheers  of  enthusiastic 
spectators.  On  his  approach  to  the  har- 
bor, while  off  Sandy  Hook,  Major  Ander- 
son addressed  this  brief  despatch  to  the 
Secretary  of  War  : — "  Having  defended 
Fort  Sumter  for  thirt}T-four  hours,  until 
the  quarters  were  entirely  burned,  the 
main  gates  destroyed  by  fire,  the  gorge 
wall  seriously  injured,  the  magazine  sur- 
rounded by  flames  and  its  doors  closed 
from  the  effects  of  the  heat,  four  barrels 
and  three  cartridges  of  powder  only  be- 
ing available,  and  no  provisions  but  pork 
remaining,  I  accepted  terms  of  evacua- 
tion offered  by  General  Beauregard,  being 
the  same  offered  by  him  on  the  llth  inst., 


prior  to  the  crmmencement  of  hostilities, 
and  marched  out  of  the  fort  Sunday 
afternoon,  the  14th  inst.,  with  colors 
flying  and  drums  beating,  bringing  away 
company  and  private  property  and  salut- 
ing my  flag  with  fifty  guns."* 

Captain  Foster's  Engineer  journal  of 
the  bombardment,  published  with  the 
Annual  Report  of  the  War  Department, 
presents  us  with  many  interesting  partic- 
ulars of  the  defence  in  an  authentic 
form.  It  appears  from  this  that  for  a  few 
days  preceding  the  attack,  when  the  ene- 
my's batteries  were  first  unmasked  on  Sul- 
livan's Island,  there  was  great  activity  in 
the  fort  in  providing  additional  security 
for  the  working  of  the  heavy  guns  on  the 
parapet,  which  were  intended  to  operate 
upon  Fort  Moultrie  and  Cummings'  Point, 
and  in  preparing  means  for  quickly  un- 
loading any  vessel  which  might  run  in 
with  supplies  for  the  garrison.  In  the 
absence  of  sand-bags  a  heavy  double  curb 
of  boards  and  scantling,  to  serve  as  a 
traverse  or  screen  for  the  protection  of 
the  gunners,  was  raised  by  night  to  the 
parapet  and  filled  with  earth,  which  had 
been  hoisted  from  the  parade.  Ladders 
and  runaways  were  provided  to  take  in 
reinforcements  and  provisions  at  the  em- 
brasures, one  of  which  was  enlarged  to 
the  size  of  a  barrel.  On  the  9th  of  April 
the  quantity  of  bread  is  reported  as 
"very  small,"  and  only  half-rations  of  it 
were  allowed  to  the  men.  The  next  day 
it  failed  entirely,  and  its  place  was  sup- 
plied by  "  picking  over  some  damaged 
rice,  which,  while  spread  out  during  the 
day  in  one  of  the  quarters  had  been  filled 
with  pieces  of  glass  from  the  window 
panes  shattered  by  the  concussion  of 
guns  fired  in  practice."  It  being  found 


*  Major  Anderson  to  the  Hon.  S.  Cameron,  Secretary  ct 
War,  steamship  Baltic,  of*  Sandy  Hook,  April  18,  1861. 


11C 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


that  there  were  few  cartridges  on  hand, 
the  surplus  blankets  and  extra  company 
clothing  were  cut  up  to  make  bags  for  an 
additional  supply.  The  manufacture, 
however,  proceeded  slowly,  for  there 
were  but  six  needles  to  work  with  in  the 
fort.  At  the  commencement  of  the  ac- 
tion the  entire  armament  consisted  of 
twenty-seven  guns  mounted  en  barbette, 
of  which  two  were  10-inch  columbiads, 
six  8-inch  columbiads,  six  42-pounders, 
three  32?s,  six  24's,  and  four  8-inch  sea- 
coast  howitzers ;  of  twenty-one  guns, 
four  42-pounders  and  the  rest  32- 
pounders  in  the  lower  casemate  tier — the 
embrasures  of  the  upper  were  filled  with 
brick  and  stone  and  earth — while  on  the 
parade  one  10 -inch  columbiad  was  ar- 
ranged to  throw  shells  into  Charleston, 
and  four  8-inch  columbiads  to  throw 
shells  into  the  batteries  on  Cummings' 
Point.  Of  all  these,  the  casemate  guns 
were  the  only  ones  used.  The  supply  of 
cartridges,  seven  hundred  in  number, 
with  which  the  action  commenced,  became 
so  much  reduced  by  the  middle  of  the 
first  day  that  "  although  the  six  needles 
were  kept  steadily  employed"  the  firing 
was  of  necessity  confined  to  six  guns. 

The  effect  of  the  fire  Captain  Foster 
admits  was  not  very  good,  which  he  at- 
tributes to  the  insufficient  calibre  of  the 
guns  for  the  long  range.  Not  much  dam- 
age, he  says,  "  appeared  to  be  done  to 
any  of  the  batteries  except  those  of  Fort 
Moultrie  where  our  two  42-pounders  ap- 
peared to  have  silenced  one  gun  for  a 
time,  to  have  injured  the  embrasures 
considerably,  riddled  the  barracks  and 
quarters,  and  torn  three  holes  through 
their  flag.  The  so-called  'floating  bat- 
tery '  was  struck  very  frequently  by  our 
shot,  one  of  them  penetrating  at  the  an- 
gle between  the  front  and  roof,  entirely 


through  the  iron  covering  and  woodwork 
beneath,  and  wounding  one  man.  The 
rest  of  the  3 2 -pounder  balls  failed  to 
penetrate  the  front  or  the  roof,  but  were 
deflected  from  their  surfaces,  which  were 
arranged  at  a  suitable  angle  for  this  pur- 
pose. We  could  not  strike  below  the 
water-line  on  account  of  the  sea-wall  be- 
hind which  the  battery  had  been  ground- 
ed, and  which  was  just  high  enough  to 
allow  their  guns  to  fire  over  it  and  to  in- 
tercept all  our  ricochet  shots.  The  col- 
uinbiad  battery  and  Dahlgren  battery 
near  the  floating  battery  did  not  appear 
to  be  much  injured  by  the  few  shots  that 
were  fired  at  them.  Only  one  or  two 
shots  were  fired  at  Fort  Johnson,  and 
none  at  Castle  Pinckney  or  the  city. 
Our  fire  towards  Morris'  Island  was 
mainly  directed  at  the  iron-clad  battery, 
but  the  small  calibre  of  our  shot  failed 
to  penetrate  the  covering  when  struck 
fairly.  The  aim  was  therefore  taken  at 
the  embrasures,  which  were  struck  at 
least  twice,  disabling  the  guns  for  a 
time." 

In  regard  to  the  fire  from  the  enemy 
and  its  effect  upon  the  fort,  Captain  Fos- 
ter states  that  "  the  vertical  fire  was  so 
well  directed  and  so  well  sustained  that 
from  the  seventeen  mortars  engaged  in 
firing  10-inch  shells,  one  half  of  the 
shells  came  within  or  exploded  above 
the  parapet  of  the  fort  and  only  about 
ten  buried  themselves  in  the  soft  earth 
of  the  parade  without  exploding.  In 
consequence  of  this  precision  of  vertical 
fire  Major  Anderson  decided  not  to  man 
the  upper  tier  of  guns,  as  by  doing  so 
the  loss  of  men,  notwithstanding  the 
traverses  and  bomb-proof  shelters  that 
I  had  constructed,  must  have  been  great. 
These  guns  were  therefore  fired  only 
once  or  twice  by  some  men  who  ven- 


C  APT  UN  FOSTER'S  REPORT 


111 


tured  upon  the  parapet  for  this  purpose. 
In  doing  this  they.managed  without  much 
care,  pioducing  little  or  no  effect  upon 
the  enemy,  besides  doing  injury  to  the 
guns.  At  the  third  fire  of  the  10-inch 
columbiad  at  the  right  gorge  angle  it  was 
omitted  to  throw  the  friction  wheels  out 
of  bearing,  and  consequently,  in  the  re- 
coil, the  gun  ran  entirely  off  its  chassiz, 
overturning  itself,  and  in  its  fall  dismount- 
ing the  8-inch  sea  coast  howitzer  next 
to  it.  The  direction  of  the  enemy's  shells 
being  from  the  north-east,  north,  south- 
west and  south-east,  sought  every  part 
of  the  work,  and  the  fuses  being  well 
graduated,  exploded,  in  most  instances, 
just  within  the  line  of  parapet.  To  this 
kind  of  fire  no  return  was  made  from  the 
columbiads  arranged  to  fire  shell,  nor 
were  the  hot  shot  furnaces  used  or  open- 
ed. The  effect  of  the  direct  fire  of  the 
enemy  w&s  not  so  marked  as  the  vertical. 
For  several  hours  from  the  commence- 
ment a  large  proportion  of  their  shot 
missed  the  fort.  An  8-inch  colum- 
biad of  the  upper  tier  was .  dismounted, 
and  another  struck  on  its  side  and  crack- 
ed by  the  guns  of  Fort  Moultrie.  Three 
of  the  iron  cisterns  over  the  hall-ways 
were  destroyed  by  shots  during  the  day, 
and  the  quarters  below  deluged  by  their 
contents  of  water,  aiding  in  preventing 
the  extension  of  the  fires.  The  enemy's 
fire  on  the  second  day  was  more  rapid 
and  effective.  None  of  the  upper  tier  of 
guns,  however,  were  dismounted.  After 
the  cessation  of  fire  about  six  hundred 
shot  marks  on  the  face  of  the  scarp  wall 
were  counted,  but  they  were  so  scattered 
that  no  breached  effect  could  have  been 
expected  from  such  fire,  and  probably 
none  was  attempted  except  at  the  right 
gorge  angle.  The  only  effect  of  the  di- 
raot  fire  during  the  two  days  was  to  dis- 


able three  barbette  guns,  knock  off  large 
portions  of  the  chimneys  and  brick  walls 
projecting  above  the  parapet,  and  to  set 
the  quarters  on  fire  with  hot  shot." 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  terri- 
ble fire  of  the  descending  shells  and  the 
conflagration  of  the  quarters, .  the  fort, 
Captain  Foster  thinks,  might  have  been 
held  for  some  time  had  it  not  been  for 
other  insurmountable  difficulties.  "  We 
could,"  he  says,  "  have  resumed  the  fir- 
ing as  soon  as  the  walls  cooled  sufficient 
to  open  the  magazines  ;  and  then  having 
blown  down  the  wall  left  projecting  above 
the  parapet,  so  as  to  get  rid  of  flying 
bricks,  and  built  up  the  main  gates  with 
stones  and  rubbish,  the  fort  would  actu- 
ally have  been  in  a  more  defensible  con- 
dition than  when  the  action  commenced. 
In  fact  it  would  have  been  better  if  the 
chimneys,  roofs  and  upper  walls  of  the 
quarters  and  barracks  had  been  removed 
before  the  firing  began,  but  the  short 
notice  and  the  small  force  did  not  permit 
anything  of  this  kind  after  the  notice  of 
the  attack  was  received.  The  weakness 
of  the  defence  principally  lay  in  the  lack 
of  cartridge  bags  and  of  the*  materials  to 
make  them,  by  which  the  fire  of  our  bat- 
teries was  all  the  time  rendered  slow,  and 
towards  the  last  was  nearly  suspended. 
The  lack  of  a  sufficient  number  of  men 
to  man  the  barbette  tier  of  guns,  at  the 
risk  of  losing  several  by  the  heavy  ver- 
tical fire  of  the  enemy,  also  prevented  us 
making  use  of  the  only  guns  that  had  the 
power  to  smash  his  iron-clad  batteries, 
or  of  throwing  shells  into  his  open  bat- 
teries so  as  to  destroy  his  cannoniers. 
The  want  of  provisions  would  soon  have 
caused  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  but  with 
plenty  of  cartridges  Jihe  men  would  have 
cheerfully  fought  five  or  six  days,  and,  if 
necessary,  much  longer,  on  pork  alone, 


112 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


of  which  we  had  a  sufficient  supply.  I 
do  not  think  that  a  breach  could  have 
been  effected  in  the  gorge  at  the  distance 
of  the  battery  on  Cummings'  Point  within 
a  week  or  ten  days  ;  and  even  then,  with 
the  small  garrison  to  defend  it,  and  means 
for  obstructing  it  at  our  disposal,  the 
operation  of  assaulting  it,  with  even  vastly 
superior  numbers,  would  have  been  very 
doubtful  in  its  results."* 

Having  thus  briefly  narrated  the  for- 
tunes of  Fort  Sumter  and  its  gallant 
defenders  during  the  bombardment,  we 
may  turn  to  contemplate  more  particular- 
ly the  means  by  which  the  captiire  was 
effected.  The  well  contrived  battery  at 
Cummings'  Point,  where  the  guns  were 
pointed  from  a  shelving  defence  con- 
structed of  railroad  iron,  admirably 
adapted  for  the  protection  of  those 
within,  by  throwing  off  opposing  balls  at 
an  angle,  was  most  effective  in  its  dis- 
charges against  the  fort.  Its  contiguity 
to  the  less  defended  side  of  the  fort  also 
aided  its  destructiveness.  The  guns  of 
this  battery,  which  were  admitted  by 
Major  Anderson  to  have  been  well  han- 
dled, numbered  three  8-inch  or  64-pound 
columbiads,  from  which  were  fired  during 
the  combat  one  hundred  and  eighty-three 
solid  shot  and  sixty  shells.  The  distance 
was  about  twelve  hundred  yards,  a  short 
range  for  these  powerful  missives.  In 
addition  to  this  Stevens  or  Iron  Battery, 
worked  by  a  detachment  of  the  Palmetto 
Guard,  there  were  mounted  at  the  Point 
on  Morris'  Island  two  42-pound  guns, 
six  10-inch  mortars  and  a  12-pounder 
imported  Blakely  rifle  cannon,  all  of 
which  were  efficient  in -sweeping  the  ex- 
posed places  of  the  fort.  Nearly  four 

*  Engineer  Journal  of  the  Bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter, 
oy  Captain  J.  G.  Foster,  Corps  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.  New 
York  October  1, 1861. 


hundred  shells  and  as  many  solid  shot 
were  thrown  from  these  works. 

Sullivan's  Island,  on  the  opposite  side, 
mounted  no  less  than  six  distinct  bat- 
teries bearing  on  Fort  Sumter  at  various 
distances.  The  most  important  of  these 
was  the  Sumter  Battery  of  Fort  Moultrie, 
commanded  by  Lieutenant  Alfred  Rhett. 
There  were  in  this  battery  three  64- 
pound  columbiads,  two  32  and  four 
24-pounders,  from  which  were  discharged 
six  hundred  and  fifty  shots,  including  two 
hundred  and  forty-eight  64-pound  balls 
and  forty-one  red  hot  32-pound  balls.  The 
distance  is  about  eighteen  hundred  yards. 
Other  batteries  to  the  right  and  left 
mounted  eleven  guns  of  heavy  calibre 
and  four  10-inch  mortars,  discharging 
more  than  a  thousand  solid  shot  and  some 
two  hundred  and  fifty  shells.  There  were 
also  the  Mount  Pleasant  mortar  battery 
and  two  others  on  James  Island,  mount- 
ing altogether  six  10-inch  mortars. 
From  fourteen  batteries,  in  all,  mounting 
forty-two  heavy  guns  and  mortars,  well 
manned  and  in  full  action,  were  thrown 
more  than  three  thousand  balls  and  shells. 
The  exact  number  is  stated  at  two  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  sixty-one  shot 
and  nine  hundred  and  eighty  shells.* 
The  number  of  men  actively  employed 
in  the  circuit  of  the  Confederate  works, 
may  with  moderation  be  stated  as  ex- 
ceeding three  thousand.  The  force  in 
reserve  would  swell  the  number  to  seven 
or  eight  thousand. 

Fort  Sumter  was  constructed  for  three 
tiers  of  guns,  two  in  casemated  batteries, 
and  the  third  en  barbette.  To  man  its 
entire  armament  when  complete,  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  guns,  would  require  the 
services  of  at  least  six  hundred  men.  The 


*  These  details  are  from  an  elaborate  article  published 
in  the  Charleston  Mercury,  May  2,  3. 


BEAUREGARD'S  REPORT. 


113 


fort  being  unfinished,  however,  when 
Major  Anderson  took  possession,  and  be- 
ing occupied  and  held  under  very  un- 
favorable circumstances,  without  supplies 
of  materials,  notwithstanding  the  zealous 
labor  of  its  defenders  was,  at  the  time  of 
the  siege,  in  a  very  inadequate  condition 
for  defence.  It  had,  as  we  have  seen 
when  the  attack  had  commenced,  but  fifty- 
three  guns  mounted,  and  of  these  twenty- 
one  only  were  used.  Its  entire  force  was  a 
body,  all  told,  of  one  hundred  and  thir- 
teen men,  of  whom  nine  were  commis- 
sioned officers,  seventeen  non-commis- 
sioned, forty-two  privates,  six  attached 
to  the  band,  a  small  number  of  mechanics, 
and  the  rest  laborers.  The  artillery  force, 
under  favorable  circumstances,  was  bare- 
ly equal  to  the  management  of  nine  guns. 
The  officers,  however,  were  of  a  resolute 
spirit,  and  their  men,  two  companies  of 
the  First  Artillery,  shewed  themselves 
every  way  worthy  of  the  occasion.  The 
names  of  the  gallant  little  band  in  com- 
mand under  Major  Anderson  are  worth 
remembering.  More  than  one  of  them  by 
their  services  in  the  subsequent  war  have 
gained  additional  claims  upon  the  public 
attention.  They  were  Assistant-Surgeon 
S.  Wylie  Crawford,  of  the  Medical  Staff ; 
Captain  Abner  Doubleday,  Captain  True- 
man  Seymour,  First  Lieutenant  Jefferson 
Davis  Second  Lieutenant  N.  J.  Hall,  all 
of  the  First  Artillery  ;  Captain  J.  G. 
Foster,  Lieutenant  G.  W.  Snyder  and 
R.  K.  Meade,  of  the  Engineers.  Captain 
Foster,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  was 
a  distinguished  graduate  of  West  Point  of 
the  class  of  1846.  He  served  in  Mexico 
with  honor,  being  severely  wounded  at 
El  Molino  del  Rey,  was  bre vetted  Cap- 
tain, and  subsequently  was  employed  as 
Assistant  Professor  of  Engineering  at 
West  Point.  After  the  defence  of  Sumter 
15 


he  was  engaged  in  the  superintendence  of 
raising  fortifications  at  Sandy  Hook.  He 
was  next  appointed  by  the  President 
Brigadier-General  of  volunteers,  in  which 
capacity  we  shall  meet  with  him  again  in 
the  North  Carolina  Expedition  of  General 
Burnside. 

All  accounts  agree  as  to  the  zest  with 
which  the  incessant  murderous  fire  was 
hurled  upon  the  devoted  fort,  and  the 
fortitude  with  which  it  was  sustained. 
The  usually  cool  narrative  of  General 
Beauregard  in  his  official  account,  ap- 
proaches enthusiasm  as  he  enumerates 
the  particular  services  rendered  by  the 
warriors  of  South  Carolina  in  this  mem- 
orable action.  The  names  are  too  num- 
erous to  recount,  but  we  may  mention  as. 
especially  honored  by  their  commander, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  R.  S.  Ripley,  Com- 
mandant of  Batteries  on  Sullivan's  Is- 
land, Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  G.  De  Saus- 
sure  who  directed  the  batteries  on  Mor- 
ris' Island,  Major  P.  F.  Stevens,  of  the 
Naval  Academy  in  charge  of  the  Cum- 
mings'  Point  Batteries,  Captain  Thomas, 
of  the  Citadel  Academy,  at  the  same 
spot,  "  who  had  charge  of  the  rifle-can- 
non, and  had  the  honor  of  using  this  val- 
uable weapon,  a  gift  of  one  of  South  Car- 
olina's distant  Sons  to  his  native  State, 
with  peculiar  effect ; "  while  to  the  en- 
gineers, Majors  Whiting  and  Gwynn  and 
others,  "  too  much  praise  cannot  be  be- 
stowed for  their  untiring  zeal,  energy  and 
gallantry."  Captain  Hartstein,  who  at 
the  surrender  showed  praiseworthy  at- 
tentions to  his  old  associates,  is  in  par- 
ticular commended  for  the  service  which 
he  rendered  in  4he  naval  department  as 
one  of  the  General's  volunteer  Aids, 
11  perfectly  indefatigable  in  guarding  the 
entrance  into  the  harbc  r,  and  in  trans- 
mitting my  orders."  Colonol  Wigfall 


114 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


in  like  manner  is  commended   for  the 
devotion,  which  we  have  recorded,  in 
his  passage  to  Fort  Sumter  in  an  open 
boat  amidst  a  heavy  fire  of  shot  and 
shell.    Nor,  as   one  of  the  interesting 
anecdotes  of  the  occasion,  must  the  inci- 
dent much  dwelt  upon  at  the  time  in 
South   Carolina,  be   forgotten,  of   "  the 
venerable  and  gallant  Edward  Euffin  of 
Virginia,  at  the  iron  battery,  firing  many 
guns,  undergoing  every  fatigue  and  shar- 
ing the  hardships  at  the  battery  with  the 
youngest  of  the  Palmettos."     The  last 
named  gentleman  hastened  over  to  the 
island  from  Charleston  as  a  volunteer, 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Palmetto 
Guard  on  the  spot,  and  assigned   the 
honor  of  firing  the  first  gun  from  the 
"battery.     "  All  honor  !  "  enthusiastically 
exclaims   a   journalist    of   the   day    at 
Charleston,  "  to  the  chivalric  Virginian  ; 
may  he  live  many  years  to  wear  the 
fadeless  wreath  that  honor  placed  upon 
nis  orow  on  our  glorious  Friday."    He 
had  not  to  live  many  months  to  wit- 
ness some  of  the  first  fruits  of  this  glori- 
ous action,  in  the  dismemberment  of  his 
native  State  and  the  occupation  and  de- 
vastation of  that  proud  portion  of  the 
earth,  by  hostile  armies,  which  the  echoes 
of  his^iron  battery  had  called  to  face 
each  other. 

The  armed  vessels  and  transports 
which  had  arrived  for  the  relief  of  Fort 
Sumter  were  the  steam  sloop-of-war 
Pawnee,  ten  guns,  the  Eevenue  Cutter 
Harriet  Lane,  five  guns,  and  the  steam 
transport  ship  Baltic  carrying  about  a 
hundred  troops.  The  Pawnee  sailed 
from  Washington  on  the^  6th  of  April  ; 
the  others  from  New  York  between  that 
day  and  the  9th, — all  with  sealed  orders. 
The  expedition  was  placed  under  the 
direction  of  Captain  C.  V.  Fox  of  the 


United  States  Navy,  who  had  been  in 
council  with  the  Government  and  had 
advised  its  preparation.  The  destination 
was  Charleston,  and  the  orders  wero  to 
send  in  provisions  to  the  fort,  if  unop- 
posed, by  the  launches  ;  but  if  opposition 
were  made,  the  armed  vessels  and  troops 
should  follow  and  accomplish  the  object 
as  best  they  could.  The  Harriet  Lane 
was  the  first  to  arrive  early  on  Thurs- 
day evening,  and  her  coming  doubtless 
influenced  the  onset  of  the  assailants, 
which  had  been  fairly  commenced  before 
her  consort  the  Pawnee  with  the  Baltic 
made  their  appearance.  At  noon  they 
had  approached  the  mouth  of  the  har- 
bor, and  were  witnessing  the  bombard- 
ment at  a  distance  of  about  five  miles 
from  Fort  Sumter.  The  necessity  of  aid 
was  evident,  while  the  original  plan  had 
been  thwarted  by  the  commencement  of 
the  action.  It  was  expected,  however, 
that  the  attempt  at  introducing  supplies 
should  be  made  early  Saturday  morning, 
when  the  boats  should  advance  protected 
as  far  as  possible  by  the  fire  of  the  war- 
vessels.  So  well  was  the  harbor  guard- 
ed that  it  could  not,  with  any  prospect 
of  safety,  be  made  at  night,  when,  in  the 
darkness,  the  Pawnee  and  Harriet  Lane 
could  render  no  assistance.  The  next 
morning  the  project  with  the  resources 
at  hand,  which  were  quite  too  scanty  for 
the  occasion,  did  not  seem  more  feasible, 
and  the  three  vessels,  now  reinforced  by 
the  United  States  steamer  Pocahontas, 
were  compelled  quietly  to  wait  and  re- 
ceive the  anticipated  news  of  the  surren- 
der of  Fort  Sumter,  while  the  channel 
batteries  along  the  shore  would  have 
welcomed  them  an  easy  prey  to  their 
tender  embraces.  Indeed,  it  was  then 
and  for  some  time  after  quite  a  matter 
of  vaunting,  that  the  ships  had  been  d.e- 


SAFETY  OF  THE  BESIEGERS. 


115 


fied  and  insulted  and  yet  taken  no  part 
in  the  conflict.  Even  Jefferson  Davis  in 
his  Presidency  of  the  new  confederacy 
had  his  allusion  to  "  the  prudent  conduct 
of  the  officers  who  commanded  the  fleet." 
All  the  part,  indeed,  they  were  enabled 
to  bear  in  the  proceedings  was,  to  receive 
and  console  the  exhausted  defenders,  and 
pay  due  honors  to  the  torn  flag  of  their 
country. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  circum- 
stances of  this  whole  affair  as  it  was  con- 
sidered at  the  time,  was  the  alleged  blood- 
less nature  of  the  conflict.  The  only  liv- 
ing creature  killed  at  the  batteries  is  said 
to  have  been  a  fine  horse  belonging  to 
General  Donnovant,  which  he  had  hitch- 
ed behind  Fort  Moultrie.  That  such 
deadly  instruments  as  were  employed 
could  be  discharged  for  so  long  a  time 
without  interruption,  by  practiced  hands 
on  both  sides  and  with  so  considerable 
material  injury,  wounding  the  air  with 
shattering  explosions,  upturning  the 
earth,  dismounting  guns  and  spreading 
conflagration,  and  that  no  one  of  the  as- 
sailants or  defenders  should  be  hurt,  was 
one  of  those  phenomena  which  seemed  to 
discredit  or  throw  ridicule  on  the  giant 
preparation  for  destruction  of  modern 
warfare.  Yet  this  was  apparently  the 
case.  It  was  so  asserted  in  the  Southern 
bulletins  at  the  moment,  the  statement  is 
authoritatively  given  in  General  Beau- 
regard's  official  despatch,  where  the  fact 
is  attributed  to  the  skill  of  his  engineers, 
and  the  authority  of  the  statement  has 
oeen  confirmed  by  subsequent  experience. 
General  Beauregard,  however,  pronoun- 
ced the  fact  extraordinary.  He  speaks 
of  the  naprecedented  example  of  tak- 
ing such  an  important  work  without  hav- 
ing to  report  the  loss  of  a  single  life  and 
but  four  slightly  wounded."  Governor 


Pickens  stated  publicly,  at  Charleston, 
that  "not  a  single  Human  being  had  been 
sacrificed  in  this  cause,  so  much  identified 
with  the  liberty  and  the  independence  of 
our  country,"  and  saw  in  the  circumstance 
"  the  finger  of  Providence."  To  be  sure, 
almost  in  the  same  sentence,  he  pronoun- 
ced "  before  the  civilized  world"  that  the 
independence  of  his  town's  people  was 
"  baptized  in  blood,"  but  that  might  be 
taken  as  a  figure  of  speech,  and  some- 
thing under  the  circumstances  should  be 
allowed  to  the  occasion.  The  President 
of  the  Confederacy,  however,  Jefferson 
Davis,  himself,  at  a  calmer  moment,  at 
the  end  of  the  month,  in  his  Message  to 
the  Provisional  Congress  at  Montgomery 
renews  the  statement.  "Fortunately," 
says  he,  "  not  a  single  life  was  lost  on  our 
side."  With  such  asseverations  on  the 
part  of  those  who  certainly  had  the  best 
opportunities  of  gaining  correct  informa- 
tion on  the  subject,  there  would  appear 
little  room  for  doubt.  There  were  peo- 
ple, notwithstanding,  who  thought  the 
thing  incredible  on  the  ground  merely  of 
its  improbability. 

The  London  Times  in  a  jocular  artick 
on  the  subject  treated  the  affair  as  if  the 
combatants  were  hardly  in  earnest,  or 
as  if  it  was  all  a  shadowy,  unsubstantiaf 
scene  of  mimic  warfare,  theatrically  con- 
trived for  the  amusement  of  the  world. 
"  Nature,  or  something  that  stands  in  its 
stead,"  said  that  eminent  journal,  "is 
still  strong  in  the  Americans.  They  fight 
'  willing  but  with  unwilling  minds,'  they 
lift  the  hand  to  strike,  they  wing  the  in- 
strument of  death,  but  a  mysterious  pow- 
er averts  the  stroke,  or  blunts  the  edge, 
or  deadens  the  blow.  Are  they  in  ear- 
nest, or  are  they  playing  at  war,  or 

*  Speech  of  Governor    Pickens,  Charleston,  April   '8 
1861, 


116 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


dreaming  that  they  strike  and  still  strike 
not  ?  It  sounds  mor^  like  a  dangerous 
game  than  a  sad  reality.  Seven  batter- 
ies breached  and  bombarded  Fort  Sum- 
ter  for  forty  hours,  burnt  down  its  bar- 
racks, blew  up  several  magazines,  threw 
shells  into  it  innumerable,  and  did  a  vast 
show  of  destruction.  The  fort  replied 
with  like  spirit.  At  length  it  surrender- 
ed, the  garrison  marched  out  prisoners 
of  war,  and  it  was  then  found  that  not  a 
man  was  killed,  or  an  officer  wounded  on 
either  side.  Many  a  '  difficulty'  at  a  bar 
has  cost  more  bloodshed.  Was  this  a 
preconcerted  feat  of  conjuring  ?  Were 
the  rival  Presidents  saluting  one  another 
in  harmless  fire-works  to  amuse  the 
groundlings  ?  The  whole  affair  is  utterly 
inexplicable.  It  sounds  like  the  battles 
when  the  coat  of  mail  had  come  to  its 
perfection,  and  when  the  only  casualty 
after  a  day's  hard  fighting,  was  a  case  of 
suffocation  and  a  few  bruises.  Odin's  he- 
roes as  they  renew  their  daily  warfare 
are  really  wounded,  though  their  wounds 
are  quickly  healed.  This  is  sparring 
with  boxing  gloves — not  the  loaded  coes- 
tus  of  modern  warfare.  It  is  a  mere 
spectacle.  The  population  and  even  the 
ladies  of  Charleston  poured  forth  to  see 
the  sight.  Ten  thousand  soldiers  lined 
the  works,  watching  the  sport  and  con- 
tributing their  share.  '  Our  own  cock- 
neys have  seen  as  much,  and  done  as 
much  at  Cremorne,  or  the  Surrey  Gar- 
dens, not  more  unscathed,  and,  let  us 
hope,  in  not  more  pacific  mood.  But 
perhaps,  this  is  only  the  interchange  of 
courtesies  which  in  olden  times  preceded 
real  war.  The  result  is  utterly  different 
from  all  we  are  accustomed  to  hear  of  the 
Americans.  There  "a  word  or  a  blow" 
has  been  the  rule.  In  this  case,  the  blow 
when  it  does  at  last  come,  falls  like 


snow  and  lights  as  gently  as  thistle 
down." 

Others,  at  home,  were  supported  in 
their  incredulity  by  various  stories, 
which,  arising  from  different  quarters 
found  more  or  less  acceptance  with  the 
newspapers  and  the  people.  One  of  these 
was  the  tale  of  "a  Massachusetts  gen- 
tleman, well  known,"  says  the  New  Ha- 
ven Chronicle,  "  to  several  of  our  citi- 
zens as  a  person  of  unquestioned  verac- 
ity," who,  having  escaped  from  Fort 
Moultrie,  where  he  had  been  impressed 
in  the  Confederate  service,  reported, 
with  perfect  willingness  to  clinch  the 
same  by  a  solemn  oath,  that  "  from  six 
to  seven  hundred  men  were  killed  in  that 
fort  during  the  engagement."  A  New 
York  "flour  merchant,"  also  impressed 
into  the  rebel  service,  gave  a  lusty  ac- 
count of  the  death  dealing  missives  of 
Fort  Sumter.  The  ^ery  first  shot  which 
entered  Fort  Moultrie  he  reported  "  kill- 
ed thirty- three  men  instantly,  and  wound- 
ed many  more."  Such  an  alarming  re- 
sult was,  of  course,  not  accomplished  by 
the  ball  directly  but  by  its  multiplied 
energies,  by  means  of  the  splinters  of  a 
gun-carriage  which  it  first  shattered. 
The  tale  was  further  circumstantially 
supported  by  the  incident  of  burial,  at 
the  end  of  the  engagement,  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  victims,  transport- 
ed in  a  sloop  to  the  negro  burial 
ground. 

A  mate  of  a  schooner  from  Charleston 
likewise  reported  having  seen  "  an  ag- 
gregate of  about  two  hundred  coffins " 
taken  on  board  the  steamboat  plying  be- 
tween the  city  and  the  batteries.  This, 
however,  pretended  to  be  only  circum- 
stantial evidence  of  a  somewhat  shr  dowy 
character.  The  boxes  might  have  been 
such  as  are  used  in  the  packing  of  mus- 


GOVERNOR  PICKENS'  SPEECH. 


117 


kets,  ia  general  appearance,  by  the  way, 
offering  a  painful  anticipation  of  the  ulti- 
mate resting  place,  which  too  many  of 
those  handling  their  contents  premature- 
ly get  into.  Still  another  attempted  elu- 
cidation of  this  mystery,  which  gained 
considerable  favor  with  northern  jour- 
nals, had  also  something  of  a  marine  fla- 
vor. It  purported  to  come  from  "  a  rig- 
ger from  New  London  "  who  had  been  on 
the  Battery  at  Charleston  during  the  first 
day  of  the  fight.  He  heard  the  reports 
as  they  came  in  of  "  nobody  killed,"  but 
with  some  incredulity,  which  was  shared 
by  his  northern  companions.  In  fact 
they  determined,  so  far  as  they  could,  to 
investigate  the  matter  for  themselves. 
Accordingly  watching  the  approach  of 
the  steamboats  they  witnessed  the  arri- 
val of  nearly  one  hundred  dead  bodies  ; 
and  they  saw  more  the  next  night. 

Testimony  like  this,  of  course,  was  to 
be  received  with  many  grains  of  allow- 
ance. The  newspaper  stories  through- 
out the  whole  of  this  war  are,  indeed, 
shockingly  careless  or  inventive,  and  ill 
betide  the  future  historian  who  trusts 
himself  too  hastily  to  their  guidance. 
It  is  quite  probable,  on  a  review  of  the 
whole  affair,  that  nobody  was  killed, 
and  the  explanation  of  the  fact  is  very 
simple.  There  were  unusual  opportuni- 
ties for  safety,  and  extraordinary  means 
were  employed  to  take  advantage  of 
them.  The  batteries  were  well  protect- 
ed, watchers  were  on  the  look-out  for 
the  fire  of  the  few  well-known  guns  of 
Sumter  ;  sand  bags,  cotton  bales  and  iron 
ramparts  were  judiciously  employed,  and 
"  rai-holes,"  as  burro  wings  in  the  sand 
for  refuge  were  called,  were  well  known 
to  the  defenders.  General  Beauregard 
attributes,  as  we  have  seen,  the  singular 
immuLity  to  the  great  and  faithful  labors 


of  his  engineers,  and  with  this  elucida- 
tion, for  the  present  at  least,  we  may  let 
this  curiosity  of  history  rest. 

Charleston  had  hailed  the  bombard- 
ment with  the  greatest  animation  and  joy. 
The  house-tops  of  the  city,  commanding 
a  view  of  the  forts  in  the  harbor,  were 
covered  with  eager  spectators  of  the  con- 
flict ;  the  wharves  were  thickly  crowded  ; 
while  "  on  no  gala  occasion,"  in  the  lan- 
guage of  a  local  journalist,  "  have  we 
ever  seen  so  large  a  number  of  ladies  on 
our  Battery,  as  graced  the  breezy  walk 
on  this  eventful  morning."*  Governor 
Pickens  surveyed  the  scene  with  a  tele- 
scope from  a  convenient  house  in  the 
town,  where  General  Beauregard  also 
had  his-, headquarters  and  directed  the 
operations  of  the  day.  Nor  was  this  en- 
thusiasm confined  to  the  crowded  masses 
of  citizens  who  might  be  supposed  to  be 
carried  away  by  the  contagious  excite- 
ment of  the  hour.  Their  time  of  thought 
and  reflection,  perhaps  of  repentance, 
might  come  hereafter  ;  but  a  calm  looker- 
on  might  surely  have  expected  from  the 
lips  of  the  Executive  officer  of  the  State 
words  of  milder  import  than  those  which 
fell  from  the  lips  of  Governor  Pickens, 
when  he  addressed  a  number  of  the  peo- 
ple from  the  balcony  of  the  Charleston 
Hotel  on  the  evening  of  that  day  of 
surrender,  so  pregnant  with  the  fate  of 
America.  Alluding  to  the  deliberate 
preparation  for  this  attack  which  the 
State  had  made,  he  said  in  words,  sad  and 
now  ominous  enough,  "  When  the  pro- 
per time  had  come,  when  I  knew  we 
were  prepared,  there  was  not  a  moment 
that  I  was  not  ready  to  strike  the  blow 
for  my  State  and  tlie  independence  of  my 
country,  let  it  lead  to  what  it  might,  even 
if  it  led  to  blood  and  ruin.  Thank  God 


*  Charleston  Courier,  April  18,  1861. 


118 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


the  day  is  come  ;  thank  God  the  war  is 
open  and  we  will  conquer  or  perish.  They 
have  vauntingly  arrayed   their   twenty 
millions  of  men  against  us  ;   they  have 
exultingly  also  arrayed  their  navy,  and 
they  have  called  us  but  a  handful  of  men, 
a  weak  and  isolated  State,  full  of  pride 
and  what  they  call  chivalry,  and  with  the 
hated  institution  of  slavery,  as  they  sup- 
posed a  source   of  weakness,    too,   but 
which  in  fact  is  a  source  of  strength  in 
war,  and  they  have  defied  us.     But  we 
have  rallied,     .     .     we  have  met  them 
and  we  have  conquered.     We  have  de- 
feated their  twenty  millions,  and  we  have 
made  the   proud  flag  of  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  that  never  was  lowered  before 
to  any  nation  on  this  earth,  we  have 
lowered  it  in  humility  before  the  Pal- 
metto and  the  Confederate  flags,  and  we 
have  compelled  them  to  raise  by  their 
side  the  white  flags,  and  ask  for  an  honor- 
able surrender."     Again  he  returns  with 
shameful  emphasis  to  this  theme  : — "  We 
have  humbled  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 
I  can  here  say  to  you,  it  is  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  this  country  that  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  have  been  humbled.    It 
has  triumphed  for  seventy  years,  but,  to- 
day, on  the  thirteenth  day  of  April,  it  has 
been  humbled,  and  humbled  before  the 
glorious  little  State  of  South  Carolina." 
The  speech  was  received  on  the   spot 
with  "vociferous  applause,"  but  thinking 
men  at  a  distance  stood  aghast  at  this 
insulting  demoniac  recklessness  and  fool- 
hardiness.     Well  might  they  ask,  is  this 
the  spirit  which  is  to  control  the  solemn 
interests  of  a  vast  and  serious  nation, 
intent  on  its  mission  oj1  civilization  in  the 
world  and   tenacious  of  law  and  order 
that  it  might  religiously  accomplish  it? 
That  the  time  for  such  consideration  had 
fully  come  was  sufficiently  brought  home 


to  the  nation  by  the  public  declaration 
of  Mr.  L.  Pope  Walker,  the  Secretary 
of  War  of  the  Confederate  States,  at 
Montgomery.  Addressing  the  citizens 
of  that  recent  capital  the  day  on  which 
the  attack  on  Sumter  was  begun,  he  said, 
"  No  man  can  tell  where  the  war  this 
day  commenced  will  end  ;  but  I  will  pro- 
phesy that  the  flag  which  now  flaunts  the 
breeze  here  will  float  over  the  dome  of 
the  old  Capitol  at  Washington  before  the 
first  of  May.  Let  them  try  Southern 
chivalry  and  test  the  extent  of  Southern 
resources,  and  it  may  float  eventually 
over  Faneuil  Hall  itself." 

Nor  were  the  politicians,  accustomed 
by  their  profession  to  inflammatory  har- 
angues, left  unsupported  in  their  frantic 
rejoicings  by  voices  of  grave  authority 
and  generally  of  more  reserved,  if  not 
more  prudent,  councils.  A  portion  of 
the  clergy  at  least,  for  we  hear  of  none 
protesting,  shared  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
hour  and  offered  up  their  thanksgivings, 
as  if  rebellion  to  the  State  had  been  a" 
duty  to  God.  "  The  glorious  issue  of  the 
bombardment,"  we  read  in  a  pamphlet 
published  at  Charleston  in  honor  of  the 
event,  somewhat  curiously  entitled  The 
Battle  of  Fort  Sumter  and  First  Victory 
of  the  Southern  Troops,  "  was  duly  com- 
memorated in  several  of  our  Churches  on 
the  Sunday  following  the  surrender.  The 
incidents  in  '  old  St.  Philip's '  we  wit- 
nessed were  deeply  touching.  The  heart 
of  the  worshippers  in  that  sacred  fane, 
consecrated  by  the  precious  historic  mem- 
ories which  made  the  glory  of  the  'first 
temple'  on  this  site,  had  been  poured 
out  in  devout  thanksgiving  to  the  Giver 
of  Victory,  when  a  venerable  old  man, 
leaning  on  his  staff,  was  led  by  the  Rec- 
tor to  the  sacred  desk.  It  was  the 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  wholly  blind  and 


LIEUTENANT  SLEMMER. 


119 


physically  feeble,  yet  with  the  eyes  .of 
faith  discerning  the  light  of  Heaven  and 
rejoicing  therein.  In  his  exhortation,  he 
said,  that  not  only  a  patriotic  but  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  great  event  of  the 
past  week  had  brought  him  to  the  city, 
and  made  him  here  abide  until  the  battle 
had  been  fought.  Your  boys  were  there 
and  mine  were  there,  and  it  was  right 
that  they  should  be  there.  Still  the 
heart  had  inly  bled  ;  the  strong  man,  as 
well  as  the  tender  woman  had  quivered 
under  the  influences  of  natural  affection, 
for  we  were  not  children,  we  knew  what 
we  were  doing,  and  had  counted  the  cost, 
and  had  weighed  in  our  very  souls  the 
warfare  upon  which  we  were  going.  And 
how  very  marvellous  had  been  God's 
doings  !  How  unparalleled  his  agency. 
All  our  children  had  passed  through  the 
fire  unhurt !  '  Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us, 
but  unto  Thy  name,  oh  Lord,  be  the 
glory  !'  We  forbear  to  follow  the  good 
Bishop  through  the  affecting  -application 
which  he  made  of  this  wonderful  Provi- 
dence of  God,  but  cannot  pass  over  the 
strong  testimony  which  he  bore  to  his 
firm  persuasion,  strengthened  by  travel 
through  every  section  of  our  State  in 
the  discharge  of  pastoral  duty,  that  the 
grand  movement  in  which  our  people 
were  now  engaged,  was  begun  by  them 
in  the  deepest  conviction  of  duty  to  God, 
and  after  laying  their  case  before  God — 
and  God  had  most  signally  blessed  our 
dependence  on  Him.  At  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  John  and  St.  Finbar,  Bishop 
Lynch  alluded  in  happy  terms  to  the 
events  of  the  previous  two  days,  and  a 
Te  Deum  was  chaunted  in  thanksgiving 
for  the  bloodless  victory."* 

It  was  some  consolation  to  the  country 
to  know  that  shortly  after   the   attack 

*  The  Battlt  of  Fort  Suinter,  Ac.,  Charleston,  1861. 


upon  Sumter,  Fort  Pickens  was  rein- 
forced by  a  portion  of  the  fleet  which, 
it  had  been  supposed,  was  destined  for 
Charleston  Harbor.  That  fort  had  been 
preserved  for  the  nation  by  an  act  of 
gallant  patriotism  which  ranks  with  the 
devotion  of  Anderson  in  his  occupation 
of  Sumter.  On  the  12th  of  January, 
when  a  band  of  lawless  insurgents,  led 
by  Captain  Y.  M.  Eandolph  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  a  citizen  of  Ala- 
bama, with  the  plea  of  a  commission  from 
the  Governor  of  Florida,  presented  them- 
selves at  the  Pensacola  Navy  Yard,  and, 
by  the  connivance  of  the  officers  in  com- 
mand, Lieutenant  E.  Farrand  and  Lieu- 
tenant F.  B.  Eenshaw,  by  whose  order 
"  the  flag  was  hauled  down  amid  the  jeers 
and  shouts  of  a  drunken  rabble,"*  re- 
ceived its  unconditional  surrender,  Lieu- 
tenant Adam  J.  Slemmer,  a  young  officer 
of  artillery,  stationed  with  his  company 
in  temporary  charge  of  the  adjacent  Fort 
McEae,  spurning  the  treason  of  his  as- 
sociates, hastily  proceeded  with  his  com- 
mand to  occupy  Fort  Pickens,  on  Santa 
Eosa  Island,  facing  the  harbor.  There, 
strengthening  himself  with  a  body  of  ma- 
rines from  the  United  States  steamer 
Wyandotte  at  the  station,  some  of  the 
soldiers  from  Fort  Barrancas  and  a  few 
men  from  the  Navy  Yard,  more  scrupu- 
lous than  their  officers  in  refusing  the 
disgraceful  terms  of  surrender,  he  set  the 
enemy  at  defiance  till  the  Fort  was  re- 
inforced and  properly  garrisoned  by  the 
Government. 

Lieutenant  Slemmer,  to  whom  the 
country  was  indebted  for  this  brilliant 
service  of  rescuing  one  of  its  most  valu- 
atle  defences  from  armed  treason,  was  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  about  thirty-two 


*  Report  of  a  Select  Committee  to  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives.     February  21,  1861. 


120 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


years  of  age.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
West  Point  of  the  class  of  1850,  and  had 
since  that  time  served  with  distinction  in 
various  important  positions  in  California, 
on  the  Coast  Survey,  as  an  instructor  at 
the  Military  Academy,  and  in  com- 
mand in  the  harbor  at  Pensacola.  In  the 
attentions  subsequently  paid  to  the  de- 
fenders of  Sumter,  the  aid  which  he 
had  rendered  the  cause  at  Pickens  was 
not  forgotten.  The  New  York  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  representing  one  of  the 
most  important  interests  of  the  nation, 
gracefully  coupled  the  services  of  the  two 
garrisons  in  the  presentation  to  officers 
and  men  of  a  series  of  medals  prepared 
in  honor  of  both  events.  The  first  class 
Sumter  medal  bore  on  its  obverse  a  me- 
dallion portrait  of  General  Anderson  and 
on  the  reverse  "  the  Genius  or  Guardian 
Spirit  of  America  arising  from  Fort  Sum- 
ter. Wounded  by  the  insult  to  the  coun- 
try's honor,  she  seizes  the  starry  symbol 
of  the  nation  and,  with  the  flaming  torch 
of  war,  calls  aloud  for  loyal  men  to  pro- 
lectit,"  with  the  inscription,  "The  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  New  York,  honors 


the  defender  of  Fort  Sumter — the  patriot, 
the  hero  and  the  man."  A  similar  medal 
presented  the  portrait  of  Major  Slemmer 
—such  was  his  rank  at  the  time  of  pre- 
sentation— with  an  emblematic  device  on 
the  reverse,  of  "  Cerberus,  or  the  monster 
of  war  chained  to  Fort  Pickens."  By  this 
design,  the  artist,  Mr.  Charles  Muller, 
tells  us  he  "  endeavored  to  typify  the 
forbearance  of  the  Government  and  its 
service  ;  a  virtue  strikingly  shown  during 
the  defence  of  Fort  Pickens.  The  initial 
letters  U.  S.  on  the  collar  of  the  monster 
indicate  his  owner.  Amid  the  taunts  and 
insults  of  the  foe,  the  three-headed  mon- 
ster is  kept  chained  to  the  fort.  Im- 
patient of  restraint,  yet  faithful  to  his 
trust,  in  his  captivity  he  can  but  exhibit 
his  fierceness,  impatience  and  defiant 
courage  on  himself.  With  one  head  he 
gnaws  his  paw,  significant  of  the  traitors 
in  our  camp  ;  with  another  he  glares  de- 
fiantly at  the  foe,  and  with  the  other  he 
sounds  the  charge."  The  inscription  was, 
"  The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New  York, 
honors  valor,  forbearance  and  fidelity 
Fort  Pickens,  1861." 


CHAPTEE    VIII. 


PRESIDENT    LINCOLN'S    PROCLAMATION. 


THE  blow  was  now  struck  which  gave 
to  the  North  a  cause,  and  to  the  Govern- 
ment a  policy.  Treason  expressed  in 
resolutions  might  be  tolerated  ;  conven- 
tions might  meet  and  pass  their  ordinan- 
ces : — they  were  so  much  harmless  breath 
and  waste  paper.  The  resignation  of  of- 
ficers, the  pillage  of  property,  the  waste 
of  credit,  repudiatic- 1  of  debts,  the  occu- 
patior.  of  forts  and  arsenals,  might  be 


borne  with  from  the  spoiled  child  of  the 
Republic  with  the  hope  that  its  wanton 
or  misguided  malice  expended,  it  would, 
under  the  influence  of  kind  solicitations, 
return  to  better  counsels.  There  were 
threats  and  defiance,  fierce  enough  and 
disastrous  enough,  if  persisted  in,  but  in 
spite  of  the  most  obvious  dangers,  it  was 
difficult  to  bring  the  nation  to  believe  in 
their  reality.  It  was  still  more  difficult 


POSITION   OF  THE   GOVERNMENT. 


121 


to  rouse  the  nation  to  express  its  convic- 
tion in  energetic  action.  The  North  was 
sc  intertwined  with  the  South  by  af- 
fection and  interest,  by  social  and  bus- 
iness ties  ;  the  political  action  of  the  two 
portions  of  the  country  had  been  so 
blended  ;  there  were  so  many  complica- 
tions of  sophistry  and  prejudice ;  the 
question  before  the  country,  moreover, 
was  so  novel ;  that  it  appeared  well  nigh 
impossible  that  the  Government  could  be 
sustained  by  that  unanimity  of  the  peo- 
ple which  was  needed,  to  give  it  the 
due  authority  for  the  preservation  of  its 
powers.'  Men  talked  and  argued  about 
these  things  ;  the  clear  sighted  urged  the 
necessity  of  action  ;  all  felt  the  evils  of 
the  disbanding  State,  but  many  were  in- 
disposed to  apply  a  remedy.  The  sick 
man  was  every  day  getting  worse  under 
the  expectant  system.  Even  hope  itself  in 
the  expressive  and  discouraging  language 
of  President  Buchanan  in  his  fast-day 
proclamation  "seemed  to  have  deserted 
the  minds  of  men  ;  all  classes  were  in  a 
state  of  confusion  and  dismay."*  To  the 
rebellion  of  the  South  was  added  the  pros- 
pect of  disintegration  and  revolution 
in  other  portions  of  the  land.  The  con- 
stitution was  derided,  and  the  failure  of 
the  boasted  American  system  of  govern- 
ment, so  confidently  assailed  in  its  first 
principle  of  obedience  to  the  lawfully  ex- 
pressed will  of  the  majority,  openly  pro- 
claimed— loudly  abroad,  in  no  undisguis- 
ed intimations  at  home.  Anything  seem- 
ed to  be  more  desirable  than  this  fearful 
state  of  inaction,  in  which  the  elements 
of  prosperity  were  vanishing,  and  the 
very  foundations  of  civilization  were  sink- 
ing beneath  us.  A  few  more  such  months 
as  those  which  intervened  between  No- 


*  President  Buchanan's  Recommendation  of  a  Fast-Day, 
December  14,  1860. 
16 


vember  and  March  would,  it  began  to  be 
felt,  complete  the  ruin  of  the  country  in 
helpless  anarchy.  The  last  appeal  only 
was  wanting  to  arouse  the  slumbering 
patriotism,  inspire  the  thoughts  and  fill 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  That  grand 
idea  of  loyalty,  symbolized  in  devotion 
to  the  flag,  was  called  forth  by  the  can- 
non fired  upon  Sumter — that  hostile 
voice  speaking  in  thunder  tones  the  de- 
claration of  the  South  of  war  against  the 
life  of  the  nation.  The  future  chronicler 
of  these  events  will  rank  the  challenge 
and  its  acceptance  with  the  most  dra- 
matic events  in  history. 

It  is  important  to  understand  the 
position  of  the  Government  in  reference 
to  this  great  event,  pregnant  with  such 
vast  and  as  yet  undeveloped  consequen- 
ces. It  cannot  be  better  unfolded  than 
in  the  authoritative  statement  of  the 
President  himself,  who,  in  his  subsequent 
Message  to  Congress  at  its  meeting  in 
July,  gave  the  following  history  of  the 
transaction.  The  reader  will  find  in  it 
an  explanation  of  the  rumors  current  at 
the  time  of  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  as 
well  as  an  exhibition  of  the  principles  of 
the  Administration. 

"  On  the  5th  of  March,  the  present 
incumbent's  first  full  day  in  office,  a  let- 
ter of  Major  Anderson,  commanding  at 
Fort  Sumter,  written  on  the  28th  day  of 
February,  and  received  at  the  War  De- 
partment on  the  4th  of  March,  was  by 
that  department  placed  in  his  hands. 
This  letter  expressed  the  professional 
opinion  of  the  writer,  that  reinforcements 
could  not  be  thrown  into  that  fort  within 
the  time  for  his  relief,  rendered  necessary 
by  the  limited  supply  of  provisions,  and 
with  a  view  of  holding  possession  of  the 
same,  with  a  force  of  less  than  twenty 
thousand  good  and  well  disciplined  men. 


122 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


This  opinion  was  concurred  in  by  all  the 
officers  of  his  command,  and  their  mem- 
oranda on  the  subject  were  made  enclo- 
sures of  Major  Anderson's  letter.  The 
whole  was  immediately  laid  before  Lieu- 
tenant-General Scott,  who  at  once  con- 
curred with  Major  Anderson  in  his  opinion. 
On  reflection,  however,  he  took  full  time, 
consulting  with  other  officers,  both  of  the 
army  and  the  navy,  and  at  the  end  of 
four  days  came  reluctantly  but  decidedly 
to  the  same  conclusion  as  before.  He 
also  stated,  at  the  same  time,  that  no  such 
sufficient  force  was  then  at  the  control  of 
the  government,  or  could  be  raised  and 
brought  to  the  ground  within  the  time 
when  the  provisions  in  the  fort  would  be 
exhausted.  In  a  purely  military  point 
of  view,  this  reduced  the  duty  of  the  Ad- 
ministration in  the  case  to  the  mere  mat- 
ter of  getting  the  garrison  safely  out  of 
the  fort. 

"  It  was  believed,  however,  that  to  so 
abandon  that  position,  under  the  circum- 
stances, would  be  utterly  ruinous  ;  that 
the  necessity  under  which  it  was  to  be 
done  would  not  be  fully  understood  ; 
that  by  many  it  would  be  construed  as  a 
part  of  a  voluntary  policy  ;  that  at  home 
it  would  discourage  the  friends  of  the 
Union,  embolden  its  adversaries,  and  go 
far  to  insure  for  the  latter  a  recognition 
abroad  ;  that,  in  fact,  it  would  be  our 
national  destruction  consummated.  This 
could  not  be  allowed.  Starvation  was 
not  yet  upon  the 'garrison,  and  ere  it 
would  be  reached,  Fort  Pickens  might  be 
reinforced.  This  last  would  be  a  clear 
indication  of  policy,  and  would  better 
enable  the  country  to  accept  the  evacua- 
tion of  Fort  Sumter  as  a  military  neces- 
sity. An  order  was  at  once  directed  to 
be  sent  for  the  landing  of  the  troops  from 
the  steamship  Brooklyn  into  Fort  Pick- 


ens.  This  order  could  not  go  by  land, 
but  must  take  the  longer  and  slower  route 
by  sea.  The  first  return  news  from  the 
order  was  received  just  one  week  before 
the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter.  The  news  itself 
was,  that  the  officer  commanding  the 
Sabine,  to  which  vessel  the  troops  had 
been  transferred  from  the  Brooklyn,  act- 
ing upon  some  quasi  armistice  of  the 
late  administration,  and  of  the  existence 
of  which  the  present  Administration,  up 
to  the  time  the  order  was  despatched, 
had  only  too  vague  and  uncertain  rumors 
to  fix  attention,  had  refused  to  land  the 
troops.  To  now  reinforce  Fort  Pickens, 
before  a  crisis  would  be  reached  at  Fort 
Sumter,  was  impossible, — rendered  so  by 
the  near  exhaustion  of  provisions  in  the 
latter  named  fort.  In  precaution  against 
such  a  conjuncture  the  government  had 
a  few  days  before  commenced  preparing 
an  expedition,  as  well"  adapted  as  might 
be,  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter,  which  expe- 
dition was  intended  to 'be  ultimately  used 
or  not,  according  to  current  circumstances. 
The  strongest  anticipated  case  for  us- 
ing it  was  now  presented ;  and  it  was  re- 
solved to  send  it  forward.  As  had  been 
intended,  in  this  contingency  it  was  also 
resolved  to  notify  the  Governor  of  South 
Carolina  that  he  might  expect  an  attempt 
would  be  made  to  provision  the  fort,  and 
that  if  the  attempt  should  not  be  resisted 
there  would  be  no  attempt  to  throw  in 
men,  arms  or  ammunition,  without  further 
notice,  or  in  case  of  an  attack  upon  the 
fort.  This  notice  was  accordingly  given, 
whereupon  the  fort  was  attacked  and  bom- 
barded to  its  fall,  without  even  awaiting 
the  arrival  of  the  provisioning  expedition. 
"  It  is  thus  seen  that  the  assault  upon 
and  reduction  of  Fort  Sumter  was  in  no 
sense  a  matter  of  self-defence  on  the  part 
of  the  assailants.  They  well  knew  that 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  STATEMENT. 


123 


the  garrison  in  the  fort  could  by  no  pos- 
sibility commit  aggression  upon  them. 
They  knew — they  were  expressly  noti- 
fied— that  the  giving  of  bread  to  the  few 
brave  and  hungry  men  of  the  garrison 
was  all  which  would  on  that  occasion  be 
attempted,  unless  themselves,  by  resist- 
ing so  much,  should  provoke  more.  They 
knew  that  this  government  desired  to 
keep  the  garrison  in  the  fort,  not  to  as- 
sail them,  but  merely  to  maintain  visible 
possession,  arid  thus  to  preserve  the 
Union  from  actual  and  immediate  disso- 
lution, trusting,  as  hereinbefore  stated, 
to  time,  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box, 
for  final  adjustment  ;  and  they  assailed 
and  reduced  the  fort  for  precisely  the 
reverse  object, — to  drive  out  the  visible 
authority  of  the  federal  Union  and  thus 
force  it  to  immediate  dissolution.  That 
this  was  their  object  the  Executive  well 
understood  ;  and  having  said  to  them,  in 
the  inaugural  address,  '  You  can  have 
no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the 
aggressors,'  he  took  pains,  not  only  to 
keep  this  declaration  good,  but  also  to 
keep  the  case  so  far  from  ingenious  so- 
phistry as  that  the  world  should  not  mis- 
understand it.  By  the  affair  at  Fort 
Sumter,  with  its  surrounding  circum- 
stances, that  point  was  reached.  Then 
and  thereby  the  assailants  of  the  govern- 
ment began  the  conflict  of  arms,  without 
a  gun  in  sight  or  in  expectancy  to  return 
their  fire,  save  only  the  few  in  the  fort, 
sent  to  that  harbor  years  before,  for  their 
own  protection,  and  still  ready  to  give 
that  protection  in  whatever  was  lawful. 
In  this  act,  discarding  all  else,  they  have 
forced  upon  the  country  the  distinct  issue  : 
1  Immediate  dissolution  or  blood.' 

"And  this  issue  embraces  more  than 
the  fate  of  these  United  States.  It  pre- 
sents to  the  whole  family  of  man  the 


question  whether  a  constitutional  republic 
or  democracy,  a  government  of  the  peo- 
ple by  the  same  -people,  can  or  cannot 
maintain  its  territorial  integrity  against 
its  own  domestic  foes.  It  presents  the 
question  whether  discontented  individ- 
uals, too  few  in  number  to  control  ad- 
ministration according  to  organic  law,  in 
any  case,  can  always,  upon  the  pretences 
made  in  this  case  or  any  other  pretences, 
or  arbitrarily,  without  any  pretence, 
break  up  their  government,  and  thus 
practically  put  an  end  to  free  govern- 
ment upon  the  earth.  It  forces  us  to 
ask,  '  Is  there  in  all  republics  this  in- 
herent and  fatal  weakness  ?'  '  Must  a 
government  of  necessity  be  too  strong 
for  the  liberties  of  its  own  people,  or  too 
weak  to  maintain  its  own  existence  ?' 
So  viewing  the  issue,  no  choice  was 
left  but  to  call  out  the  war  power  of  the 
government,  and  so  to  resist  the  force 
employed  for  its  destruction  by  force  for 
its  preservation." 

Such  was  the  argument  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  vindication  of  his  policy  in 
language  which  was  but  an  echo  of  the 
common  sense  of  the  people.  Of  all 
citizens  who  have  recorded  their  opin- 
ions of  this  crisis  in  our  affairs  none, 
perhaps,  was  listened  to  with  more  inter- 
est than  Edward  Everett.  The  dis 
ciple  of  a  conservative  political  school 
identified  with  the  most  conciliatory 
measures  in  all  that  related  to  legislator 
affecting  Southern  interests,  in  his  tastes 
and  temper  always  inclined  to  modera- 
tion, he  thus,  on  the  same  day  with  the 
delivery  of  the  Presidential  Message  just 
cited,  gave  expression  to  his  views  of  the 
nature  and  necessity  of  the  struggle  in- 
augurated at  Sumter.  "We  did,"  he 
said,  "  believe  in  peace  ;  fondly,  credu- 
lously believed  that,  cemented  by  the 


124 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


mild  umpirage  of  the  Federal  Union,  it 
might  dwell  forever  beneath  the  folds  of 
the  Star  Spangled  Banner  and  the  sacred 
shield  of  a  common  Nationality.  That 
was  the  great  arcanum  of  policy  ;  that 
was  the  State  mystery  into  which  men 
and  angels  desired  to  look  ;  hidden  from 
ages  but  revealed  to  us  : — 

Which  Kings  and  Prophets  waited  for, 
And  sought,  but  never  found : 

a  family  of  States  independent  for  local 
concerns,  united  under  one  Government 
for  the  management  of  common  interests 
and  the  prevention  of  internal  feuds. 
There  was  no  limit  to  the  possible  exten- 
sion of  such  a  sy stein.  It  had  already 
comprehended  half  of  North  America, 
and  it  might,  in  the  course  of  time,  have 
folded  the  continent  in  its  peaceful,  be- 
neficent embrace.  We  fondly  dreamed 
that,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  it  would  have 
been  extended  till  half  the  Western  hemi- 
sphere had  realized  the  vision  of  univer- 
sal, perpetual  peace.  From  that  dream 
we  have  been  rudely  startled  by  the  ar- 
ray of  ten  thousand  armed  men  in  Charles- 
ton Harbor,  and  the  glare  of  eleven  bat- 
teries bursting  on  the  torn  sky  of  the 
Union,  like  the  comet  which,  at  this  very 
moment,  burns 

In  th'  Arctic  sky,  and  from  his  horrid  hair 
Shakes  pestilence  and  war. 

These  batteries  rained  their  storm  of  iron 
hail  on  one  poor  siege- worn  company, 
because,  in  obedience  to  lawful  authority, 
in  the  performance  of  sworn  duty,  the 
gallant  Anderson  resolved  to  keep  Ids 
oath.  That  brave  and  faithful  band,  by 
remaining  at  their  post,  did  not  hurt  a 
hair  of  the  head  of  a  Carolinian,  bond  or 
free.  •  The  United  States  proposed  not  to 
reenforce,  but  to  feed  them.  But  the 
Confederate  leaders  would  not  allow  them 
even  the  poor  boor  of  being  starved  into 


surrender  ;  and  because  sortie  lawis  hud 
been  passed  someivhere,  by  which  it  was 
alleged  that  the  return  of  some  slaves, 
(not  one  from  Carolina)  had  been  or 
might  be  obstructed,  South  Carolina  dis- 
claiming the  protection  of  courts  and  of 
Congress,  which  had  never  been  withheld 
from  her,  has  inaugurated  a  ruthless  civil 
war." 

In  conclusion  Mr.  Everett  summed  up 
his  admirable  review  of  the  historical 
precedents  and  present  condition  of  the 
national  question  with  these  reflections  : 
—"Such,  fellow  citizens,  as  I  contem- 
plate them,  are  the  great  issues  before 
the  country,  nothing  less,  in  a  word,  than 
whether  the  work  of  our  noble  fathers  of 
the  revolutionary  and  constitutional  age 
shall  perish  or  endure  ;  whether  this  great 
experiment  in  national  polity,  which 
binds  a  family  of  free  republics  in  one 
united  government — "the  most  hopeful 
plan  for  combining  the  homebred  bless- 
ings of  a  small  state  with  the  stability 
and  power  of  great  empire — shall  be 
treacherously  and  shamefully  stricken 
down,  in  the  moment  of  its  most  success- 
ful operation,  or  whether  it  shall  be  brave- 
ly, patriotically,  triumphantly  maintained. 
We  wage  no  war  of  conquest  and  subju- 
gation ;  we  aim  at  nothing  but  to  protect 
our  loyal  fellow-citizens,  who  against 
fearful  odds  are  fighting  the  battles  of  the 
Union  in  the  .disaffected  States,  and  to  re- 
establish, not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  for 
our  misguided  brethren,  the  mild  sway 
of  the  constitution  and  the  laws.  The 
result  cannot  be  doubted.  Twenty  mil- 
lions of  freemen,  forgetting  their  divisions, 
are  rallying  as  one  man  in  support  of  the 
righteous  cause- — their  willing  hearts  and 
their  strong  hands,  their  fortunes  and 
their  lives,  are  laid  upon  the  altar  of  the 
country.  We  contend  for  the  great  in- 


"NOT  YET.» 


125 


heritance  of  constitutional  freedom  trans- 
mitted from  our  revolutionary  fathers. 
We  engage  in  the  struggle  forced  upon 
us,  with  sorrow,  as  against  our  misguided 
brethren,  but  with  high  heart  and  faith, 
as  we  war  for  that  Union  which  our  saint- 
ed Washington  commended  to  our  dear- 
est affections.  The  sympathy  of  the  civ- 
ilized world  is  on  our  side,  and  will  join 
us  in  prayers  to  Heaven  for  the  success 
of  our  arms."* 

Another  voice  of  equal  authority,  that 
of  the  representative  poet  of  the  country, 
the  sympathetic  interpreter  of  its  harmo- 
nies of  nature  and  moral  life,  was  heard 
giving  utterance  to  the  instinct  leaping  in 
every  patriotic  heart.  The  honored  Bry- 
ant in  a  little  poem,  pregnant  with  mean- 
ing, eloquently  expressed  the  sentiment 
of  the  day.  It  was  entitled  "Not  Yet," 
and  thus  read  :— 

'  Oh  country,  marvel  of  the  earth ! 

Oh  realm  to  sudden  greatness  grown  1 
The  age  that  gloried  in  thy  birth, 

Shall  it  behold  thee  overthrown  ? 
Shall  traitors  lay  that  greatness  low  ? 
No,  Land  of  Hope  and  Blessing,  No  1 

"  And  we  who  wear  thy  glorious  name, 
Shall  we,  like  cravens,  stand  apart, 

When  those  whom  thou  hast  trusted  aim 
The  death-blow  at  thy  generous  heart  ? 

Forth  goes  the  battle-cry,  and  lo  ! 

Hosts  rise  in  harness,  shouting,  No  ! 

"  And  they  who  founded,  in  our  land, 
The  power  that  rules  from  sea  to  sea, 

Bled  they  in  vain,  or  vainly  planned 
To  leave  their  country  great  and  free  ? 

Their  sleeping  ashes  from  below, 

Send  up  the  thrilling  murmur,  No  ! 

"  Knit  they  the  gentle  ties  which  long 
These  sister  states  were  proud  to  wear, 

And  forged  the  kindly  links  so  strong 
For  idle  hands  in  sport  to  tear — 

Foi  scornful  hands  aside  to  throw  ? 

No,  by  our  fathers'  memory,  No  1 

*  The  Great  Issues  now  Before  the  Country.  An  Ad- 
dress, by  Edward  Everett,  at  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Music.  July  4  1861. 


"  Our  humming  marts,  our  iron  ways, 

Our  wind-tossed  woods  on  mountain  crest 

The  hoarse  Atlantic,  with  his  bays, 
The  calm,  broad  Ocean  of  the  West, 

And  Mississippi's  torrent-flow, 

And  loud  Niagara,  answer,  No  ! 

"  Not  yet  the  hour  is  nigh,  when  they 

"Who  deep  in  Eld's  dim  twilight  sit, 

Earth's  ancient  kings,  shall  rise  and  say, 

'  Proud  country,  welcome  to  the  pit ! 

So  soon  art  thou,  like  us,  brought  low  ? ' 

No,  sullen  group  of  shadows,  No  I 

"  For  now,  behold,  the  arm  that  gave 

The  victory  in  our  fathers'  day, 
Strong,  as  of  old,  to  guard  and  save — 

That  mighty  arm  which  none  can  stay — 
On  clouds  above  and  fields  below, 
Writes,  in  men's  sight,  the  answer,  No  ! " 

The  present  generation,  indeed,  will 
never  forget  the  breathless  anxiety  with 
which  the  first  news  of  the  bombardment 
of  Sumter  was  received  in  the  North 
throughout  Saturday  and  Sunday,  the 
last  day  of  the  conflict  and  the  day  suc- 
ceeding. The  startling  and  apparently 
improbable  statements  received  by  the 
telegraph  of  the  danger  to  the  fort, 
which  had  been  pronounced  impregna- 
ble, and  the  security  of  the  besiegers 
who  seemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life  in 
the  midst  of  fiery  perils  ;  the  expec- 
tation of  succor  from  the  fleet  dashed  by 
the  news  of  the  storm  which  prevented 
its  action  ;  the  successive  messages  of 
disaster  with  the  strange,  almost  incredi- 
ble, announcement  that  the  fort  was  in 
flames,  ending  with  the  final  word  of 
surrender,  produced  a  strange  feeling  of 
perplexity  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 
There  were,  in  fact,  so  many  seeming 
contradictions  and  embarrassments  in 
the  story  that  it  was  generally  discred- 
ited till  Sunday  brought  its  confirma- 
tion. With  the  confirmation  came  the 
firm  steady  resolve. 

It  found  immediate  expression  in  the 
Proclanation  of  the  President  which  was 


126 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


communicated  by  the  telegraph  and  pub- 
lished in  the  papers  of  the  chief  north- 
ern cities  the  following  morning.  It  was 
in  these  words  : — 


WHEREAS,  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  have  been  for  some  time  past  and 
now  are  opposed,  and  the  execution 
thereof  obstructed,  in  the  States  of  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  by 
combinations  too  powerful  to  be  sup- 
pressed by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial 
proceedings  or  by  the  powers  vested  in 
the  marshals  by  law  :  now,  therefore,  I, 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the 
United  States,  in  virtue  of  the  power 
in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws,  have  thought  fit  to  call  forth, 
and  hereby  do  call  forth,  the  militia 
of  the  several  States  of  the  Union 
to  the  aggregate  number  of  75,000,  in 
order  to  suppress  said  combinations  and 
to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed. 
The  details  for  this  object  will  be  immedi- 
ately communicated  to  the  State  authori- 
ties through  the  War  Department.  I 
appeal  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facili- 
tate, and  aid  this  effort  to  maintain  the 
honor,  the  integrity,  and  existence  of  our 
national  Union,  and  the  perpetuity  of 
popular  government,  and  to  redress 
wrongs  already  long  enough  endured.  I 
deem  it  proper  to  say  that  the  first  ser- 
vice assigned  to  the  forces  hereby  called 
forth,  will  probably  be  to  repossess  the 
forts,  places,  and  property  which  have 
been  seized  from  the  Union  ;  and  in 
every  event  the  utmost  care  will  be  ob- 
served, consistently  with  the  objects 
aforesaid,  to  avoid  any  devastation,  any 
destruction  of,  or  interference  with  pro- 
perty, or  any  disturbance  of  peaceful 
"itizens  of  any  part  of  the  country  ;  and 


I  hereby  command  the  persons  composing 
the  combinations  aforesaid,  to  disperse 
and  retire  peaceably  to  their  respective 
abodes,  within  twenty  days  from  this  date. 

Deeming  that  the  present  condition 
of  public  affairs  presents  an  extraor- 
dinary occasion,  I  do  hereby,  in  virtue 
of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Consti- 
tution, convene  both  houses  of  Congress. 
The  Senators  and  Eepresentatives  are, 
therefore,  summoned  to  assemble  at  their 
respective  Chambers  at  12  o'clock,  noon, 
on  Thursday,  the  4th  day  of  July  next, 
then  and  there  to  consider  and  determine 
such  measures  as,  in  their  wisdom,  the 
public  safety  and  interest  may  seem  to 
demand. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto 
set  my  hand,  and  caused  the  seal  of  the 
United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this 
15th  day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-one,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  the  eighty-fifth. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
By  the  President. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 

Accompanying  the  Proclamation  came 
the  call  of  the  War  Department  upon  the 
Governors  of  twenty-four  States,  the 
seven  seceding  States  being  of  course 
omitted,  and  California,  Oregon  and  Kan- 
sas passed  over  as  too  distant.  These, 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
act  of  1795,  were  required  to  furnish 
their  quotas  of  the  assigned  number  of 
militia  men,  for  three  months'  service. 
The  three  largest  apportionments  of 
officers  and  men  were  to  New  York, 
13,280  ;  to  Pennsylvania,  12,500  ;  to 
Ohio,  10,153  ;  the  least,  to  eleven  of  the 
less  populated  States,  was  780.  Two 
Major-Generals  were  assigned  to  each  of 


DISLOYAL  REPLIES. 


127 


the  States  highest  on  the  list  and  onu  to 
Ohio.  The  replies  of  the  several  Gov- 
ernors furnished  a  good  general  indica- 
tion of  the  stand  ird  of  patriotism  in  the 
country.  From  Maine  to  Wisconsin, 
throughout  all  the  Northern  States,  the 
response  of  the  authorities  was  immedi- 
ate. They  were  one  and  all  ready  for 
the  requisition.  Their  replies,  without 
extravagance,  evinced  a  calm,  resolute, 
patriotic  spirit  intent  upon  the  work  be- 
fore them.  In  the  border  slavehold- 
ing  States,  however,  to  which  the  call 
had  been  addressed,  there  was  a  differ- 
ent sentiment.  From  Maryland,  where 
great  excitement  with  a  strong  disposi- 
tion toward  secession  prevailed,  and 
where  Governor  Hicks,  with  a  difficult 
part  to  play,  was  using  his  "utmost  endea- 
vors of  persuasion  and  policy  to  keep  his 
people  within  the  Union,  a  most  unsatis- 
factory answer  was  given.  It  appeared 
to  be  quite  as  much  as  the  Governor 
could  accomplish  to  soothe  his  own  citi- 
zens and  repress  their  immediate  hostili- 
ties, by  assuring  them  that  no  troops 
would  be  sent  from  Maryland  •  unless  for 
the  defence  of  the  National  Capital.  "  I 
counsel  the  people,"  said  he,  in  a  Pro- 
clamation on  the  18th  of  April,  "  to  ab- 
stain from  all  heated  controversy  upon 
the  subject ;  to  avoid  all  things  that  tend 
to  crimination  and  recrimination :  in 
order  that  the  origin  of  our  evil  day  may 
be  forgotten  now,  by  every  patriot,  in 
the  earnest  desire  to  avert  from  us  its 
fruit."  At  the  same  time  he  reminded 
the  people  that  they  would  shortly  "  have 
the  opportunity  afforded  them,  in  a  spe- 
cial election  of  Members  of  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  to  express  their  devo- 
tion to  the  Union,  or  their  desire  to  have 
it  broken  up." 

Governor  Burton  DI  Delaware  found 


an  opportunity  for  a  similar  middle 
course  in  a  plea  of  want  of  authority 
to  meet  the  demand.  He,  however, 
recommended  the  formation  of  volun- 
teer companies  for  the  protection  of  the 
State,  who  might,  if  they  felt  inclined, 
offer  their  services  to  the  Government 
for  the  defence  of  the  Capitol  and  sup- 
port of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 
There  were  patriots  in  the  State  who  did 
not  hesitate.  A  regiment  was  organized 
and  entered  the  public  service. 

While  Maryland  and  Delaware  were 
thus  reluctant,  the  other  Border  States 
were  positively  defiant.  Governor  John 
Letcher  one  of  the  band  of  ill-disposed 
counsellors  who  had  brought  Virginia  to 
the  eve  of  actual  rebellion,  retorted  dis- 
courteously to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
"  I  have  only  to  say  that  the  militia  of 
Virginia  will  not  be  furnished  to  the 
powers  at  Washington  for  any  such  use 
or  purpose  as  they  have  in  view.  Your 
object  is  to  subjugate  the  Southern  States, 
and  a  requisition  made  upon  me  for  such 
an  object — an  object,  in  my  judgment, 
not  within  the  purview  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, or  the  act  of  1795 — will  not  be 
complied  with.  You  have  chosen  to  in- 
augurate civil  war,  and  having  done  so, 
we  will  meet  it  in  a  spirit  as  determined 
as  the  Administration  has  exhibited  to- 
ward the  South."  In  this  fiery  denun- 
ciation, which  was  followed  up  the  next 
day  by  a  vigorous  Proclamation  order- 
ing all  volunteer  regiments  or  companies 
within  the  State  to  hold  themselves  in 
readiness  for  immediate  orders,  the  Gov- 
ernor, as  will  be  seen,  spoke  for  but  a 
portion  of  his  people. 

The  Governor  of  Missouri,  C.  F.  Jack- 
son, used  like  disloyal  language.  "  There 
can  be.  I  apprehend,  no  doubt  that  these 
men  a*?  intended  to  make  war  upon  the 


128 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


seceded  States.  Your  requisition,  in  my 
judgment,  is  illegal,  unconstitutional  and 
revolutionary  in  its  objects,  inhuman  and 
diabolical,  and  cannot  be  complied  with. 
Not  one  man  will  the  State  of  Missouri 
furnish  to  carry  on  such  an  unholy  cru- 
sade." Happily  for  the  United  States 
the  authority  of  Governor  Jackson  was 
by  no  means  supreme  in  his  State.  Her 
loyal  citizens  came  to  the  rescue  of  the 
Government  and  furnished  a  force  of 
twelve  regiments  numbering  nearly  as 
many  thousand  men,  to  sustain  the  Con- 
stitution. 

Governor  John  W.  Ellis  of  North 
Carolina  was  equally  emphatic,  with  an 
expression  of  surprise  bordering  on  con- 
tempt :  "  Your  dispatch  is  received,  and, 
if  genuine,  which  its  extraordinarv  char- 

o  «/ 

acter  leads  me  to  doubt,  I  have  to  say, 
in  reply,  that  I  regard  the  levy  of  troops 
made  by  the  Administration,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  subjugating  the  States  of  the 
South,  as  in  violation  of  the  Constitution 
and  a  usurpation  of  power.  I  can  be  no 
party  to  this  wicked  violation  of  the 
laws  of  the  country,  and  to  this  war 
upon  the  liberties  of  a  free  people.  You 
can  get  no  troops  from  North  Carolina." 
Two  days  afterward  he  issued  a  Procla- 
mation summoning  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  the  State  to  meet  in  special  ses- 
sion at  Ealeigh  on  the  1st  of  the  follow- 
ing month,  with  the  significant  injunc- 
tion : — "  United  action  in  defence  of  the 
sovereignty  of  North  Carolina  and  of  the 
rights  of  the  South  becomes  now  the 
duty  of  all."  In  the  preamble  he  inter- 
preted harshly  the  call  of  the  President, 
pronouncing  it  "  a  high  handed  act  of  ty- 
rannical outrage,  in  violation  of  all  con- 
stitutional law,  ir  utter  disregard  of 
every  sentiment  of  humanity  and  Chris- 
tian civilization,  conceived  in  a  spirit  of 


aggression  unparalleled  by  any  act  of  re- 
corded history,  and  a  direct  step  towards 
the  subjugation  of  the  whole  South  and 
the  conversion  of  a  free  Republic  inher- 
ited from  our  fathers,  into  a  military  des- 
potism, to  be  established  by  worse  than 
foreign  enemies,  on  the  ruins  of  the  once 
glorious  Constitution  of  Equal  Rights." 
The  violence  of  this  language,  would  un- 
der ordinary  circumstances,  have  be- 
trayed the  weakness  of  the  cause,  but  to 
the  prepared  mind  of  the  South  such  as- 
sumptions and  violent  declamation  had 
all  the  force  of  reason  and  eloquence  ; 
and  the  maddened  people  went  on  to 
create  the  war  which  it  was  alleged  was 
tyrannically  brought  against  them. 

Not  to  be  behind  his  brethren  of  the 
Slaveholding  States,  Governor  Beriah 
Magomn  of  Kentucky  sent  this  curt  re- 
fusal :  "  Your  dispatch  is  received.  In 
answer,  I  say,  emphatically,  that  Ken- 
tucky will  furnish  no  troops  for  the  wick- 
ed purpose  of  subduing  her  sister  South- 
ern States."  In  this  response  the  Gov- 
ernor exhibited  something  of  the  ambig- 
uity of  the  ancient  oracles.  Kentucky, 
indeed,  had  no  troops  for  any  "  wicked 
purpose "  of  the  kind  ;  nor  was  she 
asked  for  them.  When  the  question 
was  fairly  put  before  the  people  re- 
garding the  maintenance  of  the  Govern- 
ment, they  decided,  Governor  Magoffin  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding,  that  they 
would  rank  themselves  on  the  side  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Laws. 

The  reply  of  Governor  Henry  M. 
Rector  of  Arkansas  was  equally  explicit, 
and  not  a  whit  less  violent  or  discourteous 
in  its  denunciation  of  the  Government, 
than  that  of  Governor  Magomn.  "  In 
answer  to  your  requisition,"  it  read  "for 
troops  from  Arkansas,  to  subjugate  the 
Southern  States,  I  have  to  say  that  none 


A    COUNTER  PROCLAMATION. 


120 


will  be  furnished.  The  demand  is  only 
adding  insult  to  injury.  The  people  of 
this  Commonwealth  are  freemen,  not 
slaves,  and  will  defend  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity their  honor,  lives  and  property 
against  Northern  mendacity  and  usurpa- 
tion.'7 Governor  Isham  G.  Harris  of 
Tennessee  also  peremptorily  refused  to 
furnish  the  troops  required  by  the  De- 
partment. There  was  a  strong  Union 
feeling  in  this  State,  particularly  in  its 
eastern  portions,  where  there  was  a 
greater  community  of  interest  with  the 
North  ;  but,  what  with  the  interests  of 
the  larger  western  district,  the  stirring  up 
of  prejudices,  and  a  bold  policy  of  coer- 
cion on  the  part  of  its  political  rulers,  its 
fortunes  were  presently  cast  with  the 
Southern  Confederacy. 

The  voices  of  the  Confederate  States 
were,  as  might  be  expected,  more  authori- 
tative in  proportion  to  their  declared 
attitude  of  hostility.  Professing  to  re- 
gard themselves  as  the  Representatives 
of  sovereign  independent  powers  at  war 
with  a  foreign  nation,  the  Governors  of 
these  States  turned  their  attention  di- 
rectly to  the  annoyance  of  the  enemy. 
Governor  Thomas  0.  Moore  of  Louisiana 
issued  a  chivalric  Proclamation.  "  Rise 
then."  was  its  language,  "  people  of 
Louisiana,  in  your  might,  in  defence  of 
your  dearest  rights,  and  driva  back  this 
insolent,  barbaric  foe.  Like  your  brave 
ancestry,  resolve  to  conquer  or  perish  in 
the  effort,  and  the  flag  of  usurpation 
will  never  fly  over  Southern  soil." 

Governor  Brown  of  Georgia  took  a 
practical  course,  in  an  attack  upon  the 
pockets  of  his  foes,  in  what  he  describes 
a?  ' '  the  anti  -slavery  States."  He  forbade 
in  the  most  authoritative  manner  any  citi- 
zen or  inhabitant  of  the  State,  under  any 
pretext  whatever,  to  "  remit,  transfer  or 
17 


pay  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  one  of  the  States  compos- 
ing said  Government,  which  is  known  as 
a  free-soil  State,  including  among  others 
the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Is- 
land, Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  ;  or  to  any 
citizen  or  inhabitant  of  any  such  State, 
any  money,  bills,  drafts  or  other  things 
of  value,  either  in  payments  of  any  debt 
due  or  hereafter  to  become  due,  or  for, 
or  on  account  of  any  other  cause  what- 
ever, until  the  determination  of  hostili- 
ties.-" The  banks  were  enjoined  to  assist 
in  carrying  out  this  injunction  ;  and  that 
the  burden  of  debt  might  not  rest  heavily 
upon  the  minds  of  honorable  citizens,  a 
way  was  pointed  out  by  which  their 
pockets,  if  not  their  consciences,  might  be 
relieved.  They  were  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  pay  the  amount  of  their  in- 
debtedness to  the  North  into  the  hands 
of  the  Treasurer  of  the  State,  from  whom 
they  would  receive  interest,  and  thus  at 
the  same  time  distress  their  enemies,  per- 
form a  patriotic  duty  to  the  St^te,  and 
make  a  profitable  investment  for  them- 
selves.* 

The  Confederate  States,  however,  no 
longer  dependent  upon  the  measures  of 
the  several  Governors  had  a  voice  more 
authoritative  at  Montgomery.  President 
Jefferson  Davis  spoke  for  the  whole  from 
his  chair  of  state  in  an  edict  of  import- 
ance throughout  the  world.  His  answer 
to  the  call  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  was  a  counter  Proclamation 
promptly  issued  on  the  17th  of  April,  in 
which  he  invited  "  all  those  who  may 
desire,  by  service  in  private  armed  ves- 
sels on  the  high  seas,  to  aid  this  govern- 
ment in  resisting  so  wanton  and  wicked 


*  Proclamation  of  Gov.  Joseph   E.  Brown.     April  26, 
1861. 


130 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


an  aggression,  to  make  application  for 
commissions  or  letters  of  marque  and 
reprisal,  to  be  issued  under  the  seal  of 
these  Confederate  States."  This  was  met 
by  another  Proclamation  from  President 
Lincoln,  on  the  19th,  declaring  a  blockade 
of  the  ports  of  the  rebellious  States,  sub- 
jecting vessels  violating  it  to  the  usual 
penalties  under  the  law  of  nations,  and 
specially  adding,  "if  any  person,  under 
the  pretended  authority  of  said  States, 
or  under  any  other  pretence,  shall  molest 
a  vessel  of  the  United  States,  or  the  per- 
sons or  cargo  on  board  of  her,  such  per- 
son will  be  held  amenable  to  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  for  the  prevention 
and  punishment  of  piracy." 

The  latter  declaration,  which  was  after- 
wards variously  discussed  and  became  a 
subject  of  much  practical  interest,  was 
in  return  commented  upon  by  President 
Davis  in  the  Message,  whicLi  he  delivered 
some  days  later,  on  the  meeting  of  the 
Confederate  Congress.  Affecting  the 
language  of  surprize,  which  we  have  seen 
employed  by  the  Governor  of  North 
Carolina,  he  said  of  the  threatened  treat- 
ment of  the  privateers  of  the  Confeder- 
acy as  pirates.  "  Notwithstanding  the 
authenticity  of  this  proclamation,  you 
will  concur  with  me  that  it  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  it  could  have  emanated  from  a 
President  of  the  United  States.  Its  an- 
nouncement of  a  mere  paper  blockade  is 
so  manifestly  a  violation  of  the  law  of 
nations,  fhat  it  would  seem  incredible 
that  it  could  have  been  issued  by  author- 
ity ;  but  conceding  this  to  be  the  case,  so 
far  as  the  Executive  is  concerned,  it  will 
be  difficult  to  satisfy  the  people  of  these 
States  that  their  late  confederates  will 
sanction  its  declarations — will  determine 
to  ignore  the  usages  of  civilized  nations, 
and  will  inaugurate  a  war  of  extermina- 


tion on  both  sides,  by  treating  as  pirates 
open  enemies  acting  under  the  authority 
of  commissions  issued  by  an  )rganized 
government.  If  such  proclamation  was 
issued,  it  could  only  have  been  published 
under  the  sudden  influence  of  passion, 
and  we  may  rest  assured  that  mankind 
will  be  spared  the  horrors  of  the  conflict 
it  seems  to  invite."* 

In  this  address  President  Davis  stated 
the  Confederate  force  in  the  field  at 
Charleston,  Pensacola,  Forts  Morgan, 
Jackson,  St.  Philip  and  Pulaski  at  nine- 
teen thousand  men,  while  sixteen  thou- 
sand more  were  already  on  their  way  to 
Virginia — a  proof,  if  one  were  wanted, 
of  the  foregone  conclusion  in  the  mind 
of  the  South  in  anticipation  of  what  was 
termed  the  inauguration  of  war  at  Sum- 
ter,  and  of  their  previous  readiness  for 
the  field.  The  North  with  all  its  ability 
had  shown  no  such  preparation.  But 
this  was  not  all.  "  It  is  proposed,"  add- 
ed Davis,  "  to  organize  and  hold  in  readi- 
ness for  instant  action,  in  view  of  the 
present  exigencies  of  the  country,  an 
army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men." 
With  their  cry  of  "  On  to  Washington," 
which  was  now  bruited  about  the  land, 
it  was  evident  that  President  Lincoln's 
seventy-five  thousand  three  months'  mi- 
litia men  would  not  long  suffice. 

It  was  in  this  address  that  Davis  em- 
ployed an  expression  which  was  caught 
up  and  much  commented  upon  for  its 
simplicity,  which  it  is  perhaps  injustice  to 
its  author  to  separate  from  the  context. 
It  was  the  desire  to  be  let  alone,  and  oc- 
curs in  this  concluding  passage  :  "  We 
feel  that  our  cause  is  just  and  holy.  We 
protest  solemnly,  in  the  face  of  mankind, 
that  we  desire  peace  at  any  sacrifice, 

*  Message  of  Jefferson  Davis.     Montgomery.  April  29, 
1861. 


VOICE   OF  THE  PEOPLE. 


131 


save  that  of  honor.  In  independence 
we  seek  no  conquest,  no  aggrandizement, 
no  cession  of  any  kind  from  the  States 
with  which  we  have  lately  confederated. 
All  we  ask  is  to  be  let  alone — that  those 
who  never  held  power  over  us  shall  not 
now  attempt  our  subjugation  by  arms. 
This  we  will,  we  must  resist,  to  the  di- 
rest extremity.  The  moment  that  this 
pretension  is  abandoned,  the  sword  will 
drop  from  our  grasp  and  we  shall  be 
ready  to  enter  into  treaties  of  amity  and 
commerce  that  cannot  but  be  mutually 


beneficial.  So  long  as  this  pretension  is 
maintained,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  that 
Divine  Power  which  covers  with  its  pro- 
tection the  just  cause,  we  will  continue 
to  struggle  for  our  inherent  right  to 
freedom,  independence  and  self-govern- 
ment." 

With  such  solemn  supplications  to 
Heaven  the  leaders  of  both  parties 
prepared  to  enter  on  what  one  side  as 
well  as  the  other,  as  in  all  great  wars, 
had  come  to  think  an  inevitable  con- 
flict. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


RESPONSE     OF    THE    NATION. 


IT  would  be  difficult  to  do  justice  to 
the  spirit  of  patriotism  which  was  excited 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people  by  the  blow 
struck  at  their  liberties  in  the  assault 
upon  Sumter.  Everywhere,  throughout 
the  North,  popular  gatherings  were  held 
with  the  most  striking  exhibitions  of  loy- 
alty. The  national  flag,  always  fondly 
cherished  as  the  symbol  of  the  State 
and  all  which  that  grand  impersonation 
represents  of  security  and  happiness, 
now  seemed  to  acquire  a  new  signifi- 
cance when  Rebellion  was  plucking  at  | 
its  stars.  It  was  brought  forth  and  hung 
where  it  had  never  been  seen-  before,  on 
dwellings  and  churches  and  even  at  pul- 
pits and  altars,  as  the  guardian  of  home 
and  religion.  But,  above  all,  the  people 
forgetting  their  divisions  and  animosi- 
ties laid  aside  all  political  differences  to 
unite  in  one  hearty  expression  of  alle- 
giance to  the  Government,  and  determi- 
nation to  support  it  in  the  exercise  of  its 
legitimate  authority  with  their  lives  and 


fortunes.  Of  these  days,  it  may  be 
truly  said,  in  the  words  of  the  song  of 
Deborah,  "the  people  willingly  offered 
themselves." 

Among  the  many  popular  demonstra- 
tions none  was  more  imposing  than  that 
of  the  vast  meeting  held  in  the  city  of 
New  York  on  the  20th  of  April,  exactly 
one  week  from  the  fall  of  Sumter.  Many 
circumstances  united  to  give  it  a  memor- 
able character  as  a  great  national  event. 
It  was  not  only  an  extraordinary  mani- 
festation of  the  numbers  of  the  largest 
city  in  the  Union,  but  was  fairly  to  be 
considered  from  the  speakers  who  were 
present  from  different  portions  of  the 
country,  as,  in  some  measure,  the  voice 
of  the  whole  nation.  Among  the  prom- 
inent orators  of  the  occasion  there  were 
representatives  of  the  East,  tie  West 
and  even  of  the  South.  There  was  no 
distinction  of  party.  All  shades  of  po- 
litical opinion  were  merged  in  the  blue, 
white  and  red,  the  only  colors  which 


r 


132 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


were  thought  of  that  day.  No  discrimi- 
nation was  made  between  Democrat  and 
Republican.  A  notable  Romanist  and  a 
notable  Puritan  divine  acknowledged  the 
common  religion  of  the  State.  Patriot; 
ism  ruled  the  hour. 

The  assembly,  indeed,  had  a  peculiar 
significance  in  the  time  and  place.  It 
was  held  while  the  first  portentous 
threats  of  the  Rebellion  hung  like  a 
cloud  over  the  land,  when  every  hour 
brought  intelligence  of  some  new  peril 
or  disaster.  The  deeds  of  violence  at 
Baltimore  and  its  vicinity  had  destroyed 
communication  with  the  Capital  which 
was  in  imminent  danger  of  capture  and 
destruction.  The  national  establishments 
at  Harper's  Ferry  and  Gosport  were 
even  then  attacked,  and  all  that  their 
loyal  defenders  could  attempt  to  res- 
cue them  from  the  assailants  was  to 
apply  the  torch  to  the  public  property. 
New  York  had  sent  a  thousand  of  her 
most  valued  young  men  to  Washington 
a  day  or  two  before,  untried  and  inex- 
perienced in  war,  with  the  prospect  be- 
fore them  of  fighting  their  way  through 
a  desperate  rabble.  Several  thousand 
more  were  on  the  eve  of  departure. 
The  city  was  a  camp,  and  the  wharves 
were  alive  with  the  bustle  of  prepara- 
tion of  the  transports  which  were  to 
carry  the  men  away  on  the  morrow. 
Many  a  father  was  present  at  the  meet- 
ing at  Union  Park,  who  felt  that  he  might 
be  looking  upon  his  son  at  his  side  for 
the  last  time. 

The  scene  of  this  great  gathering  was 
also  noticeable.  In  New  York,  if  any- 
where, there  was  a  just  regard  and 
friendly  feeling  for  the  people  of  the 
Scuth.  Connected  with  that  region  by 
various  ties  of  commerce  and  other  inti- 
mate relationship,  there  was  certainly  no 


disposition  in  the  citizens  to  seek  an  oc- 
casion for  war,  where  war  would  assai] 
so  many  vital  interests  of  property  and 
affection.  Time  and  again  that  had  been 
shown  in  deference  to  the  wishes  or  pre- 
tensions of  the  South.  The  cosmopoli- 
tan character  of  the  city,  also,  placed  it 
above  all  suspicion  of  any  desire  to  in- 
jure or  annoy.  What  New  York,  there- 
fore, should  say  at  such  a  crisis  would 
be  peculiarly  entitled  to  respect.  Her 
prejudices,  if  she  had  any,  were  in  favor 
of  the  South,  and  the  South  had  greatly 
relied  upon  them  to  favor  her  cause.  It 
was  now  to  be  determined  upon  which 
side  she  would  take  her  stand — whether 
she  would  tolerate  or  assist  Rebellion — 
or  whether  she  would  resolutely  oppose 
it  by  giving  a  cordial  support  to  the 
Government. 

The  opportunity  to  pronounce  the  de- 
cision was  now  afforded  by  the  invitation 
of  a  number  of  influential  citizens  sum- 
moning all  persons,  "  without  regard  to 
their  previous  political  opinions  or  asso- 
ciations, to  meet  and  express  their  senti- 
ments in  the  present  crisis  of  our  nation- 
al affairs,  and  their  determination  to  up- 
hold the  Government  of  their  country, 
and  maintain  the  authority  of  its  Consti- 
tution and  its  laws."  The  call  was  nobly 
responded  to.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
day  appointed,  places  of  business  were 
closed,  that  all  might  have  an  opportu- 
nity to  attend.  The  meeting  was  held  at 
Union  Square,  where  the  equestrian 
statue  of  Washington  seemed  to  afford 
an  appropriate  emblem  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  day.  An  immense  audience 
— the  greatest  which  the  city  had  ever 
seen  assembled — gathered  in  the  large, 
open  area  surrounding  the  park,  and-  the 
main  avenues  leading  to  it.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  a  hundred  thousand  persons 


THE   STATUE   OF   WASHINGTON. 


133 


were  present  assisting  in  the  ceremonies 
during  the  afternoon.  Four  stands  were 

o 

erected,  each  of  which  had  its  presiding 
officer  and  series  of  speakers.  The  ex- 
ercises .at  each  were  commenced  with 
prayer  by  an  eminent  divine.  There 
were  but  few  badges  or  mottoes,  with 
little  or  no  attempt  to  excite  emotion  by 
any  outward  display,  unless  we  except 
the  mute  though  eloquent  appeal  of  the 
soiled  and  tattered  flag  brought  from 
Sumter,  which,  mounted  on  a  fragment 
of  its  staff,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  statue  of  Washington.  Major  An- 
derson and  several  of  his  brother  officers 
were  introduced  in  the  course  of  the 
meeting,  and  welcomed  with  enthusiasm. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  the 
venerable  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church, 
opened  the  meeting.  In  a  few  words, 
preliminary  to  the  prayer  which  he  of- 
fered, he  struck  the  key-note  of  the  pro- 
ceedings. Referring  to  his  avowal  on 
other  occasions  of  sentiments  not  un- 
friendly to  Southern  institutions,  he  de- 
clared that  the  question  now  was  not 
between  slavery  and  anti-slavery,  be- 
tween republicanism  and  democracy — 
but  that  it  was  between  law  and  anarchy, 
between  government  and  no  government ; 
and  on  such  an  issue  he  prayed  that  we 
might  be  one  people,  and  invoked  the 
blessings  of  heaven  on  those  who  had 
gone  forth  to  fight  the  battles  of  their 
country. 

Dr.  Spring  was  followed  at  the  main 
stand  by  the  Hon.  John  A.  Dix,  the  late 
patriotic  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who 
had  labored  so  zealously  to  stem  the  tide 
of  corruption,  and  preserve  the  falling- 
state.  In  a  calm,  well-considered  speech, 
he  simply  and  clearK  set  forth  the  pres- 
ent position  of  the  country.  Having 
been  a  member  of  President  Buchanan's 


Cabinet,  he  could  speak  with  authority 
of  the  nature  of  the  contest.  "With  no 
provocation  whatever  from  the  Federal 
Government,"  said  he,  "unscrupulous 
men  ha4  turned  their  arms  in  fraternal 
hatred  against  it,  even  when  it  was  ad- 
ministered by  those  who  were  actuated 
by  the  most  friendly  disposition  toward? 
them."  If  to  that  Administration,  he 
said,  South  Carolina  had  tendered  war, 
as  she  had  to  that  of  President  Lincoln, 
by  a  hostile  and  deadly  assault,  it  would 
have  been  unanimously  accepted.  The 
present  Administration,  he  maintained, 
had  done  no  more  than  its  duty,  and  it 
was  entitled  to  support.  "  I  believe," 
said  he,  "  it  will  act  with  all  the  moder- 
ation and  forbearance  consistent  with  the 
great  interests  confided  to  it."  Those 
interests  assumed  no  small  proportions 
in  his  eyes.  "  I  regard,"  he  added,  "  the 
pending  contest  with  the  secessionists  as 
a  death  struggle  for  constitutional  liber- 
ty and  law — a  contest  which,  if  success- 
ful on  their  part,  could  only  end  in  the 
establishment  of  a  despotic  government, 
and  blot  out,  whenever  they  were  in  the 
ascendant,  every  vestige  of  national  free- 
dom." "  Fellow  citizens,"  he  eloquently 
concluded,  "we  stand  before  the  statue 
of  the  Father  of  his-  country.  The  flag 
of  the  Union,  which  floats  over  it,  hung 
above  him  when  he  presided  over  the 
convention  by  which  the  Constitution 
was  framed.  The  great  work  of  his  life 
has  been  rejected,  and  the  banner  by 
which  his  labors  were  consecrated  has 
been  trampled  in  the  dust.  If  the  inan- 
imate bronze  in  which  the  sculptor  has 
shaped  his  image,  could  be  changed  for 
the  living  form  which  led  the  armies  of 
the  revolution  to  victory,  he  would  com- 
mand us,  in  the  name  of  the  hosts  of 
patriots  and  political  martyrs  who  have 


134 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


gone  before,  to  strike  for  the  defence  of 
the  Union  and  the  Constitution." 

Senator  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  of  New 
York,  seconded  this  speech  in  a  few  kin- 
dling words,  not  untouched  witlj  regret 
for  the  sad  conditions  of  the  approaching 
conflict.  "  I  would  not  levy  war  for  ag- 
gression," said  he  ;  "I  would  levy  it  for 
defensive  peace.  I  would  arm,  and  that 
in  a  manner  becoming  this  government 
and  people,  not  for  aggression,  I  repeat, 
but  for  defense — for  the  purpose  of  re- 
taining our  honor  and  dignity,  not  only 
at  home,  but  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth .  .  We  are  called  upon  to  act.  There 
is  no  time  for  hesitation  or  indecision- 
no  time  for  haste  and  excitement.  It  is 
a  time  when  the  people  should  rise  in 
the  majesty  of  their  might,  stretch  forth 
their  strong  arm  and  silence  the  angry 
waves  of  tumult.  It  is  time  the  people 
should  command  peace.  It  is  a  question 
between  union  and  anarchy — between 
law  and  disorder." 

The  speaker  who  succeeded  is  entitled 
to  particular  attention  in  our  narrative, 
for  he  subsequently  sealed  the  fidelity  of 
his  words  spoken  on  that  occasion  with 
his  life.  Senator  Edward  Dickinson 
Baker  of  Oregon,  who  now  addressed 
the  assembly,  had.  just  completed  his 
fiftieth  year — a  half  century  which  he 
had  passed  in  restless  energy,  rising  by 
his  exertions  to  one  of  the  highest  seats 
of  influence  in  the  land.  Born  in  London 
he  had  been  brought  to  America  in  his 
childhood,  and  while  yet  a  boy  had  been 
carried  to  the  interior  of  Illinois,  where 
he  rose  with  the  expanding  fortunes  of  the 
West.  Beading  was  his  delight,  and  the 
passion  enabled  him  to  bring  to  his  pro- 
fession of  the  law  a  store  of  literary  il- 
lustration not  always  associated  with  its 
dry  technicalities.  It  was  an  inevitable 


step  for  such  a  man — fertile  in  speech, 
warm-hearted,  ambitious — from  the  bar 
to  political  oratory.  His  election  to 
Congress  followed  almost  as  a  matter 
of  course,  and  from  Congress  to  the  head 
of  a  regiment  in  the  Mexican  war  was 
quite  as  natural  a  transition.  He  was 
with  Scott  in  his  advance  to  Mexico, 
and  in  the  record  of  Cerro  Gordo  his 
name  is  honorably  written  as  one  who 
rendered  distinguished  service.  After 
the  war  he  returned  to  Congress,  and 
when  his  term  was  completed,  we  find 
him,  with  characteristic  enthusiasm  and 
indifference  to  hardship,  a  leader  in  an 
adventurous  enterprize  at  the  isthmus  of 
Panama.  That  nearly  cost  him  his  life  ; 
but  the  home  air  of  the  Prairies  restored 
him,  and  in  1852  he  emigrated  to  Cali- 
fornia. There  he  took  a  high  position  at 
the  bar,  and  became  formidable  in  politics 
as  a  supporter  of  the  Tree  soil  doctrines 
which  were  making  their  way  in  the 
State,  not  without  some  demands  upon 
the  martyr  spirit  of  their  advocates. 
Senator  Broderick,  the  victim '  of  the 
struggle,  was  his  friend,  and  he  was  called 
to  pronounce  the  funeral  oration  over  his 
murdered  body.  From  this  bloody  scene 
of  strife  he  went  to  Oregon,  whence  he 
was  sent  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  There  he  took  his  seat  in  March, 
1859,  and  through  the  sessions  of  that 
year  and  the  next  his  voice  was  ever  to 
be  heard  in  support  of  the  principles  of 
the  Republican  party  to  which  he  was 
attached.  An  old  associate  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  Illinois  in  his  early  struggle, 
endeared  to  him  by  manly  sympathies  of 
fortune  and  character,  he  hailed  his 
friend's  elevation  to  the  Presidency  with 
honest  delight.  With  this  rapid  glance 
at  his  previous  history,  and  with  the  fatal 
day  on  the  Potomac  on  our  minds,  we 


SENATOR  BAKER'S   SPEECH. 


135 


may  listen  with  interest  to  his  words  on 
that  April  afternoon  in  New  York. 

"  The  majesty  of  the  people  is  here 
to-day  to  sustain  the  Majesty  of  the  Con- 
stitution/' he  exclaimed,  "  and  I  come, 
a  wanderer  from  the  far  Pacific  to  record 
my  oath  along  with  yours  of  the  great 
Empire  State.  The  hour  for  conciliation 
has  passed,  the  gathering  for  battle  is  at 
hand ;  and  the  country  requires  that 
every  man  shall  do  his  duty.  Fellow 
citizens,  what  is  that  country  ?  Is  it  the 
soil  on  which  we  tread  ?  Is  it  the  gath- 
ering of  familiar  faces  ?  Is  it  our  luxury 
and  pomp  and  pride  ?  Nay,  more  than 
these,  is  it  power  and  might  and  majesty 
alone  ?  No  :  our  country  is  more,  far 
more  than  all  these.  The  country  which 
demands  our  love,  our  courage,  our  de- 
votion, our  hearts'  blood,  is  more  than 
all  these — (loud  applause) — our  country 
is  the  history  of  our  fathers — our  coun- 
try is  the  tradition  of  our  mothers — our 
country  is  past  renown — our  country  is 
present  pride  and  power — our  country  is 
future  hope  and  destiny — our  country  is 
greatness,  glory,  truth,  constitutional  lib- 
erty— above  all,  freedom  forever !  .  . 

Young  men  of  New  York — young  men 
of  the  United  States — you  are  told  this 
is  not  to  be  a  war  of  aggression.  In  one 
sense  that  is  true  ;  in  another,  not.  We 
have  committed  aggression  upon  no  man. 
In  all  the  broad  land,  in  their  rebel  nest, 
in  their  traitors'  camp,  no  truthful  man 
can  rise  and  say  that  he  has  ever  been 
disturbed,  though  it  be  but  for  a  single 
moment,  in  life,  liberty,  estate,  character 
or  honor.  The  day  they  began  this  un- 
natural, false,  wicked,  rebellious  warfare, 
their  lives  were  more  secure,  their  pro- 
perty more  secure  by  us — not  by  them- 
selves, but  by  us — guarded  far  more 
securely  than  any  people  ever  have  had 


their  lives  and  property  secured  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world.  We  have  com- 
mitted no  oppression,  have  broken  no 
compact,  have  exercised  no  unholy 
power  ;  have  been  loyal,  moderate,  con- 
stitutional and  just.  We  are  a  majority 
of  the  Union,  and  we  will  govern  our  own 
Union,  within  our  own  Constitution,  in 
our  own  way.  We  are  all  Democrats. 
We  are  all  Republicans.  We  acknowl- 
edge the  sovereignt}^  of  the  people  within 
the  rule  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  under 
that  Constitution,  and  beneath  that  flag, 
let  traitors  beware.  In  this  sense,  then, 
young  men  of  New  York,  we  are  not  for 
a  .war  of  aggression.  But  in  another 
sense,  speaking  for  myself  as  a  man  who 
has  been  a  soldier,  and  as  one  who  is  a 
Senator,  I  say,  in  the  same  sense,  I  am 
for  a  war  of  aggression.  I  propose  to  do 
now  as  we  did  in  Mexico — conquer  peace. 
I  propose  to  go  to  Washington,  and  be- 
yond. I  do  not  design  to  remain  silent, 
supine,  inactive — nay,  fearful — until  they 
gather  their  battalions  and  advance  their 
hosts  upon  our  borders  or  in  our  midst. 
I  would  meet  them  upon  the  threshold, 
and  there,  in  the  very  State  of  their 
power,  in  the  very  atmosphere  of  their 
treason,  I  propose  that  the  people  of  this 
Union  dictate  to  these  rebels  the  terms 
of  peace.  It  may  take  thirty  millions  ;  it 
may  take  three  hundred  millions.  What 
then  ?  We  have  it.  Loyally,  nobly, 
grandly  do  the  merchants  of  New  York 
respond  to  the  appeals  of  the  Govern- 
ment. It  may  cost  us  seven  thousand 
men  ;  it  may  cost  us  seventy-five  thou- 
sand men  in  battle  ;  it  may  cost  us  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men.  What 
then?  We  have  them.  The  blood  of 
every  loyal  citizen  of  this  Government  is 
dear  to  me.  My  sons,  my  kinsmen,  the 
young  men  who  have  grown  up  beneath 


136 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


my  eye  and  beneath  my  care,  they  are 
all  dear  to  me  ;  but  if  the  country's  des- 
tiny, glory,  tradition,  greatness,  freedom, 
government,  written  constitutional  gov- 
ernment— the  only  hope  of  a  free  people 
— demand  it,  let  them  all  go.  I  am  not 
here  now  to  speak  timorous  words  of 
peace,  but  to  kindle  the  spirit  of  manly, 
determined  war.  I  speak  in  the  midst 
of  the  Empire  State,  amid  scenes  of  past 
suffering  and  past  glory .;  the  defences  of 
the  Hudson  above  me  ;  the  battle  field 
of  Long  Island  before  me,  and  the  statue 
of  Washington  in  my  very  face — the 
battered  and  conquered  flag  of  Sumter 
waving  in  his  hands,  which  I  can  almost 
now  imagine  trembles  with  the  excite- 
ment of  battle.  And  as  I  speak,  I  say 
my  mission  here  to-day  is  to  kindle  the 
heart  of  New  York  for  war — short, 
sudden,  bold,  determined,  forward  war. 
The  Seventh  regiment  has  gone.  Let 
seventy  and  seven  more  follow.  Of  old, 
said  a  great  historian,  beneath  the  ban- 
ner of  the  cross,  Europe  precipitated  it- 
self upon  Asia.  Beneath  the  banner  of 
the  Constitution  let  the  men  of  the  Union 
precipitate  themselves  upon  disloyal,  re- 
bellious Confederate  States.  Let  no  man 
underrate  the  dangers  of  this  controversy. 
Civil  war,  for  the  best  of  reasons  upon  the 
one  side,  and  the  worst  upon  the  other, 
is  always  dangerous  to  liberty — always 
fearful,  always  bloody ;  but,  fellow-citi- 
zens, there  are  yet  worse  things  than 
fear,  than  doubt  and  dread,  and  danger 
and  blood.  Dishonor  is  worse.  Per- 
petual anarchy  is  worse.  States  forever 
commingling  and  forever  severing  is 
worse.  Traitors  and  secessionists  are 
worse.  To  have  star  after  star  blotted 
out — to  have  stripe  after  stripe  obscured 
— to  have  glory  after  glory  dimmed — to 
have  our  women  weep  and  our  men  blush 


for  shame  throughout  generations  yet  to 
come  ;  that  and  these  are  infinitely  worse 
than  blood.  People  of  New  York,  on 
the  eve  of  battle  allow  me  to  speak  as  a 
soldier.  Few  of  you  know,  as  my  career 
has  been  distant  and  obscure,  but  I  may 
mention  it  here  to-day,  with  a  generous 
pride,  that  it  was  once  my  fortune  to  lead 
your  gallant  New  York  regiment  in  the 
very  shock  of  battle.  I  was  their  leader, 
and  upon  the  bloody  heights  of  Cerro 
Gordo  I  know  well  what  New  York  can 
do  when  her  blood  is  up.  Again,  once 
more,  when  we  march,  let  us  not  march 
for  revenge.  As  yet  we  have  nothing  to 
revenge.  It  is  not  much  that  where  that 
tattered  flag  waved,  guarded  by  seventy 
men  against  ten  thousand,  it  is  not  much 
that  starvation  effected  what  an  enemy 
could  not  compel.  We  have  as  yet  some- 
thing to  punish  ;  but  nothing,  or  very 
little,  to  revenge.  The  President  him- 
self, a  hero  without  knowing  it — and  I 
speak  from  knowledge,  having  known  him 
from  boyhood — the  President  says  : — 
'  There  are  wrongs  to  be  redressed, 
already  long  enough  endured.'  And  we 
march  to  battle  and  to  victory  because 
we  do  not  choose  to  endure  this  wrong 
any  longer.  They  are  wrongs  not  merely 
against  us  ;  not  against  you,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent ;  not  against  me,  but  against  our 
sons  and  against  our  grandsons  that  sur- 
round us.  They  are  wrongs  against  our 
ensign — they  are  wrongs  against  our 
Union  ;  they  are  wrongs  against  our 
Constitution  ;  they  are  wrongs  against 
human  hope  and  human  freedom  ;  and 
thus,  if  it  be  avenged,  still,  as  Burke 
says,  'it  is  a  wild  justice  at  last,'  and 
we  will  revenge  them.  While  I  speak, 
following  in  the  wake  of  men  so  eloquent, 
so  conservative,  so  eminent,  so  loyal,  so 
well  known — even  while  I  speak,  the 


A  VOICE  FROM  THE  SOUTH. 


137 


object  of  your  meeting  is  accomplished  ; 
upon  the  wings  of  the  lightning  it  goes  out 
throughout  the  world  that  New  York,  the 
very  heart  of  a  great  city,  with  her 
crowded  thoroughfares,  her  merchants, 
her  manufacturers,  her  artists — that  New 
York  by  one  hundred  thousand  of  her 
people,  declares  to  the  country  and  to  the 
world  that  she  will  sustain  the  Govern- 
ment to  the  last  dollar  in  her  treasury — 
to  the  last  drop  of  your  blood.  The  na- 
tional banners  leaning  from  ten  thousand 
windows  in  your  city  to-day  proclaim 
your  affection  and  reverence  for  the 
Union.  You  will  gather  in  battalions, 

Patient  of  toil,  serene  amidst  alarms, 
Inflexible  in  faith,  invincible  in  arms ; 

and  as  you  gather,  every  omen  of  pre- 
sent concord  and  ultimate  peace  will  sur- 
round you.  The  ministers  of  religion, 
the  priests  of  literature,  the  historians 
of  the  past,  the  illustrators  of  the  pre- 
sent, capital,  science,  art,  invention,  dis- 
coveries, the  works  of  genius — all  these 
will  attend  us  in  our  march  and  we  will 
conquer.  And  if,  from  the  far  Pacific,  a 
voice  more  feeble  than  the  feeblest  mur- 
mur upon  its  shore  may  be  heard  to  give 
you  courage  and  hope  in  the  contest, 
that  voice  is  yours  to  day  ;  and  if  a  man 
whose  hair  is  gray,  who  is  well  nigh 
worn  out  in  the  battle  and  toil  of  life, 
may  pledge  himself  on  such  an  occasion 
and  in  such  an  audience,  let  me  say,  as 
my  last  word,  that  when,  amid  sheeted 
fire  and  flame,  I  saw  and  led  the  hosts 
of  New  York  as  they  charged  in  contest 
upon  a  foreign  soil  for  the  honor  of  your 
flag  ;  so  again,  if  Providence  shall  will 
it,  this  feeble  hand  shall  draw  a  sword, 
never  yet  dishonored — not  to  fight  for 
distant  honor  in  a  foreign  land,  but  to 
fight  for  country,  for  home,  for  law,  for 
government,  for  constitution,  for  right, 
18 


for  freedom,  for  humanity,  and  in  the 
hope  that  the  banner  of  my  country  may 
advance,  and  wheresoever  that  banner 
waves  there  glory  may  pursue  and  free- 
dom be  established.'*' 

The  next  speaker  presented  a  powerful 
contrast  in  manner  and  matter.  What 
one  reached  by  passion  and  instinct,  the 
other  cautiously  approached  by  calcula- 
tion ;  but  the  conclusion  was  the  same. 
A  representative  of  the  old  Democratic 
party  of  the  days  of  Jackson,  intimately 
allied  to  Southern  statesmen  and  identi- 
fied with  Southern  policy  by  his  long 
residence  in  Mississippi  where  he  had 
passed  the  whole  period  of  early  man- 
hood and  middle  life,  President  Polk's 
chosen  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  uni- 
versally accredited  with  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  national  resources  and 
consummate  skill  in  political  affairs,  the 
Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker  stood  forth  on 
this  occasion  an  oracle  entitled  to  no  light 
consideration.  Moderate,  well  weighed 
and  considerate,  his  deductions  strikingly 
corroborate  the  enthusiasm  of  Baker. 
"  The  question,"  said  he,  "  is,  shall  this 
Union  be  maintained  and  perpetuated, 

!  or  shall  it  be  broken  and  dissolved  ?    No 

. 

|  question  so  important  has  ever  occurred 
i  in  the  history  of  our  race.     It  involves 
not  only  the  fate  of  this  great  country, 
but    the   question    of    free    institutions 
throughout  the  world.     The  case  of  self- 
I  government  is  now  on  trial  before  the 
I  forum  of  our  country  and  of  the  world. 
|  If  we  succeed  and  maintain  the  Union, 
free  institutions,  under  the  moral  force 
of  our  example,  will  ultimately  be  estab- 
lished throughout  the  world  ;  but  if  we 
fail,  and  our  government  is  overthrown, 
popular  liberty  will  have  made  its  last 
experiment,   and   despotism   will    reign 
triumphant  throughout  the  globe.     Our 


138 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


lesponsibilities  are  fearful.  We  have  a 
solemn  duty  to  perform — we  are  this  day 
making  history.  "We  are  writing  a  book 
whose  pages  can  never  be  erased — it  is 
the  destiny  of  our  country  and  of  man- 
kind. For  more  than  seventy  years  this 
Union  has  been  maintained,  and  it  has 
advanced  our  country  to  a  prosperity 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
The  past  was  great ;  but  the  future  open- 
ed upon  prospects  beyond  the  power 
of  language  to  describe.  But  where  are 
we  now  ?  The  world  looks  on  with  scorn 
and  derision.  We  have,  it  is  said,  no 
government — a  mere  voluntary  associa- 
tion of  independent  States — a  debating 
society,  or  a  moot  court,  without  any 
real  power  to  uphold  the  laws  or  main- 
tain the  constitution.  We  have  no  coun- 
try, no  flag,  no  Union  ;  but  each  State, 
at  its  pleasure,  upon  its  own  mere  whim 
or  caprice,  with  or  without  cause,  may 
secede  and  dissolve  the  Union.  Seces- 
sion, we  are  told,  is  a  constitutional  right 
of  each  State,  and  the  Constitution  has 
inscribed  its  own  death  warrant  upon  its 
face.  If  this  be  so  we  have  indeed  no 
government,  and  Europe  may  well  speak 
of  us  with  contempt  and  derision.  This 
is  the  very  question  we  are  now  to  solve 
— have  we  a  government,  and  has  it 
power  to  maintain  its  existence  ? " 

He  then  alluded  to  the  part  he  had 
taken  when  South  Carolina,  in  1832,  had 
presented  this  question  of  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union  to  the  country.  He  had 
then  opposed  the  doctrines  of  nullifica- 
tion and  secession,  and  Mississippi  had 
approved  his  principles  by  sending  him 
to  the  United  States  Senate.  The  inter- 
ests of  the  South,  he  maintained,  were 
still  the  same.  "  Deeply,"  said  he,  "  as 
I  deplore  our  present  situation,  it  is  my 
profound  conviction  that  the  welfare,  se- 


curity and  prosperity  of  the  South  can 
only  be  restored  by  the  reestablishment 
of  the  Union.  I  see  in  the  permanent 
overthrow  of  the  Union  the  utter  ruin 
of  the  South,  and  the  complete  prostra- 
tion of  all  their  interests."  "  Much  as 
I  love  my  party,"  he  said,  in  conclusion, 
"  I  love  my  country  infinitely  more,  and 
must  and  will  sustain  it  at  all  hazards. 
Indeed,  it  is  due  to  the  great  occasion 
here  frankly  to  declare  that,  notwith- 
standing my  earnest  opposition  to  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  my  disposi- 
•  tion  most  closely  to  scrutinize  all  his 
acts,  I  see  thus  far  nothing  to  condemn 
in  his  efforts  to  maintain  the  Union. 
And  now,  my  countrymen,  one  word 
more  before  I  close.  I  was  trained  in 
devotion  to  the  Union  by  a  patriot  sire, 
who  fought  the  battles  of  liberty  during 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  M}^  life  has 
been  given  to  the  support  of  the  Union. 
I  never  conceived  a  thought  or  wrote  or 
uttered  a  word,  except  in  its  defence. 
And  now,  let  me  say,  that  this  Union 
must,  will  and  shall  be  perpetuated  ; 
that  not  a  star  shall  be  dimmed  or  a 
stripe  erased  from  our  banner  ;  that  the 
integrity  of  the  government  shall  be  pre- 
served, and  that,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  from  the  lakes  of  the  North 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  never  shall,  be 
surrendered  a  single  acre  of  our  soil  or 
a  drop  of  its  waters." 

This  was  well  said,  and  there  were 
other  voices  that  day  entitled  to  equal 
respect.  Frederick  Kapp,  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  of  German  birth, 
spoke  for  his  countrymen  in  the  Old 
World  and  the  New.  The  author  of  an 
excellent  biography  of  Baron  Steuben, 
he  had  studied  the  spirit  of  American 
freedom  in  the  patriotic  counsels  and 
self-sacrifice  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Re- 


ARCHBISHOP  HUGHES. 


139 


public,  and  he  knew  by  experience  and 
observation  the  blessings  which  the  seed 
then  sown  had  produced  in  the  living  in- 
stitutions of  the  United  States.  He 
looked  upon  the  Rebellion  not  as  a 
question  between  States,  or  one  in  which 
a  single  country  only  was  concerned,  but 
in  its  relation  to  the  hopes  of  the  race. 
"The  internecine  war  now  raging  here," 
he  said,  "  is  not  only  a  private  affair  of 
America  ;  it  is  a  question  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  whole  civilized  world, 
which  expects  that  we  will  crush  anarchy 
in  its  inception.  We  have  to  prove  that 
civil  liberty,  with  all  its  blessings,  is  not 
only  an  experiment — not  a  mere  passing 
state  of  political  being,  which  lasts  only 
so  long  as  it  is  not  assailed  either  by  a 
military  or  a  slaveholder's  despotism,  but 
that  it  is  a  power  self-sustaining  and  in- 
terwoven with  our  natures  and  with  our 
whole  national  existence.  Liberty  is 
precarious,  and  we  would  not  be  worthy 
of  it  unless  we  have  sense  and  spirit 
enough  to  defend  it.  Let  us  prove  our- 
selves adequate  to  the  expectations  of 
the  friends  of  liberty  in  the  Old  World 
as  well  as  in  the  New,  whose  eyes  are 
fixed  upon  us.  The  two  powers  which 
have  grown  up  side  by  side  in  the  United 
States  from  the  beginning,  self-govern- 
ment and  slavery,  stand  now  face  to  face 
against  each  other.  It  is  now  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  that 
slavery,  in  its  worst  developments,  makes 
a  revolution  against  the  morals  and  eth- 
ics of  society  ;  that  it  tries  to  found  a 
State  on  all  that  is  mean,  contemptible 
and  unsound  in  human  nature.  But  such 
a  State  cannot  and  will  not  last.  If  jus- 
tice and  liberty  do  not  form  its  basis,  it 
is  doomed  from  the  first  day  of  its  exis- 
tence. But  it  will  not  disappear  of  it- 
self ,  it  must  be  swept  away  by  us,  and, 


as  peaceful  means  will  not  do,  we  must 
use  iron  means,  and  we  must  send  to 
these  sinners  against  human  nature  our 
arguments  with  12-pounders  and  mor- 
tars. As  my  eyes  are  glancing  over  this 
majestic  assembly,  majestic  as  well  by 
its  numbers  as  its  enthusiasm,  I  perceive 
at  once  that  every  one  of  you,  fellow- 
citizens,  understands  his  duty  and  that 
every  one  of  you  will  be  ready  for  his 
country's  call.  This  call  will  be  war — 
and  nothing  but  war — until  our  arms 
shall  have  won  a  glorious  triumph  and 
our  flag  shall  float  again  victorious  from 
the  Potomac  to  the  Rio  Grande." 

Other  speakers  spoke  as  enthusiasti- 
cally for  the  Germans,  while  another 
large  and  important  class  of  the  people, 
destined  to  bear  at  least  an  equal  share 
in  the  approaching  conflict — the  natives 
of  Ireland  were  represented  by  Arch- 
bishop Hughes,  who,  unable  to  be  pres- 
ent, had  addressed  a  letter  to  the  chair- 
man, fully  avowing  his  sympathy  with  the 
objects  of  the  meeting.  In  it  he  said  : — 
"Ministers  of  religion  and  ministers  of 
peace,  according  to  the  instructions  of 
their  Divine  Master,  have  not  ceased  to 
hope  and  pray  that  peace  and  union 
might  be  preserved  in  this  great  and  free 
country.  At  present,  however,  that 
question  has  been  taken  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  peacemakers,  and  it  is  referred  to 
the  arbitrament  of  a  sanguinary  contest. 
I  am  not  authorized  to  speak  in  the 
name  of  any  of  my  fellow-citizens.  I 
think,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  there  is  the 
right  principle  among  those  whom  I 
know.  It  is  now  fifty  years  since,  a 
foreigner  by  birth,  I  took  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  this  country,  under  its  title 
of  the  United  States  of  America.  As 
regards  conscience,  patriotism,  or  judg- 
ment, I  have  no  misgiving.  Still  desir- 


140 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


ous  of  peace,  when  the  Providence  of 
God  shall  have  brought  it,  I  may  say 
that  since  the  period  of  my  naturaliza- 
tion I  have  known  but  one  country.  In 
reference  to  my  duties  as  a  citizen,  no 
change  has  come  over  my  mind  since 
then.  The  'Government  of  the  United 
States  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  symbolized 
by  a  national  flag,  popularly  called  '  The 
Stars  and  Stripes.'  This  has  been  my 
flag,  and  shall  be  to  the  end.  I  trust  it 
is  still  destined  to  display  in  the  gales 
that  sweep  every  ocean,  and  amid  the 
gentle  breezes  of  many  a  distant  shore, 
as  I  have  seen  it  in  foreign  lands,  its 
own  peculiar  waving  lines  of  beauty. 
May  it  live  and  continue  to  display  these 
same  waving  lines  of  beauty,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad,  for  a  thousand  years, 
and  afterwards  as  long  as  Heaven  per- 
mits, without  limit  or  duration." 

Following  this  letter  of  Archbishop 
Hughes  it  was  pleasing  to  hear  the  loyal 
declarations  of  the  Mayor  of  the  city, 
Fernando  Wood,  whose  deferential  cor- 
respondence with  the  seceding  Senator 
Toombs  we  have  noticed  on  a  previous 
page.*  He  did  not  care,  he  said,  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duty  to  his  flag,  what 
past  political  associations  might  be  sev- 
ered. He  threw  himself  entirely  into 
this  contest,  with  all  his  power  and  all 
his  might.  Next  to  Washington,  he 
said,  the  greatest  man  the  country  had 
produced  was  Jackson,  and  Jackson  had 
declared  "  the  Union  must  and  shall  be 
preserved  —  peaceably  if  we  can,  but 
forcibly  if  we  must."  The  late  Secre- 
try  of  War,  he  stated,  had  said  that  the 
Confederate  flag  should  wave  over  the 
Capital  before  the  1st  of  May,  and  more 
than  that,  over  Faneuil  Hall  in  Boston. 
"My  friends,"  he  exclaimed,  "before 


*  Ante  p.  59-60 


that  banner  can  fly  over  Faneuil  Hall  in 
Boston  it  must  be  carried  over  the  dead 
body  of  every  citizen  of  New  York." 
There  were  no  more  significant  words 
spoken  that  day  ;  they  showed  that  the 
South  had  nothing  to  hope,  in  her  sui- 
cidal course,  from  the  political  opponents 
of  the  new  Administration,  who  had  been 
hitherto  dominant  in  the  city. 

David  S.  Coddington,  an  influential 
member  of  the  old  Democratic  party,  in 
words  running  over  with  passionate  im.- 
agery,  gave  vent  to  the  scorn  and  indig- 
nation excited  in  his  breast.  "  This 
spectre  of  disunion,"  said  he,  "is  no 
new  ghost,  born  of  any  contemporary 
agitation.  For  years  it  had  been  skulk- 
ing semi-officially  about  the  Capitol. 
Through  the  whole  range  of  our  parlia- 
mentary history  every  great  question, 
from  a  Tariff  to  a  Territory,  has  felt  its 
clammy  touch.  Did  it  not  drop  its 
death's  head  into  the  tariff  scales  of  '33. 
hoping  to  weigh  the  duties  down  to  a 
conciliation  level  ?  did  it  not  shoot  its 
ghastly  logic  into  the  storm  of  '20,  and 
frighten  our  soundest  statesmanship  into 
that  crude  calm  called  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise ?  did  it  not  sit  grinning  upon  the 
deck  of  all  our  naval  battles,  hoping  to 
get  a  turn  at  the  wheel,  that  it  might 
run  the  war  of  1812  upon  a  rock  ?  did 
it  not  stand  up  upon  the  floor  of  the  first 
Congress  and  shake  its  bony  fingers  in 
the  calm  face  of  Washington  ?  and  did 
not  our  fathers,  who  stood  unmoved  the 
shock  of  George  the  Third's  cannon, 
shudder  in  the  presence  of  this  spectre, 
when  they  thought  how  the  infant  repub- 
lic might  be  cast  away  upon  its  bleak 
and  milkless  breast  ?  Then  it  was  a  thin 
skulking,  hatchet-faced  ghost.  At  last, 
fed  upon  the  granaries  of  Northern 
and  Southern  fanaticism,  it  has  come 


PROFESSOR  MITCHELL. 


141 


to  be  a  rotund,  well-fed,  corpulent 
disaster." 

"  Talk  ol  the  wise  statesmanship  of 
the  South,"  he  continued, — "Had  they 
allowed  Kansas  to  become  a  free  State 
they  would  have  been  in  possession  of 
the  national  Government  at  this  moment. 
Although  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise awoke  the  North  from  its  deep 
sleep  upon  the  slave  question,  yet  the 
most  economical  outlay  of  prudence  would 
have  continued  them  in  possession  of  the 
Government  for  an  indefinite  future.  All 
the  ills  of  the  South  could  have  been 
remedied  within  the  Constitution— all 
their  wrongs  righted  by  the  victory  of 
future  votes.  Shall  I  tell  you  what  Se- 
cession means  ?  It  means  ambition  in 
the  Southern  leaders  and  misapprehension 
in  the  Southern  people.  Its  policy  is  to 
imperial ize  slavery  ;  and  to  degrade  and 
destroy  the  only  free  republic  in  the 
world.  It  is  a  fog  of  the  brain  and  a 
poison  at  the  heart."  Looking  at  the  vast 
assembly  around  him  and  its  peculiar 
significance,  he  said  : — "Nothing  so  dis- 
appoints Secession  as  the  provoking  fidel- 
ity of  New  York  to  the  Constitution. 
From  the  vaults  of  Wall  street,  Jefferson 
Davis  expected  to  pay  his  army,  riot 
in  all  the  streets,  and  in  all  the  towns 
and  cities  of  the  North  make  their  inarch 
a  triumphant  one.  Fifty  thousand  men 
to-day  tread  on  his  fallacy." 

One  of  the  most  enthusiastic  speeches  of 
the  meeting  was  delivered  by  Professor 
Ormsby  McKnight  Mitchell,  a  gentleman 
familiarly  known  to  the  public  by  his  la- 
bors and  writings  in  connection  with  as- 
tronomy, but  destined  to  a  still  wider  repu- 
tation by  his  military  services  in  defence 
of  the  Union.  A  graduate  of  West  Point 
of  the  year  1829,  he  for  three  years  filled 
the  position  of  Professor  of  Mathematics 


in  that  Academy,  and  served  for  a 
short  time  in  the  army.  Eesigning  his 
commission  in  1832,  he  studied  law  and 
opened  an  office  in  Cincinnati.  Two 
years  afterward  we  find  him  again  en- 
gaged as  an  instructor  in  mathematics  in 
a  college  in  that  city,  where,  in  1845,  he 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Observa- 
tory—an institution  founded  at  his  insti- 
gation, and  carried  onward  under  great 
difficulties  by  his  personal  energy.  He 
was  also  engaged  in  the  West  as  an  en- 
gineer of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rail- 
road, and  was  at  one  time  Adjutant- 
General  of  Ohio.  In  1848  he  succeeded 
to  the  management  of  the  Dudley  Obser- 
vatory at  Albany,  New  York.  '  With 
these  claims  to  consideration  he  made  his 
appearance  at  the  meeting.  His  speech, 
of  which  we  present  a  few  passages,  is 
of  interest,  not  only  for  its  exhibition  of 
the  spirit  of  the  hour,  but  for  its  bio- 
graphical anecdotes  of  the  career  of  the 
speaker.  From  such  details  we  may 
learn  something  of  the  spirit  and  motives 
which  impelled  the  defenders  of  their 
country  freely  to  offer  their  lives  in  her 
service. 

"  I  have  been  announced  to  you," 
he  said,  "as  a  citizen  of  Kentucky. 
Once  I  was,  because  I  was  born  there. 
I  love  my  native  State,  as  you  love  your 
native  State.  I  love  my  adopted  State 
of  Ohio,  as  you  love  your  adopted  State, 
if  such  you  have  ;  but,  my  friends,  I  am 
not  a  citizen  now  of  any  State.  I  owe 
allegiance  to  no  State,  and  never  did,  and, 
God  helping  me,  I  never  will.  I  owe 
allegiance  to  the  Government  of  the  Unit- 
ed States.  A  poor  boy,  working  my  way 
with  my  own  hands,  at  the  age  of  twelve 
turned  out  to  take  care  of  myself  as  best 
I  could,  and  beginning  by  earning  but 
$4  per  month,  I  worked  my  way  onward 


142 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


until  this  glorious  Government  gave  me 
a  chance  at  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point.  There  I  landed  with  a 
knapsack  on  my  back,  and  I  tell  you 
God's  truth — -just  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  in 
my  pocket.  There  I  swore  allegiance  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
I  did  not  abjure  the  love  of  my  own 
State,  nor  of  my  adopted  State,  but  all 
over  that  rose  proudly  triumphant  and 
predominant  my  love  for  our  common 
country.  And  now  to-day  that  common 
country  is  assailed,  and,  alas  !  alas  !  that 
I  am  compelled  to  say  it,  it  is  assailed  in 
some  sense  by  my  own  countrymen.  My 
father  and  my  mother  were  from  Old 
Virginia,  and  my  brothers  and  sisters 
from  Old  Kentucky.  I  love  them  all ;  I 
love  them  dearly.  I  have  my  brothers 
and  friends  down  in  the  South  noAv. 
united  to  me  by  the  fondest  ties  of  love 
and  affection.  I  would  take  them  in  my 
arms  to-day  with  all  the  love  that  God 
has  put  into  this  heart,  but  if  I  found 
them  in  arms  I  would  be  compelled  to 
smite  them  down.  You  have  found  of- 
ficers of  the  army  who  have  been  edu- 
cated by  the  Government,  who  have 
drawn  their  support  from  the  Govern- 
ment for  long  years,  who  when  called 
upon  by  their  country  to  stand  for  the 
Constitution  and  for  the  right,  have  basely, 
ignominiously  and  traitorously  either  re- 
signed their  commissions  or  deserted  to 
traitors,  and  rebels,  and  enemies.  What 
means  all  this  ?  How  can  it  be  possible 
that  men  should  act  in  this  way  ?  There 
is  no  question  but  one.  If  we  ever  had 
a  Government  and  Constitution,  or  if  we 
ever  lived  under  such,  have  we  ever  re- 
cognized the  supremacy  of  right  ?  I  say, 
in  God's  name  why  not  recognize  it  now  ? 
Why  not  to-day  ?  Why  not  forever  ? 
Suppose  those  friends  of  ours  from  old 


Ireland,  suppose  he  who  has  made  him- 
self one  of  us,  when  a  war  should  break 
out  against  his  own  country  should  say, 
'  I  cannot  fight  against  my  own  country- 
men/ is  he  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  ? 
They  are  countrymen  no  longer  when 
war  breaks  out.  The  rebels  and  the 
traitors  in  the  South,  we  must  set  aside  ; 
they  are  not  our  friends.  When  they 
come  to  their  senses  we  will  receive  them 
with  open  arms ;  but  till  that  time,  while 
they  are  trailing  our  glorious  banner  in 
the  dust,  when  they  scorn  it,  condemn  it, 
curse  it,  and  trample  it  under  foot,  then 
I  must  smite.  In  God's  name  I  will 
smite,  and  as  long  as  I  have  strength  I 
will  do  it.  0,  listen  to  me,  listen  to  me  ! 
I  know  these  men ;  I  know  their  cour- 
age ;  I  have  been  among  them  ;  I  have 
been  with  them  ;  I  have  been  reared 
with  them  ;  they  have  courage  ;  and  do 
not  you  pretend  to  think  they  have  not. 
I  tell  you  what  it  is,  it  is  no  child's  play 
you  are  entering  upon.  They  will  fight, 
and  with  a  determination  and  a  power 
which  is  irresistible.  Make  up  your 
mind  to  it.  Let  every  man  put  his  life 
in  his  hand  and  say,  '  There  is  the  altar 
of  my  country  ;  there  I  will  sacrifice  my 
life.'  I  for  one  will  lay  my  life  down.  It 
is  not  mine  any  longer.  Lead  me  to  the 
conflict.  Place  me  where  I  can  do  my 
duty.  There  I  am  ready  to  go,  I  care 
not  where  it  leads  me.  .  .  I  am  ready. 
God  help  me  to  do  my  duty.  I  am  ready 
to  fight  in  the  ranks  or  out  of  the  ranks. 
Having  been  educated  in  the  Academy, 
having  been  in  the  army  seven  years, 
having  served  as  commander  of  a  volun- 
teer company  for  ten  years,  and  having 
served  as  an  adjutant-general,  I  feel  I  am 
ready  for  something.  I  only  ask  to  be 
permitted  to  act,  and  in  God's  name  give 
nie  something  to  do."  When  the  oppor- 


GENERAL   CASS. 


145 


Will  you  permit  our  noble  Government 
to  be  destroyed  by  rebels,  in  order  that 
(bey  may  advance  their  schemes  of  po- 
litical ambition  and  extend  the  area  of 
slavery  ?  No,  indeed,  it  cannot  be  done. 
The  spirit  of  the  age  forbids  it.  My 
friends,  that  flag  must  be  lifted  up  from 
the  dust  into  which  it  has  been  trampled, 
placed  in  its  proper  position  and  again 
set  floating  in  triumph  to  the  breeze.  I 
pledge  you  my  heart,  my  hand,  all  my 
energies  to  the  cause.  The  Union  shall 
be  maintained.  I  am  prepared  to  devote 
my  life  to  the  work  and  to  lead  you  in 
the  struggle."* 

A  few  days  later,  the  veteran  states- 
man and  soldier  General  Cass  assured 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  by  like 
kindling  words  of  patriotic  energy.  Ad- 
dressing his  fellow-citizens  on  occasion 
of  the  raising  the  flag  over  their  building 
by  the  Board  of  Trade  at  Detroit,  he 
contrasted  the  situation  in  which  he  now 
found  himself,  with  the  position  in  which 
he  had  been  placed  on  the  same  spot  fifty 
years  before  by  the  capitulation  of  Gen- 
eral Hull.  Then,  he  said,  "  our  contest 
was  a  legitimate  war  waged  with  a  for- 
eign foe  ;  our  war  to-day  is  a  domestic 
one,  commenced  by  and  bringing  in  its 
train  acts  which  no  right  feeling  man  can 
contemplate  without  most  painful  regret. 
But  a  few  months  since,  and  we  were 
the  first  and  happiest  nation  on  the  face 
of  the  globe.  In  the  midst  of  this  pros- 
perity, without  a  single  foe  to  assail  us, 
without  a  single  injury  at  home  caused 
by  the  operations  of  the  Government  to 
affect  us,  this  glorious  Union,  acquired 
by  the  blood  and  sacrifices  of  our  fathers, 
kas  been  disowned  and  rejected  by  a  por- 
tion of  the  States  composing  it — a  Union 
which  has  given  us  more  blessings  than 

*  Speech  of  General  Wool  at  Troy.     AprU  16,  1861. 

19 


any  previous  government  ever  conferred 
upon  man.  .  .  You  need  no  one  to 
tell  you  what  are  the  dangers  of  your 
country,  nor  what  are  your  duties  to  meet 
and  avert  them.  There  is  but  one  path 
for  every  true  man  to  travel,  and  that  is 
broad  and  plain.  It  will  conduct  us,  not 
indeed  without  trials  and  sufferings,  to 
peace  and  the  restoration  of  the  Union. 
He  who  is  not  for  his  country  is  against 
her.  There  is  no  neutral  position  to  be 
occupied.  It  is  the  duty  of  all  zealously 
to  support  the  Government  in  its  efforts 
to  bring  this  unhappy  civil  war  to  a 
speedy  and  satisfactory  conclusion,  by 
the  restoration,  in  its  integrity,  df  that 
great  charter  of  freedom  bequeathed  to 
us  by  Washington  and  his  compatriots. 
His  ashes,  I  humbly  trust,  will  ever  con- 
tinue to  repose  in  the  lonely  tomb  at 
Mount  Vernon  and  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  which  he  loved  so  well  arid 
did  so  much  to  found  and  build  up. 
Manifest  your  regard  for  his  memory  by 
following,  each  within  the  compass  of  his 
power,  his  noble  example,  and  restore 
his  work  as  he  left  it,  by  devoting  heart, 
mind  and  deed  to  the  cause."*  In  such 
manly  and  assuring  words,  this  high- 
minded  patriot,  who  had  honorably  re- 
signed his  high  position  in  the  late 
administration  rather  than  countenance 
its  fatal  policy,  by  the  simple  instinct  of  the 
heart  penetrated  the  dark  clouds  which 
surrounded  him,  and  led  his  countrymen 
on  the  path  of  duty  and  safety. 

These  and  the  like  displays  of  elo- 
quence were  not  confined  to  empty  words ; 
they  led  directly  to  liberal,  energetic  ac- 
tion— to  large  contributions  of  money  and 
to  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  pub- 
lic welfare  which  drew  thousands  of  cul- 
tivated men  as  volunteers  for  the  new 

*  Speech  of  General  Cass  at  D  Itroit.     April  24, 1861. 


146 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


army  of  the  Republic.  Money  and  men 
were  everywhere  forthcoming.  The  sub- 
scriptions of  individuals,  corporations, 
banking  institutions,  towns,  cities,  and  the 
legislatures  of  the  Northern  and  Western 
States,  freely  offered  for  the  purchase  of 
arms,  the  raising  and  equipment  of  troops 
and  the  support  of  the  Government,  in 
a  fortnight  after  the  day  of  the  attack 
upon  Sumter,  reached  a  sum  estimated 
at  over  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  The 
appropriations  of  the  States  of  Penn- 
sylvania, New  York  and  Ohio  reached 
the  sum  of  three  millions  each,  and  others 
were  quite  as  liberal  in  proportion  to 
their  wealth,  if  they  did  not  in  some  in- 
stances exceed  them.  The  thrifty  State 
of  Connecticut  contributed  two  millions, 
and  Illinois  the  same  ;  Indiana,  Maine, 
New  Jersey,  Vermont,  a  million  each, 
and  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  New 
York  an  equal  sum,  which  was  speedily 
more  than  doubled  by  the  subscriptions 
of  the  citizens.  Cincinnati  kept  pace  with 
New  York,  and  the  great  West  generally 
throughout  its  borders  was  as  prodigal  of 
its  resources  as  the  wealthy  East.* 

The  ladies  also  bore  a  prominent  part 
in  this  patriotic  work.  Female  societies 
were  formed  everywhere  for  providing 
for  the  wants  of  the  soldiers,  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  articles  of  clothing,  military 
equipments,  and  the  collection  and  pre- 
paration of  hospital  stores,  havelocks  for 
protection  from  the  sun  in  the  summer 
heats,  haversacks  for  the  march,  and 
vast  supplies  of  lint  for  the  wounded  and 
delicacies  for  the  sick  ;  while  many  ladies 
of  education  and  refinement  offered  their 
services  and  were  accepted  as  nurses. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  con- 
tributions of  money,  labor,  skill,  and  the 

*  Table  of  Northern  Contributions  for  the  W  ar.     Leslie's 
Pictorial  History,  p.  24. 


many  acts  of  personal  devotion,  which, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war,  were  so 
abundantly,  methodically,  and  so  quietly 
and  unostentatiously  offered  for  the  pub- 
lic service  by  the  ladies  of  the  country. 
The  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Cameron,  in 
his  first  report  to  Congress  gratefully 
acknowledged  the  aid  to  the  department 
rendered  in  the  military  hospitals  by 
patriotic  women,  under  the  guidance  and 
direction  of  Miss  D.  L.  Dix,  a  philan- 
thropic lady,  who,  without  fee  or  reward, 
beyond  that  arising  from  the  exercise  of 
benevolence,  "devoted  her  whole  time 
to  this  important  subject."* 

The  pulpit  also,  no  doubt,  at  this  time 
exercised  an  important  influence  in  the 
formation  of  opinions,  and  strengthening 
the  sense  of  duty  by  the  sanctions  of 
religion.  Except  on  particular  occasions, 
such  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving,  or  the  na- 
tional anniversary  of  independence,  it 
had  not  been  the  habit  of  the  preachers 
of  the  larger  and  more  influential  denom- 
inations to  allude  to  the  state  of  public 
affairs.  Now,  however,  the  pressing  in- 
terests of  the  times  seemed  to  demand 
the  aid  of  all  intelligent  thinkers  ;  and 
political  matters,  as  before  in  periods  of 
I  great  anxiety  in  the  country,  began  to  be 
seriously  discussed,  with  an  earnestness 
proportioned  to  the  importance  of  the 
occasion.  In  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
patriots  had  been  taught  their  duty  in 
the  church,  and  the  clergy  stood  not  far 
behind  the  statesmen  of  those  days  in 
moulding  the  opinions  of  the  people.  The 
published  sermons  of  Davis,  Stiles,  and 
others,  are  among  the  most  valuable  and 
interesting  memorials  of  that  age.  At  a 
later  day  also,  in  the  time  of  the  Frenoh 
Revolution,  when  questions  of  party  war- 
fare were  thought  to  involve  the  interests 

*  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War.     July  1,  1861. 


VOICE   OF  THE  PULPIT. 


147 


of  religion  and  morality,  the  pulpit  was 
loud  in  its  denunciations  of  the  threatened 
evil.  In  the  more  quiet  state  of  public 
affairs  which  succeeded,  the  eloquence 
which  had  overrun  the  secular  topics  of 
the  hour  again  returned  to  its  accustomed 
channel  of  religious  instruction,  to  the 
too  great  neglect,  perhaps,  of  those  in- 
culcations of  duty  to  the  State,  on  the 
part  both  of  office-holders  and  the  people, 
without  the  right  understanding  and  per- 
formance of  which  neither  government 
nor  religion  can  exist  in  safety. 

The  first  prominent  occasion  for  the 
voice  of  the  pulpit  to  be  heard  in  the  pre- 
sent agitation  arose  with  the  recommenda- 
tion of  President  Buchanan,  in  view  of  the 
distracted  and  dangerous  condition  of  the 
country,  that  the  people  should  assemble 
on  the  4th  of  January  and  observe  the 
day  as  one  of  humiliation,  fasting  and 
prayer  throughout  the  Union.  The  day 
was  generally  kept  in  the  Northern 
States  with  the  solemnity  befitting  the 
injunction,  though  the  opportunity  in 
many  instances  was  turned  in  rather  a 
different  direction,  from  that  apparently 
intended  by  the  author  of  the  proclama- 
tion. He  had  advised  a  supplication  to 
Heaven  "  to  remove  from  our  hearts  that 
false  pride  of  opinion  which  would  impel 
us  to  persevere  in  wrong  for  the  sake  of 
consistency,  rather  than  yield  a  just  sub- 
mission to  the  unforeseen  exigencies  by 
which  we  are  now  surrounded,"  a  sug- 
gestion of  concession  and  compromise, 
which  might  have  been  available,  if  both 
sides  had  been  disposed  to  listen  to  it. 
The  Northern  divines,  in  reply,  expressed 
the  kindliest  feelings  of  cordiality  and 
brotherhood,  but  urged  in  the  most  de- 
cided manner  the  paramount  importance 
of  the  maintenance  and  preservation  of 
the  Government  Indeed  it  was  gener- 


ally felt  that  a  vigorous  proclamation, 
such  as  General  Jackson  might  have  sent 
forth,  calling  the  secessionists  of  the  South 
to  return  to  their  allegiance,  would  have 
been  quite  as  much  in  place  at  the  crisis 
as  the  appointment  of  a  national  fast  day 
in  the  midst  of  the  festivities  of  the  New 
Year. 

The  ground  being  thus  fairly  broken 
the  attack  upon  Sumter  brought  with  it, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  a  free  and  open 
expression  of  opinion  in  the  churches 
generally.  The  21st  of  April,  the  first 
Sunday  after  that  event,  will  long  be  re- 
membered as  a  day  of  extraordinary 
earnestness  and  anxiety.  The  President's 
call  upon  the  militia  of  the  several  States 
probably  reached  every  congregation, 
and  parents  and  children,  as  they  gather- 
ed for  worship  that  Lord's  day,  felt  their 
full  responsibility  in  the  novel  and  peril- 
ous situation  of  affairs.  It  was  noticed 
as  a  striking  coincidence  that  the  pre- 
scribed lesson  for  the  day  from  the  Old 
Testament  in  the  service  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  embraced  the  memorable  pro- 
clamation in  the  book  of  the  Prophet 
Joel : — "  Prepare  war,  wake  up  the 
mighty  men,  let  all  the  men  of  war  draw 
near ;  let  them  come  up.  Beat  your 
plough-shares  into  swords  and  your  prun- 
ing hooks  into  spears  ;  let  the  weak  say 
I  am  strong.  .  .  Multitudes,  multi- 
tudes in  the  valley  of  decision :  for  the 
day  of  the  Lord  is  near  in  the  valley  of 
decision."  Few  of  the  many  thousands 
in  whose  hearing  these  words  were  that 
day  read  could  have  listened  to  them 
without  emotion.  Of  the  occasion  gen- 
erally it  is  but  little  to  say  that  the 
ministers  of  religion,  conscious  of  the 
prospect  before  them,  were  true  to  the 
great  purposes  of  their  vocation  in  in- 
spiring the  hearts  of  the  people  with  that 


148 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


mingled  humility  and  courage  which  go 
hand  in  hand  in  the  Christian  life. 

These  were  times  that  tried  the  tem- 
per and  disposition  of  men  ;  but  gener- 
ally there  being  little  choice  of  action, 
any  differences  of  judgment  were  lost 
in  the  preponderating  local  sentiment. 
Much  had  been  expected  on  both  sides 
from  divisions  of  opinion.  The  South 
looked  for  aid,  or  at  least  acquiescence, 
in  its  schemes  of  revolt,  from  the  divided 
political  councils  of  the  North,  and  the 
active  sympathy  of  those  hitherto  pledg- 
ed to  its  interests  ;  and  the  North,  on 
the  other  hand,  for  a  long  time  relied  on 
the  cooperation  of  what  was  called  "  a 
large  Union  element "  at  the  South, 
which  at  the  first  opportunity  would 
throw  off  the  authority  of  the  rebel 
leaders  and  rise  in  support  of  the  old 
nationality.  Neither  expectation  proved 
well  founded.  The  contest  became  at 
once  too  serious  to  permit  indifference, 
and  whether  from  interest  or  sympathy 
with  the  prevalent  feeling  around  them, 
the  expected  friends  of  the  rebellion  and 
the  expected  supporters  of  the  flag  were 
silent  or  drawn  into  the  popular  current. 
In  the  Border  States,  however,  there 
was  more  room  for  the  display  of  indi- 
vidual preferences,  and  there  for  a  time 
an  active  rivalry  was  maintained  which 
realized  some  of  the  worst  features  of 
civil  warfare.  The  public  men  of  tKe 
South  thus  occasionally,  in  spite  of  their 
cherished  convictions,  as  in  the  case  of 
Stephens  and  Johnson  of  Georgia,  who 
both,  at  the  outset,  voted  against  the 
ordinance  of  secession,  yielding  to  the 
necessities  of  their  unhappy  position  be- 
came a  united  body  of  rebels  ;  while  the 
old  race  of  Northern  politicians  with 
Southern  opinions  speedily  found  them- 
selves in  the  ranks  side  by  side  with  the 


Republicans  fighting  the  battles  of  the 
Union.  In  the  middle  ground  there 
was  something  of  a  struggle  and  some 
notable  defections  occurred,  among  which 
were  those  of  two  of  the  late  candidates 
for  the  Presidency,  John  C.  Breckenridge 
of  Kentucky,  and  John  Bell  of  Tennes- 
see. The  former,  though  he  continued  to 
maintain  a  responsible  relation  with  the 
Government  for  some  time,  taking  his 
seat  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  in  the 
New  Congress,  early  opposed  the  policy 
of  the  Administration.  On  the  20th  of 
April,  in  a  speech  at  Louisville,  he  de- 
nounced President  Lincoln's  Proclama- 
tion as  illegal,  proposed  that  Kentucky 
should  protest  against  the  settlement  of 
the  present  difficulties  of  the  country  by 
the  sword,  and,  that  influence  failing,  as- 
serted that  it  was  the  duty  and  interest 
of  Kentucky  to  unite  her  fortunes  with 
the  South.  Mr.  Bell  "in  a  speech  at  a 
public  meeting  at  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
unequivocally  gave  his  adherence  to  the 
South.  Casting  aside  the  efforts  he  had 
recently  made  and  the  hopes  he  had 
cherished  for  the  preservation  of  peace, 
he  urged  upon  all  the  slaveholding  States 
the  policy  of  uniting  together  to  make 
common  cause  against  what  he  called  a 
common  foe.  Pronouncing  his  own  State 
of  Tennessee  already  out  of  the  Union, 
he  counselled  the  most  effective  and  en- 
ergetic measures  for  her  military  organ- 
ization.* 

The  doubtful  adherence  and  final  open 
revolt  of  Breckenridge  were  more  than 
compensated  by  the  loyalty  of  the  ven- 
erable Crittenden.  There  was,  likewise, 
no  one  in  Tennessee  whose  loss  could 
offset  the  unhesitating  allegiance  to  the 
Union  of  the  energetic  Andrew  Johnson. 


*  Speech  of  John  Bell  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  AprU  28 
1861. 


.    | 


THE  NATIONAL   CAPITAL. 


149 


The  remaining  unsuccessful  candidate  for 
the  Presidency,  Senator  Douglas,  was  not 
the  man  to  be  silent  or  indifferent  at 
such  a  period.  Wisely  appreciating  his 
own  position  and  the  demands  of  the 
times,  "  the  patriot  achieved  a  great  but 
easy  conquest  over  the  partisan  as  he 
heartily,  warmly,  and  with  a  zeal  befit- 
ting the  momentous  cause  in  which  he 
was  engaged,  united  with  those  who  had 
heretofore  not  only  opposed  but  de- 
nounced him,  in  a  struggle  to  uphold  the 
Union,  sustain  the  Constitution  and  vin- 


dicate the  claim  of  the  national  Govern- 
ment to  the  obedience  of  all  its  citizens."* 
The  army  and  navy  presented  a  debat- 
able ground  where  the  sectional  line  was 
less  defined.  Numbers,  misled  by  the  un- 
happy doctrine  of  State  allegiance  aban- 
doned their  commissions  in  the  national 
service,  but  there  were  many,  especially 
in  the  navy,  whom  no  local  jealousies  or 
delusions  could  alienate  from  their  loy- 
alty to  the  old  flag. 

*  Address  of  Mr.  Browning  of  Illinois,  in  the  Senate, 
July  9,  1861. 


CHAPTER    X. 


SEIZURE   OP  HARPER'S  FERRY  AND  THE  NORFOLK  NAVY  YARD. 


THE  first  duty  of  the  Government  was 
to  protect  Washington.  The  capture  of 
the  Capital  was  evidently  the  object  of 
the  insurgents.  Lying  between  two  slave 
States  and  largely  occupied  by  sympa- 
thizers with  the  rebellion,  it  was  doubt- 
less expected  to  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the 
Southern  leaders.  Indeed,  so  important 
was  its  possession  to  the  rebel  Govern- 
ment that  it  is  difficult  to  suppose,  in  so 
comprehensive  a  scheme  of  revolt,  put 
in  operation  by  such  masters  of  strata- 
gem, that  its  capture  was  not  contem- 
plated from  the  very  outset.  After  the 
attack  upon  Sumter,  which  was  immedi- 
ately followed  by  the  secession  of  Vir- 
ginia, that  State  having  the  honor  of  be- 

O  '  *— ' 

ing  the  first,  outside  of  the  original  sev- 
en, to  gain  admission  to  the  Montgomery 
Confederacy,  and  when  North  Carolina, 
the  intervening  barrier,  was  waiting  only 
the  formal  act  of  withdrawal,  the  path 
lay  open  to  the  Southern  armies  to  ac- 
complish by  force  what  they  had  al- 


ready paved  the  way  for  by  intrigue. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  then  of  the 
danger  when  troops  were  set  in  motion 
northward,  and  the  seizure  of  the  Capi- 
tal was  everywhere  talked  of  through 
the  Confederacy  without  disguise  as  its 
inevitable  policy. 

There  was  some  disposition  shown  af- 
terwards to  throw  off  the  responsibility  of 
an  intention  to  attack  Washington  at  the 
time  of  which  we  speak,  but  there  would 
appear  to  be  quite  evidence  enough  to 
establish  the  fact.  A  collection  of  ex- 
pressions on  the  subject  by  the  Southern 
press,  exhibits  a  variety  of  declarations 
arising  in  different  quarters,  and  all  tend- 
ing to  the  same  result.  We  have  al- 
ready noted  the  threat  of  the  Confeder- 
ate Secretary  of  War  at  Montgomery,  to 
supplant  the  stars  and  stripes  on  the  na- 
tional Capital  by  the  new  flag  of  the 
rebellion  before  the  1st  of  May.*  The 
day  after  that  avowal,  on  the  13th  of 

*  Ante  p.  118, 


150 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


April,  the  Richmond  Enquirer  summon- 
ed to  arms  the  citizens  disposed  to  join 
"  the  Southern  army  as  it  shall  pass 
through  our  borders,"  with  the  signifi- 
cant intimation  that  "  nothing  was  more 
probable  than  that  President  Davis  will 
soon  march  an  army  through  North  Car- 
olina and  Virginia  to  Washington."  The 
New  Orleans  Picayune  of  the  18th  de- 
clared that  "  the  first  fruits  of  a  Virginia 
secession  will  be  the  removal  of  Lin- 
coln and  his  Cabinet  and  whatever  he 
can  carry  away  to  the  safer  neighbor- 
hood of  Harrisburg  or  Cincinnati — per- 
haps to  Buffalo  or  Cleveland."  In  Ala- 
bama and  Mississippi  the  report  was  cur- 
rent that  Ben.  McCullough,  the  noted 
Texas  chieftain,  destined  to  a  conspicu- 
ous career  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  had 
thus  early  organized  a  force  of  five  thou- 
sand men  for  the  seizure  of  the  Capital. 
The  Hon.  Roger  A.  Pryor  on  his  arrival 
at  Montgomery,  after  his  escape  from  the 
perils  of  Sumter,  publicly  announced  his 
desire  to  march  immediately  upon  Wash- 
ington. The  Eufaula,  Alabama,  Jtepress, 
in  a  few  words,  described  the  situation  as 
it  presented  itself  to  the  minds  of  thou- 
sands : — "  With  independent  Virginia  on 
one  side  and  the  secessionists  of  Mary- 
land, who  are  doubtless  in  the  majority, 
on  the  other,  our  policy  at  this  time 
should  be  to  seize  the  old  Federal  Capi- 
tal and  take  old  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet 
prisoners  of  war.  Once  get  the  Head 
of  the  Government  in  our  power  and  we 
can  demand  any  terms  we  see  fit,  and 
thus,  perhaps,  avoid  a  long  and  bloody 
contest."  North  Carolina  journals  were 
equally  impressed  with  the  value  of  the 
movement,  "  To'  have  gained  Mary- 
land," said  the  Goldsboro'  Tribune  of 
the  24th,  "  is  to  have  gained  a  host.  It 
ensures  Washington  City  and  the  igno- 


minious expulsion  of  Lincoln  and  his 
body-guard  of  Kansas  cut-throats  from 
the  White  House.  It  makes  good  the 
words  of  Secretary  Walker  at  Montgom- 
ery in  regard  to  the  Federal  metropolis. 
It  transfers  the  lines  of  battle  from  the 
Potomac  to  the  Pennsylvania  border." 
"  Washington  City,"  said  the  Raleigh 
Standard  of  the  same  date,  "  will  soon 
be  too  hot  to  hold  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
his  Government.  North  Carolina  has 
said  it,  and  she  will  do  all  she  can  to 
make  good  her  declaration."  As  we 
approach  the  scene  of  the  contemplated 
robbery  the  anxiety  for  the  perpetra- 
tion of  the  deed  is  apparently  intensified. 
"  The  capture  of  Washington  City,"  says 
the  Richmond  Examiner  of  April  23, 
"  is  perfectly  within  the  power  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland,  if  Virginia  will  only 
make  the  effort  by  her  constituted  au- 
thority, nor  is  there  a  single  moment  to 
lose.  The  entire  population  pant  for  the 
onset.  There  never  was  half  the  una- 
nimity among  the  people  before,  nor  a 
tithe  of  the  zeal  upon  any  subject  that  is 
now  manifested  to  take  Washington  and 
drive  from  it  every  Black  Republican 
who  is  a  dweller  there.  From  the  moun- 
tain tops  and  valleys  to  the  shores  of  the 
sea  there  is  one  wild  shout  of  fierce  re- 
solve to  capture  Washington  city  at  all 
and  every  human  hazard.  The  filthy 
cage  of  unclean  birds  must  and  will  as- 
suredly be  purified  by  fire.  The  people 
are  determined  upon  it,  and  are  clamor- 
ous for  a  leader  to  conduct  them  to  the 
onslaught.  That  leader  will  assuredly 
rise,  aye,  and  that  right  speedily."* 

Whatever,  however,  may  have  been 
the  intentions  of  the  leaders,  or  the  wishes 
of  the  people,  in  this  matter,  the  course 
of  events  in  Virginia  was  well  calculated 


National  Intelligencer,  May  9,  1861. 


EVENTS  IN  VIRGINIA. 


151 


to  inspire  alarm  at  the  Capital.  Within 
four  clays  after  the  fall  of  Sumter  a 
convention  of  the  people,  sitting  at  Rich- 
mond, resolved  upon  secession  and  threw 
the  State  nt  the  feet  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  The  body  which  passed 
this  act  had  been  chosen  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  Legislature,  obviously  with  the 
intent  on  the  part  of  its  contrivers  to 
employ  it  for  disunion  purposes  ;  while 
the  understanding  of  the  people  who 
elected  the  delegates  was  distinctly  that 
its  influence  should  be  exerted  on  the 
side  of  the  Union.  A  majority  of  the 
delegates,  indeed,  were  chosen  as  Union 
men,  and  it  was  moreover,  at  the  same 
time,  expressly  provided  by  an  over- 
whelming direct  vote  on  the  subject,  that 
the  action  of  this  convention,  whatever 
it  might  be,  should  be  sent  back  to  the 
people  for  their  confirmation  by  a  popu- 
lar vote.  Yirginia  was  in  fact  attached 
to  the  old  Union  by  so  many  traditions  of 
State  pride  and  patriotism  ;  the  mother 
of  Presidents,  she  had  given  so  many 
statesmen  and  heroes  to  the  nation  ;  her 
contiguity  to  the  seat  of  Government ; 
the  divided  opinions  of  her  population 
on  the  moral,  social  and  economical  con- 
ditions of  slavery  ;  her  imperfect  sym- 
pathies with  the  South  ;  the  obvious  ne- 
cessity, if  she  gave  ear  to  the  secession 
outcry  of  offering  her  fields  and  cities  as 
the  battle  grounds  and  refuge  of  the  con- 
tending armies — all  these  were  so  many 
loud-tongued  appeals  to  her  people  to 
beware  of  joining  their  fortunes  with  the 
desperate  enterprise  of  the  Cotton  States. 
Yet,  by  the  management  of  her  intriguing 
politicians  of  the  school  of  Mason,  Floyd, 
Letcher  and  the  rest,  the  very  act,  which 
this  State,  of  all  others,  had  reason  to 
avoid,  was  consummated.  The  fall  of 
Sumter  was  the  signal  for  a  portion  of  the 


so-called  and  so-esteemed  Union  mem- 
bers of  the  convention  to  go  over  to  the 
disunion  minority.  The  necessary  num- 
ber of  votes  having  thus  been  secured,  a 
secession  ordinance  was  passed  in  secret 
on  the  17th  of  April.  In  accordance 
with  the  conditions  under  which  the  con- 
vention had  been  chosen,  it  was  provided 
in  the  act  itself  that  it  should  take  effect 
when  ratified  by  a  majority  of  the  votes 
of  the  people  of  the  State  cast  at  a  poll 
to  be  taken  thereon  on  the  fourth  Thurs 
day  in  the  ensuing  May.  The  ordinance, 
of  course,  leaving  out  of  view  the  para- 
mount question  of  its  legality  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  was 
entirely  inoperative  until  this  ratification 
which  was  enjoined  by  the  dictation  of 
the  people  themselves  should  be  made. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  this  provision  thus  for- 
mally acknowledged,  "  the  Convention 
and  the  Legislature,  which  was  also  in 
session  at  the  same  time  and  place,  with 
leading  members  of  the  State,  not  mem- 
bers of  either,  immediately  commenced 
acting  as  if  the  State  were  already  out 
of  the  Union.  They  pushed  military 
preparations  vigorously  forward  all  over 
the  State.  They  seized  the  United  States 
armory  at  Harper's  Ferry  and  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Gosport,  near  Norfolk.  They 
received,  perhaps  invited,  into  their  State 
large  bodies  of  troops,  with  their  warlike 
appointments  from  the  so-called  seceded 
States.  They  formally  entered  into  a 
treaty  of  temporary  alliance  and  coope- 
ration with  the  so-called  Confederate 
States,  and  sent  members  to  their  Con- 
gress at  Montgomery.  Finally,  they  per- 
mitted the  insurrectionary  government 
to  be  transferred  to  their  capital  at  Rich- 
mond."* All  this  was  done  before  the 

*  Message  of  Presiden'  Lincoln  to  Congress.    July  5, 
1861.  7 


152 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


23d  of  May,  the  day  appointed  for  the 
ratification.  The  simple  fact  that  an 
ordinance  had  been  made  Vas  not  an- 
nounced till  the  25th  of  April,  eight  days 
after  its  passage,  when  Governor  Letcher 
issued  a  Proclamation  communicating  the 
act,  and,  accompanying  it,  a  copy  of  a 
convention  signed  the  day  before  at  Rich- 
mond, between  Vice  President  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  Commissioner  for  the  Con- 
federate States,  and  a  body  of  Virginia 
Commissioners,  headed  by  John  Tyler, 
ex-President  of  the  United  States.  By 
the  terms  of  this  convention  "  the  whole 
military  force  and  military  operations 
offensive  and  defensive"  of  Virginia  were 
placed  under  the  control  and  direction 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  President  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  "  upon  the  same  prin- 
ciples, basis  and  footing  as  if  said  com- 
monwealth (Virginia)  were  now  and 
during  the  interval  a  member  of  the  said 
Confederacy."  In  return  any  expendi- 
tures of  money  incurred  by  the  State 
were  to  be  repaid  by  the  Southern  Gov- 
ernment. When  the  day  of  ratification 
arrived,  so  effective  were  the  means  of 
intimidation,  so  complete  the  perversion 
of  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  so  hope- 
less were  the  Unionists  of  resisting  the 
movement,  that  the  vote  cast  was  nomin- 
ally by  a  large  majority  in  favor  of  the 
Secession  ordinance. 

With  this  outline  of  political  proceed- 
ings in  Virginia  in  mind,  we  may  the 
better  appreciate  the  aggressive  military 
movements  in  the  State  which  followed 
in  quick  succession  the  fall  of  Sumter. 
The  foremost  of  these  were  the  seizure 
on  the  18th  of  April  of  the  Custom 
house  and  Post-office  at  Richmond,  and 
the  attack  the  same  day  upon  the  United 
States  Arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry,  the 
possession  of  which  was  obviously  a 


matter  of  prime  consequence  to  the  in- 
surgents, as  it  had  not  long  before  excit- 
ed the  cupidity  of  the  memorable  John 
Brown  and  become  the  scene  of  his  mel- 
ancholy exploits.  The  placo  where  this 
military  establishment  was  situated  was 
of  much  importance,  both  from  its  pecu- 
liar position  and  the  improvements  which 
had  been  gathered  around  it.  The  re- 
markable natural  features  of  the  spot 
and  the  character  of  its  bold  landscape 
uniting  the  grandeur  of  mountain  scen- 
ery with  extraordinary  sylvan  beauty, 
long  since  commemorated  in  a  well- 
known  passage  of  description  by  Jeffer- 
son, are  associated  in  the  minds  of  trav- 
ellers with  the  kindred  glories  of  West 
Point  on  the  Hudson.  There  the  Poto- 
mac and  the  Shenandoah,  after  travers- 
ing the  northern  boundary  and  central 
region  of  the  State,  join  their  waters  at 
a  right  angle,  emerge  through  a  gap  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  and  make  their  descent 
in  an  irregular  course  between  Virginia 
and  Maryland,  passing  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington some  sixty  miles  below  on  their 
way  to  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  Atlan- 
tic. Harper's  Ferry  was  thus  the  outer 
gate  to  the  great  valley  of  Virginia,  and 
offering  the  readiest  mode  of  approach 
from  the  East  to  Winchester  and  the  re- 
gion within,  had  in  consequence  become 
one  of  the  chief  stations  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  railwaj^,  connecting  the 
cities  on  the  sea-coast  with  the  river  navi- 
gation of  the  West.  The  town,  which  ex- 
tended in  two  main  streets  along  the  riv- 
ers and  in  scattered  residences  on  the 
heights  above,  had  a  population  of  about 
five  thousand.  Its  chief  support,  beside 
that  derived  from  its  advantages  as  a 
centre  of  travel,  was  from  the  occupa- 
tion of  its  inhabitants  in  the  works  at  the 
arsenal.  This  well-furnished  establish- 


HARPER'S  FERRY. 


153 


ment  embraced  in  addition  to  the  arm- 
or}^ where  a  large  number  of  weapons 
were  stored,  a  series  of  machine-shops 
for  the  manufacture  of  arms. 

At  the,  time  of  the  attempted  seizure 
the  arsenal  was  in  charge  of  about  forty 
riflemen  of  the  regular  army  under  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant  Roger  Jones.  The 
attention  of  the  Government  had  been 
drawn  to  the  inadequate  defence  of  the 
post,  which  it  was  impossible  at  the  time 
to  remedy,  and  instructions  were  accord- 
ingly given,  should  the  work  be  attacked, 
that  it  should  be  destroyed  rather  than 
surrendered.  Lieutenant  Jones,  fully 
aware  of  the  danger,  had  everything 
prepared  for  the  emergency.  On  the 
17th,  the  very  day  of  the  secret  passage 
of  the  Secession  ordinance,  he  received 
information  that  a  considerable  force  was 
gathering,  for  the  attack,  at  Winchester 
and  other  places  in  the  interior.  Upon 
this  he  caused  the  arms  in  the  arsenal, 
nearly  fifteen  thousand  in  number,  to  be 
heaped  up  and  surrounded  with  inflam- 
mable matter.  Materials  were  placed  in 
order  and  trains  of  gunpowder  were  laid 
to  consume  the  buildings.  All  was  se- 
cretly made  ready,  by  his  small  and 
trusty  force,  to  apply  the  torch  when  it 
should  be  necessary.  On  the  night  of  the 
18th,  about  10  o'clock,  word  came  that 
some  twenty-five  hundred  or  three  thou- 
sand State  troops  were  close  at  hand, 
within  twenty  minutes  march.  In  this 
brief  interval  the  commander  had  to 
save  the  vast  amount  of  military  prop- 
erty under  his  keeping,  from  the  enemy, 
in  whose  hands  it  would  have  been 
speedily  employed  against  the  nation, 
and  rescue  his  faithful  band  from  captiv- 
ity as  prisoners  of  war.  By  great  ener- 
gy both  were  in  a  great  measure  accom- 
plished. The  trains  were  fired  and  with- 
20 


in  three  minutes  the  two  buildings  con- 
taining the  arms,  with  the  carpenters' 
shop,  were  in  a  blaze.  The  arms  and 
arsenal  buildings  were  totally  destroyed. 
The  work-shops  were  less  injured,  a 
considerable  number  of  Minie  muskets 
and  other  material  of  war  being  rescued 
by  the  Virginians.  By  the  light  of  the 
conflagration  Lieutenant  Jones  with  his 
men,  pursued  and  threatened  by  a  mob 
of  the  town,  crossed  the  bridge  leading 
to  Maryland,  and  by  a  perilous  night- 
march  through  an  unfriendly  region  suc- 
ceeded in  making  his  way  to  Hagers- 
town.  He  reached  Carlisle  Barracks  in 
Pennsylvania  the  next  afternoon.  Four 
of  the  men  were  missing  on  leaving  the 
armory  and  two  deserted  during  the 
night.*  For  his  services  on  this  occa- 
sion Lieutenant  Jones  was  immediately 
ordered  a  commission  as  Assistant  Quar- 
ter-Master General,  with  the  rank  of 
Captain.  His  "  very  gallant  action,  and 
the  handsome  and  successful  manner  in 
which  he  executed  the  orders  of  the 
Government,"  were  specially  mentioned 
in  a  subsequent  report  to  Congress  by 
the  Secretary  of  War. 

From  the  report  of  a  gentleman  of 
Virginia,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  the 
affair,  we  learn  that  the  force  actually 
on  their  way  to  capture  the  property,  by 
private  orders  from  Eichmond,  was  but 
two  hundred  and  fifty,  though  several 
thousand  had  been  notified  of  the  move- 
ment. The  party  was  composed  of  the 
Jefferson  Battalion  led  by  Colonel  Allen, 
with  a  single  piece  of  artillery  and  a 
squad  of  about  twenty  mounted  men,  the 
Fauquier  cavalry,  commanded  by  Captain ' 
Ashby.  Their  rendezvous  was  at  Hall- 
town,  a  small  village  between  Charles- 

*  Lieutenant  Jones'  Dispatch  to  the  Assistant  Adjutant 
General,  April  20,  1861. 


154 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


town  Court  House  and  Harper's  Ferry. 
The  party  started  at  dark  to  take  the 
place  by  surprise,  but  found  sentinels 
posted  to  give  warning  of  their  ap- 
proach. They  arrived  before  the  town 
in  time  to  witness  the  first  flash  from  the 
armory.  The  sight  was  most  striking, 
while  the  moral  associations  of  the  scene 
were  mingled  in  the  minds  of  the  spec- 
tator with  the  impressions  of  the  sur- 
rounding grandeur.  "  To  many  of  us 
who  looked  on,"  says  our  authority,  re- 
garding the  spectacle  with  feelings  of 
horror  and  amazement,  "  the  scenes  of 
that  night  were  inexpressibly  sad  and 
solemn.  The  clouds  of  fire  rolled  up 
magnificently  from  the  depths  of  the  ro- 
mantic gorge,  illuminating  the  confluent 
rivers  and  the  encircling  cliffs  for  miles 
around,  each  rock  and  pinnacle  associat- 
ed with  the  name  of  some  one  of  our 
great  historic  founders.  In  the  martial 
column  revealed  by  the  blaze  there  stood 
arrayed  with  deadly  ball  and  bayonet, 
the  first  born  pride  of  a  hundred  hither- 
to peaceful  and  happy  families.  In  the 
town  below,  between  them  and  their 
enemy,  were  neighbors,  friends  and  fel- 
low-citizens— the  enemies  themselves  our 
late  defenders  and  countrymen."  * 

Simultaneously  with  the  attack  upon 
the  arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry  measures 
were  in  progress  to  wrest  from  the  Gov- 
ernment and  hold  possession  of  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Norfolk.  This,  one  of  the  oldest 
and  the  most  extensive  depots'  of  the  kind 
in  the  country,  was  filled  with  vast  stores 
of  provisions  and  military  materials  for 
the  construction  and  equipment  of  ships, 
with  an  extensive  series  of  dwelling;- 

o 

houses  for  officers  and  barracks  for  the 

*  The  artist,  Mr.  D.  H.  Strother,  whose  letter  describ- 
ing the  scene  appears  in  Harper's  Weekly  of  May  11,  1861, 
accompanied  by  several  striking  sketches  from  his  pencil. 


men,  store-houses  of  various  kinds,  and 
shops  and  manufactories  amply  supplied 
with  the  numerous  mechanical  contriv- 
ances employed  in  naval  workman-ship. 
Situated  in  a  sheltered  position  at  Gros- 
port,  adjoining  the  town  of  Portsmouth, 
on  the  southern  branch  of  the  Elizabeth 
river,  opposite,  to  and  a  short  distance 
above  Norfolk,  it  covered  an  area  of 
about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  length 
and  one-fourth  in  width.  It  held  a  dry- 
dock  of  granite  constructed  after  the 
most  approved  pattern,  capable  of  hold- 
ing a  vessel  of  the  largest  class.  There 
were  in  it  two  ship  houses  entire,  and 
another  in  process  of  erection. 

There  were  twelve  war  vessels  at  the 
time  at  the  yard,  though  but  few  of 
them  were  immediately  available  for 
active  service,  and  but  one,  the  sloop-of- 
war  Cumberland,  Captain  Pendergrast, 
the  flag-ship  of  the  home  squadron,  was 
in  commission.  They  were  the  ship-of- 
the-line  Pennsylvania,  of  120  guns,  which, 
at  the  time  of  her  construction  in  1837,  had 
attracted  great  attention  from  her  enor- 
mous size,  but  had  never  been  trusted 
on  any  important  voyage  ;  the  Columbus, 
of  80  guns,  which  had  been  for  many 
years  in  ordinary  ;  the  Delaware,  84,  a 
condemned  line-of-battle  ship  ;  the  un- 
finished ship-of-the-line  New  York,  on 
the  stocks  in  one  of  the  ship  houses  ;  the 
frigates  United  States,  Columbia,  and 
Earitan,  lying  in  ordinary,  fifty-gun 
ships,  more  or  less  out  of  repair  ;  the 
sloops-of-war  Plymouth  and  Grerman- 
town,  of  22  guns,  which  were  preparing 
for  sea  ;  the  brig  Dolphin,  of  4  guns,  and 
most  important  of  all,  the  Merrimac,  a 
first  class  steam  frigate  of  40  guns. 
The  last  named  vessel,  which,  by  her 
subsequent  fortunes,,  was  to  become 
memorable  in  the  naval  annals  of  the 


THE   GOSPORT  NAVY  YARD. 


155 


world,  was  built  at  Charlestown,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  launched  in  1855.  After 
a  voyage  to  Annapolis,  where  the 
members  of  both  houses  of  Congress, 
then  in  session  at  Washington,  flocked  to 
see  her  as  an  admired  specimen  of  naval 
architecture,  she  had  visited  Havana 
and  England,  and  had  sailed  on  a  long 
cruise  as  the  flag-ship  of  the  squadron  in 
the  Pacific.  Eeturning  thence  she  had 
reached  Norfolk  at  the  beginning  of  1860, 
been  slowly  again  fitted  out,  and  at  the 
present  moment  of  the  threatened  attack 
upon  the  yard,  was  awaiting  her  battery 
and  the  repair  of  her  engines  to  proceed 
to  sea. 

The  quantity  of  arms  and  munitions 
laid  up  in  the  yard  was  immense.  There 
were,  it  is  calculated  by  the  naval  com- 
mittee of  the  United  States  Senate  which 
made  a  special  investigation  of  the  sub- 
ject, at  least  two  thousand  pieces  of  heavy 
ordnance,  of  which  about  three  hundred 
were  new  Dahlgren  guns,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  old  patterns.  The  Navy  De- 
partment, taking  account  of  less  than 
one-half  this  number  of  guns,  estimated 
the  various  property  of  the  yard,  •  ord- 
nance, stores  and  furniture  of  all  sorts, 
at  an  aggregate  of  more  than  nine  and 
three-quarter  millions  of  dollars.  The 
opportunities  for  defence  against  any 
attack  from  without  were  slight.  The 
yard  was  surrounded  on  the  land  side  by 
a  low  wall,  which  could  offer  little  resist- 
ance to  cannon,  there  was  no  fortress  or 
garrison,  and  there  were  not  seamen  suf- 
ficient to  man  one  of  the  larger  vessels. 
Unhappily  no  active  measures  were  taken 
by  the  Government  in  time  to  remedy 
these  defects  and  preserve  the  property. 
What  with  State  jealousy  or  incipient 
treason  on  the  one  side,  and  a  too  delicate 
desire  on  the  other  to  avoid  doing  any- 


]  thing  which  might  be  attended  with  em- 
barrassment or  call  forth  a  remonstrance, 
the  golden  days,  when,  the  safety  of  this 
valuable  trust  might  have  been  secured 
were  suffered  to  pass  by  unimproved 
So  generally  was  this  unhappy  system  of 
mistaken  conciliation  received  as  the  set- 
tled policy  of  the  day,  that  it  was  after- 
wards spoken  of  without  comment  or  hesi- 
tation by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr. 
Welles,  as  an  admitted  principle  of  ac- 
tion. "Any  attempt,"  says  he  in  his 
report  to  the  President,  at  the  opening 
of  the  session  of  Congress  in  July,  "  to 
withdraw  "the  ships  or  either  of  them 
without  a  crew,  would,  in  the  then  sensi- 
tive and  disturbed  condition  of  the  public 
mind,  have  betrayed  alarm  and  distrust, 
and  been  likely  to  cause  difficulty." 

Severely  has  the  Senate  Committee 
censured  this  lamentable  neglect.  "  Un- 
doubtedly," is  the  language  of  their  re- 
port, "the  new  officers  of  the  govern- 
ment found  themselves  embarrassed  by 
such  an  unprecedented  state  of  things, 
and  time  was  required  for  familiarizing 
themselves  with  the  situation  and  de- 
liberating and  determining  upon  a  policy 
to  be  pursued  ;  but  that  the  precious  op- 
portunities afforded  by  thirty-seven  days 
of  time  should  have  been  wholly  unim- 
proved is  a  matter  so  strange  as  to  sug- 
gest, if  not  a  failure  to  appreciate  the 
critical  condition  of  the  country,  at  least 
a  want  of  vigor  and  decision  in  the  dis- 
charge of  its  duties  on  the  part  of  the 
new  administration,  which  can  find  ex- 
tenuation only  in  that  insane  delusion 
which  seems  to  have  possessed  the  pub- 
lic mind,  that  the  portentous  clouds  that 
had  blackened  the  heavens  for  months 
were  charged  with  no  real  danger,  and 
were  to  be  dissipated  by  a  continuation 
of  a  forbearance  which  had  been  con- 


J  i 


156 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tinued  so  long  that  it  had  ceased  to  be  a 
virtue,  and  had  become  the  most  dis- 
graceful weakness  and  pusillanimity." 

At  length,  however,  the  department 
beginning  to  entertain  increased  uneasi- 
ness, and,  in  the  language  of  the  Secre- 
tary, "apprehensive  that  action  might 
be  necessary,"  advised  Commodore 
Charles  S.  McCauley,  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  yard,  of  "  this  feeling,"  and 
cautioned  him  "  to  extreme  vigilance  and 
circumspection."  By  an  order  dated 
the  10th  of  April  he  was  ordered  "to 
put  the  shipping  and  public  property  in 
condition  to  be  moved  and  placed  be- 
yond danger,  should  it  become  neces- 
sary ;  but  in  doing  this  he  was  warned 
to  take  no  steps  that  could  give  needless 
alarm."  Two  days  after,  on  the  12th, 
the  Secretary,  who  had  been  informed 
that  it  would  require  four  weeks  to  re- 
pair the  engine  of  the  Merrimac,  anxious 
for  the  safety  of  the  vessel,  dispatched 
the  Engineer-in-Chief,  Mr.  B.  F.  Isher- 
wood, to  put  the  machinery  in  order, 
with  instructions  to  Commodore  McCau- 
ley to  expedite  the  work.  He  at  the 
same  time  sent  Commander  Alden,  of 
the  navy,  to  take  charge  of  the  ship 
when  ready  for  sea,  and  bring  her 
around  to  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Isherwood 
arrived  at  Norfolk  on  Sunday  morning, 
the  14th,  made  a  survey  of  the  work, 
which  was  commenced  the  next  morn- 
ing and  urged  on  day  and  night  till 
Wednesday  afternoon,  the  17th,  when 
the  machinery  was  reported  ready  for 
use.  At  the  same  time  Commodore 
McCauley  received  another  despatch 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  dated 
the  previous  day,  brought  from  Wash- 
ington by  Captain  Paulding,  directing 
him  "  to  lose  no  time  in  placing  armament 
on  board  the  Merrimac ;  to  get  the 


Plymouth  and  Dolphin  beyond  danger  ; 
to  have  the  Germantown  in  a  condition 
to  be  towed  out,  and  to  pu*  the  more 
valuable  public  property,  ordnance, 
stores,  etc.,  on  shipboard,  so  that  they 
could,  at  any  moment,  be  moved  be- 
yond danger."  He  was  also  further 
instructed  to  "defend  the  vessels  and 
stores  under  his  charge  at  any  hazard, 
repelling  by  force,  if  necessary,  any  and 
all  attempts  to  seize  them,  whether  by 
mob  violence,  organized  effort,  or  any 
assumed  authority."  The  same  day 
that  this  order  was  received,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  instructions  and  the  coun- 
sels of  Captain  Paulding,  the  Cumber- 
land, which  had  been  anchored  below, 
"was  moved  up  to  a  position  abreast 
of  one  of  the  ship  houses,  within  one  or 
two  hundred  yards  of  the  shore  and, 
with  a  full  armament  and  crew  on  board, 
lay  in  such  a  position 'as  to  command  the 
entire  harbor,  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and 
Portsmouth,  the  Navy  Yard  and  the 
approaches  to  it.  Having  discharged 
the  duty  on  which  he  was  sent  Captain 
Paulding  returned  to  Washington. 

The  Merrimac  being  ready  for  sea, 
with  her  firemen  and  coal-heavers  en- 
gaged and  prepared  to  go  on  board,  Mr. 
Isherwood  asked  Commodore  McCauley 
if  he  should  fire  up  at  once,  to  which  h« 
received  the  reply  that  the  next  morning 
would  be  in  season.  At  that  time  (the 
18th)  the  fires  we're  lighted  and  the 
engineer's  crew  on  board,  when  Mr 
Isherwood  was  informed  by  Commodore 
McCauley  that  he  had  not  yet  decided  to 
send  the  vessel,  but  would  let  him  know 
further  in  a  few  hours.  Mr.  Isherwood 
urged  the  peremptory  orders  of  the 
department,  and  that  the  delay  would 
compel  the  vessel  to  remain  another  day, 
while  the  obstructions  which  the  enemy 


I 


UNFAITHFUL  OFFICERS. 


157 


had  placed  in  the  river  between  SewalTa 
Point  arid  Crane}7  Island,  as  yet  present- 
ing no  great  difficulty,  would  probably 
be  increased  during  the  night.  The 
Commodore,  in  answer  to  these  remon- 
strances, in  the  course  of  the  day  an- 
nounced his  decision  to  retain  the  vessel, 
and  directed  the  fires  to  be  drawn. 
Whereupon,  Mr.  Isherwood,  after  renew- 
ing his  entreaties  without  effect,  left  on 
his  return  to  Washington.  "  The  cause 
of  this  refusal  to  move  the  Merrimac," 
says  Secretary  Welles,  "  has  no  explana- 
tion other  than  that  of  misplaced  con- 
fidence in  his  junior  officers  who  opposed 
it,"  an  explanation  itself  elucidated  by 
the  statement  of  the  Senate  Committee 
that  "  Southern  officers  in  the  yard  hav- 
ing accomplished  their  purposes  by  re- 
maining resigned  on  the  18th  of  April." 
Of  these  persons,  Commodore  McCau- 
ley  afterwards  said  : — "  How  could  I 
suspect  treachery  on  their  part.  The 
fact  of  their  being  Southern  men  was  not 
surely  a  sufficient  reason  for  suspecting 
their  fidelity ;  those  Southern  officers  who 
have  remained  faithful  to  their  allegiance 
are  among  the  best  in  the  service.  No  ;  I 
could  not  believe  it  possible,  that  a  set  of 
men,  whose  reputations  were  so  high  in 
the  navy,  could  ever  desert  their  posts 
and  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the 
country  they  had  sworn  to  defend  and 
protect ;  and  I  had  frequently  received 
professions  of  their  loyalty  ;  for  instance, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  surrender  of  the 
Pensacola  Navy  Yard  they  expressed  to 
me  their  indignation,  and  observed :  '  You 
have  no  Pensacola  officers  here,  Commo- 
dore ;  we'll  never  desert  you :  we  will  stand 
by  you  to  the  last,  even  to  the  death.'  "* 


*  Reply  of  Commodore  McCauley  to  the  censure  of  the 
Congressional  Committee,  published  in  the  National  In- 
telligencer, May  5,  1862. 


The  resignation  of  the  officers  occurred 
the  day  after  the  Virginia  Convention,  in 
secret  session,  had  passed  the  ordinance 
of  Secession.  The  spirit  of  revolt,  which 
had  been  suffered  to  gain  head  by  months 
of  inaction,  was  stimulated  to  overt 
acts  of  rebellion  by  the  excitement,  con- 
sequent upon  the  attack  upon  Sumter 
and  the  call  for  soldiers  by  President 
Lincoln,  and  the  people  were  ripe  for  the 
execution  of  the  plan  of  their  leaders. 
The  possession  of  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard 
was  too  tempting  a  prize  to  be  over- 
looked. The  State  authorities  were  on  the 
alert,  and  the  unthinking  populace,  with 
too  many  from  whom  better  counsels 
might  have  been  expected,  were  ready 
to  assist  in  the  capture.  The  people  of 
Norfolk,  forgetful  of  the  honor  and  sup- 
port their  city  had  derived  from  the 
National  Government  in  the  location  of 
the  yard  in  their  vicinity,  recklessly  in- 
sulted the  flag  under  which  so  many 
lieroes  of  the  country  had  sailed  from 
their  port  to  fight  the  battles  and  extend 
the  fame  of  the  Eepublic.  At  Norfolk, 
particularly,  we  are  told,  the  public 
feeling  against  the  Government  was  in- 
tensely bitter.  The  military  companies 
of  Portsmouth  and  Norfolk  were  called 
out  and  paraded  under  arms  ;  rumors 
were  circulated  of  a  contemplated  attack 
upon  the  Navy  Yard  ;  and  threats  were 
boisterously  made  of  an  immediate  as- 
sault, if  the  authorities  at  the  yard  should 
make  any  attempt  to  defend  themselves 
or  to  remove  any  portion  of  the  public 
property.  On  the  night  of  the  16th,  the 
obstructions  already  alluded  to,  two  light 
boats  of  about  80  tons  each,  were  sunk 
in  the  river.  On  the  18th,  when  it  was 
decided  to  retain  the  Merrimac,  General 
Taliaferro  arrived  at  Norfolk  "  to  take 
the  command  of  troops,  which  it  was 


158 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


undoubtedly  the  design  of  the  State 
authorities  to  send  there  for  capturing 
the  yard.  On  the  following  day  (con- 
tinues the  Senate  Committee  Report) 
most  of  the  employes  absented  them- 
selves from  the  muster,  and  it  was 
evident  that  a  crisis  was  at  hand  which 
would  call  for  some  decisive  action  on 
the  part  of  the  commandant  of  the  yard. 
In  this  emergency,  on  the  afternoon  of 
that  day,  Commodore  McCauley  ordered 
all  the  guns  in  the  yard  to  be  spiked.  A 
portion  of  them  were  spiked  with  rat- tail 
files,  but  owing  to  the  lack  of  a  sufficient 
number  of  them,  the  work  was  unskilfully 
and  ineffectually  done  with  cut  nails  and 
most  of  the  guns  were  but  partially  dis- 
abled. The  murmurs  outside  of  the  yard 
grew  louder  and  louder,  and  about  4 
o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  20th 
April,  Commodore  McCauley,  apprehen- 
sive of  an  immediate  attack,  and,  as  he 
says,  believing  that  to  be  the  only  means 
of  preventing  them  from  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  instead  of  attempt- 
ing to  send  them  out,  caused  all  the 
vessels,  except  the  Cumberland,  to  be 
scuttled.  This  was  his  last  act  of  com- 
mand." 

When  the  "  fatal  error,"  as  he  terms 
it,  of  the  detention  of  the  Merrimac  was 
made  known  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  he  immediately,  though  his  ser- 
vices could  ill  be  spared  at  Washington, 
sent  Captain  Paulding  in  command  of 
the  Pawnee  to  proceed  with  that  vessel 
to  Norfolk  "  with  such  officers  and  ma- 
rines as  could  be  obtained,  take  com- 
mand of  all  the  vessels  afloat  on  that 
station  ;  repel  force  by  force  and  pre- 
vent the  ships  and  public  property,  at 
all  hazards,  from  passing  into  the  hands 
of  the  insurrectionists."  Taking  with 
him  100  marines  at  Washington  in  ad- 


dition to  his  crew,  Captain  Paulding 
took  on  board  at  Fortress  Monroe  Col- 
onel Wardrop's  regiment  of  .Massachu- 
setts volunteers,  consisting  of  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  which  had  arrived 
during  the  day,  and  with  this  force  pre- 
sented himself  at  Norfolk  on  the  evening 
of  the  20th,  just  in  time  to  witness  the 
scuttling  and  sinking  of  the  ships  which 
had  been  ordered  in  the  afternoon  by 
Commodore  McCauley.  Taking  a  rapid 
view  of  the  situation  he  concluded,  with- 
in an  hour  after  his  arrival,  in  accord- 
ance with  instructions  which  had  been 
given  him,  to  render  the  ships  entirely 
useless  to  the  enemy  by  burning  them 
and  otherwise  to  destroy  the  public  pro- 
perty in  the  yard  before  abandoning  the 
place.  The  process  of  destruction  is  thus 
described  in  the  report  of  the  Senate 
Committee  : 

"In  the  first  place  an  attempt  was  made 
to  mutilate  the  guns  in  the  yard  by  knock- 
ing off  the  trunnions.  For  this  purpose 
one  hundred  men  were  detailed  from  the 
Cumberland,  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant John  H.  Russell  ;  but  though  they 
worked  for  an  hour,  playing  trip-hammer 
with  18-pound  sledges  upon  the  Dahlgren 
guns,  they  resisted  all  their  efforts  ;  and 
such  was  the  strength  and  tenacity  of  the 
metal  that  they  did  not  succeed  hi  break- 
ing a  single  trunnion.  Many  of  the  old 
guns,  however,  were  destroyed.  The 
duty  of  mining  and  blowing  up  the  dry 
dock  was  given  in  charge  to  Captain 
Charles  Wilkes,  and  officers  and  men 
were  assigned  to  him  for  that  purpose, 
and  to  prepare  for  burning  the  build- 
ings. Commander  Rodgers,  and  Cap- 
tain Wright,  of  the  engineers,  volun- 
teered to  destroy  the  dry  dock,  and 
Commanders  Allen  and  Sands  were  di- 
rected to  provide  for  the  destruction  of 


THE  WORK   OF  DESTRUCTION. 


159 


ship-houses,  barracks,  etc.  Lieutenant 
Henry  A.  Wise  was  ordered  to  lay 
trains  upon  the  ships,  and  fire  them  at 
a  given  signal,  and  perform  that  duty  in 
the  most  thorough  and  effectual  manner. 

"At  about  2  o'clock  all  was  reported 
to  be  ready,  and  the  troops,  marines, 
sailors,  and  others  at  the  yard  were 
taken  on  board  the  Pawnee  and  Cum- 
berland, leaving  on  shore  only  as  many 
as  were  required  to  set  the  fires.  The 
Pawnee  then  left  the  wharf,  winded,  and 
and  at  4  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning, 
April  21,  took  the  Cumberland  in  tow 
and  stood  down  the  harbor.  At  twenty 
minutes  past  4  the  concerted  signal  was 
given  by  a  rocket  from  the  Pawnee,  the 
torch  was  applied  simultaneously  at  many 
points,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  ships  and 
buildings  in  the  yard  were  wrapped  in 
flames.  The  parties  left  on  shore  to  ap- 
ply the  matches  all  succeeded  in  making 
their  escape  except  Commander  Rodgers 
and  Captain  Wright,  who  failed  to  reach 
the  boats  left  to  bring  them  off,  and  were 
arrested  in  the  morning  at  Norfolk,  and 
detained  by  the  rebels  as  prisoners  of 
war.  The  officers  and  men  in  the  boats 
pulled  down  the  harbor  in  the  light  of 
the  conflagration,  which  was  illuminating 
the  country  and  the  bay  for  miles  around, 
overtook  the  Pawnee  at  Craney  Island, 
and  were  taken  on  board. 

"  A  singular  fatality  seems  to  have  at- 
tended this  mad  attempt  to  destroy  the 
public  property,  which  confined  its  oper- 
ation principally  to  ^the  vessels,  which, 
before  the  scuttling,  could  easily  have 
been  saved,  while  the  dry  dock,  the  ma- 
chine shops,  smiths'  shops  and  sheds, 
carpenters'  shops  and  sheds,  timber 
sheds,  ordnance  building,  founderies, 
saw-mill,  provision-house,  spar-house, 
tools,  provisions,  dwellings  of  the  com- 


mandant and  other  officers,  and  in  fact 
all  the  buildings  in  the  yard,  except  the 
ship-houses,  marine  barracks,  riggers' 
loft,  sail  loft,  and  ordnance  loft  remain 
ed  uninjured,  and  have  been  ever  since 
in  the  use  and  possession  of  the  rebels. 
Indeed,  they  immediately  took  posses- 
sion of  all  the  buildings  and  machinery, 
and  have  ever  since  been  and  are  now 
using  them  for  all  the  usual  purposes  of 
a  navy  yard  ;  employing  them  in  the 
manufacture  of  arms,  shot  and  shell,  in 
building  gunboats  and  iron-cladding  ves- 
sels-of-war  to  be  used  against  the  gov- 
ernment. The  guns  have  been  mounted 
upon  batteries  along  the  Elizabeth  river, 
and  distributed  among  the  various  forti- 
fications throughout  the  seceded  States. 

"  Of  the  vessels  at  the  yard,  the  ship- 
of-the-line  New  York  in  one  of  the  ship- 
houses,  was  entirely  consumed  by  fire. 
The  ship-of-the-line  Pennsylvania,  the 
frigate  Columbia,  and  the  brig  Dolphin, 
were  burnt  to  their  floor-heads,  the  low- 
er bottom  timbers  only  remaining  and 
being  visible  at  low  water.  The  frigate 
Earitan  was  burnt  to  the  water's  edge, 
and  disappeared  altogether.  The  steam 
frigate  Merrimac  was  sunk,  and  burned 
to  her  copper  line  and  down  through  to 
her  berth-deck,  which,  with  her  spar  and 
gun  decks,  were  also  burned.  A  wit- 
ness who  remained  at  Portsmouth  from 
the  20th  of  April  up  to  the  15th  of  No- 
vember, 1861,  states  that  the  Merrimac 
has  been  cut  down  six  feet  below  her 
copper-line.  The  sloop  Germantown 
was  sunk  and  burned  to  her  bulwarks 
on  the  port  side,  after  two  of  her  masts 
had  been  broken  away  and  she  had  been 
otherwise  much  injured  by  the  falling  of 
the  shears.  The  frigate  United  States, 
a  very  old  ship,  unfit  for  repairs,  was 
uninjured,  and  since  the  evacuation  has 


160 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


been  lying  before  the  yard  as  a  receiv- 
ing ship,  and  manned  with  fifteen  32- 
pounders.  The  Plymouth  was  not  burn- 
ed. She  was  scuttled  and  sunk,  and  has 
since  been  raised.  The  old  ships-of-the 
line  Delaware  and  Columbus  were  scut- 
tled and  sunk  at  their  moorings.  The 
work  of  destruction,  it  is  evident,  was 
done  upon  the  vessels  most  effectually, 
and  it  is  to  be  regretted,  since  the  at- 
tempt was  made,  that  the  buildings  and 
other  structures  in  the  yard  were  not 
destroyed  with  equal  thoroughness."  * 

Grave  Senatorial  Committee  men  do 
not  generally  greatly  indulge  in  pictur- 
esque description,  or  supply  those  acces- 
sories of  so  much  consequence  to  the 
graphic  historian.  Otherwise  the  writer 
might  have  paused  to  illuminate  this  sad 
page  of  our  naval  records  with  the  bril- 
liancy of  the  vast  midnight  conflagra- 
tion, as  the  flames  poured  forth  from 
those  huge  structures  of  wood  and  glass, 
the  ship-houses  capable  of  containing  the 
largest  frigate,  with  the  strange  spectacle 
of  the  ships  on  fire,  their  hulls  devoured 
by  the  flames  rolling  upward  to  the  lines 
of  living  light  in  the  splendid  tracery  of 
the  spars — as  if  some  gorgeous  holiday 
fire-work  representing  the  ship  of  state 
were  printing  in  blazing  letters  against 
the  sky  the  portent  of  a  dissolving  em- 
pire. 

The  importance  of  these  events  to 
both  parties  in  the  national  struggle  can 
hardly  be  over-estimated.  The  United 
States  were  not  only  deprived  of  a  naval 
station  of  the  utmost  value  for  the  fitting 

o 

out  of  ships  and  other  provision  for  the 
onerous  Southern  blockade,  which  the 

*  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  Senate  for  in- 
vestigating the  facts  relative  to  the  loss  of  the  Navy  Yard, 
<fce.,  submitted  by  Mr.  Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  April 
18,  1862. 


Government  was  compelled  to  main- 
tain ;  there  was  not  only  the  loss  of  the 
vast  stores  of  munitions  of  war  and  the 
public  buildings  which  were  destroyed  ; 
but  more  costly  to  the  country  than  all 
the  rest,  was  the  gain  to  the  enemy  of  an 
important  highway  of  communication,  and 
the  most  abundant  means  of  protracting 
the  war.  In  various  parts  of  the  land, 
as  the  national  troops  made  progress  in 
Yirginia,  North  Carolina  and  the  West, 
they  were  called  upon  to  face  the  power- 
ful Dahlgrens  and  Columbiads  abandoned 
at  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard.  "  I  had  pur- 
posed," says  Mr.  William  H.  Peters,  a 
commissioner  appointed  by  the  Govern- 
or of  Yirginia  to  make  an  inventory 
of  the  property  thus  taken  from  the 
United  States  Government,  "  some  re- 
marks upon  the  vast  importance  to  Yir- 
ginia, and  to  the  entire  South,  of  the 
timely  acquisition  of  this  extensive  naval 
depot,  with  its  immense  supplies  of  mu- 
nitions of  war,  and  to  notice  briefly  the 
damaging  effects  of  its  loss  to  the  gov- 
ernment at  Washington  ;  but  I  deem  it 
unnecessary,  since  the  presence  at  al- 
most every  exposed  point  on  the  whole 
southern  coast,  and  at  numerous  inland 
intrenched  camps  in  the  several  States, 
of  heavy  pieces  of  ordnance,  with  their 
equipments  and  fixed  ammunition,  all 
supplied  from  this  establishment,  fully 
attests  the  one,  while  the  unwillingness 
of  the  enemy  to  attempt  demonstrations 
at  any  point,  from  which  he  is  obviously 
deterred  by  the  knowledge  of  its  well- 
fortified  condition,  abundantly  proves  the 
other — especially  when  it  is  considered 
that  both  he  and  we  are  wholly  indebted 
for  our  means  of  resistance  to  his  loss 
and  our  acquisition  of  the  Gosport  navy 
yard."  * 

*  Richmond  Enquirer,  February  4,  1862. 


A  SOUTHERN  VIEW. 


161 


This  was  the  sober  calculation  of  a  State 
Commissioner,  accompanying  an  exact 
estimate  of  the  damage  sustained  by  the 
General  Government,  and  the  benefit 
derived  by  the  rebel  Confederacy.  It 
may  interest  the  reader  to  peruse  along- 
side of  it  the  peculiar  reflections  on  the 
same  occurrences,  from  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent point  of  view,  taken  by  an  eminent 
divine  of  the  Southern  States.  The  ven- 
erable Bishop  Elliott  of  Georgia,  an 
honored  head  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
in  a  sermon  entitled  "  God's  presence 
with  the  Confederate  States,"  preached 
at  Savannah  on  the  13th  of  June  follow- 
ing— a  fast  day  appointed  by  President 
Jefferson  Davis — saw  fit  thus  to  discourse 
of  the  capture  of  Sumter,  the  unavoidable 
surrender,  brought  about  by  Southern 
treason,  of  the  national  troops  in  Texas, 
and  especially  the  great  gain  to  the  Con- 
federacy of  the  abandonment  of  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Norfolk.  "If  we  turn,"  says 
he,  "from  the  financial  to  the  military 
affairs  of  the  Confederate  States,  we 
perceive  the  same  visible  presence  of 
God  in  our  concerns.  In  the  beginning 
of  this  movement  we  appeared  to  have 
no  resources  wherewith  to  meet  the  im- 
mense preponderance  of  power  that  was 
against  us.  They  had  armies,  navies, 
armories,  manufactories,  every  thing  that 
could  conduce  to  their  strength — for- 
tresses bristled  in  our  midst,  and  aimed 
their  guns  against  the  people  they  had 
been  built  to  protect — a  large,  well- 
ordered  army  stood  upon  our  Texan 
frontier  quite  in  a  condition  to  have  in- 
vaded and  embarrassed  us — a  large  arma- 
ment was  fitted  out  to  strike  at  the  heart 
of  South  Carolina,  which  was  considered 
the  soul  of  the  rebellion — a  navy  yard 
of  immense  resources,  filled  with  arms, 
and  ammunition,  and  ordnance,  supported 
21 


by  the  strongest  fortress  in  the  Union, 
and  defended  by  men-of-war  armed  with 
guns  of  the  heaviest  calibre,  lay  upon 
our  northeastern  frontier.  A  hastily 
raised  militia  was  all  we  had  to  depend 
upon  in  the  conflict.  But  in  a  moment 
every  thing  seemed  changed  in  a  way 
more  than  natural.  Skillful  officers  sprang 
from  every  direction  into  the  arena. 
Armed  men  arose  as  if  from  the  dragon's 
teeth  which  the  Abolitionists  had  been 
sowing  for  years.  And  fear  seemed  to 
fall  upon  our  enemies — unaccountable 
fear.  Officers  who  had  never  quailed  be- 
fore any  living  man — soldiers  who  had 
borne  the  old  flag  to  victory  wherever  it 
had  waved  over  them — navies  which  had 
moved  defiant  over  the  world — all,  all 
seemed  paralyzed.  That  large  border 
army  surrendered  to  militia  without  a 
blow — that  gallant  armament,  made  up 
of  the  same  fleet  which  had  run  in  the 
revolution  into  the  Thames,  which  had 
defied  the  Algerine  batteries,  which  had 
brought  Austria  to  terms  in  the  Levant, 
which  had  spit  its  fire  into  the  face  of  the 
almost  impregnable  fortress  of  St.  Juan 
d'Ulloa,  stood  inert  and  saw  a  gallant 
soldier,  who  was  upholding  their  own  flag, 
beaten  out  of  his  own  fortress  by  sand 
batteries  and  volunteers.  That  immense 
navy  yard,  with  its  vast  resources,  with  its 
great  power  of  resistance,  with  its  huge 
fortress  at  its  back,  with  its  magnificent 
men-of-war  all  armed  and  shotted,  was 
deserted  in  an  unaccountable  panic  be- 
cause of  the  threats  of  a  few  almost  un- 
armed citizens,  and  the  rolling  during  the 
night  of  well-managed  locomotives.  And 
nowhere  could  this  panic  have  occurred 
more  seasonably  for  us,  because  it  gave 
us  just  what  we  most  needed,  arms  and 
ammunition  and  heavy  ordnance  in  great 
abundance.  All  this  is  unaccountable 


162 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


upon  any  ordinary  grounds.  But  two 
days  before,  a  naval  officer  of  very  high 
rank  had  reported  to  head -quarters  at 
Washington  that  this  navy  yard  was 
impregnable.  Is  not  this  very  like  the 
noise  of  chariots  and  the  noise  of  horses, 
even  the  noise  of  a  great  host,  which  the 
Syrians  were  made  to  hear  when  the 
Lord  would  deliver  Israel  ?  "  And  they 


said  one  to  another,  Lo.  the  King  of 
Israel  hath  hired  against  us  the  King  of 
the  Hittites  and  the  Kings  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, to  come  upon  us.  Wherefore  they 
arose  and  fled  in  the  twilight  and  left 
their  tents  and  their  horses,  and  their 
asses,  even  the  camp  as  it  was,  and  fled 
for  their  life."  So  the  South  sounded  its 
triumph. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


THROUGH    BALTIMORE. 


INTERMEDIATE  between  these  two  nights 
of  terror  and  devastation  at  Harper's 
Ferry  and  Gosport,  a  scene  occurred  at 
Baltimore  on  the  forenoon  of  the  19th, 
which  was  regarded  as  an  ominous  indi- 
cation of  the  impending  struggle.  In 
response  to  the  call  upon  the  States  by 
the  President,  no  one  had  shown  greater 
alacrity  than  Governor  Andrew  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. Keen-sighted  to  discern  the 
approach  of  the  war,  and  sensitively 
alive  to  the  danger  to  which  the  Capital 
tfas  exposed,  he  had  put  the  militia  of 
his  State  in  readiness  for  the  service 
which  he  felt  could  not  be  distant.  His 
men  were  ready  at  the  first  summons, 
and  it  was  his  honorable  boast  after- 
wards to  the  Legislature  of  his  State, 
that  "by  nine  o'clock  on  the  Sabbath 
morning  following  the  Monday  on  which 
the  first  telegram  was  received,  the  whole 
number  of  regiments  demanded  from 
Massachusetts  were  already  either  in 
Washington  or  in  Fortress  Monroe  or  on 
their  way  to  the  defence  of  the  National 
Capital."  The  first  of  these  detachments 
which  went  forward  was  the  Sixth  Regi- 
ment, numbering  about  700  men,  under 


the  command  of  Colonel  Edward  F.  Jones 
of  Pepperell.  Its  members  were  resi- 
dents of  Essex  and  Middlesex  Counties, 
with  its  head-quarters  at  Lowell.  Within 
18  hours  after  the  reception  of  orders 
from  the  Governor  it  was  on  its  way  to 
Boston.  On  the  morning  of  the  18th  it 
passed  through  New  York  and,  contrary 
to  the  prophecies  of  the  Southern  sym- 
pathizers, met  with  a  triumphant  recep- 
tion in  that  city.  Instead  of  the  streets 
flowing  with  blood  in  a  civil  encounter, 
according  to  the  predictions  of  the  politi- 
cal croakers  who  had  talked  defiantly  of 
the  people  never  permitting  Eastern 
troops  to  pass  through  the  city  to  control 
the  Southerners,  the  men  of  New  Eng- 
land when  they  arrived  were  regarded 
with  respect  and  admiration  for  their 
readiness  and  energy,  while  many  a 
heartfelt  wish  was  expressed  for  their 
safety  and  success  in  their  patriotic  mis- 
sion. 

The  regiment  reached  Philadelphia 
by  railway  the  same  day,  and  early  the 
next  morning  was  forwarded  to  Balti- 
more. Here  they  were  met  by  an  out- 
break of  that  ill-feeling  and  active 


APPREHENSIONS   OF  VIOLENCE. 


163 


malevolence,  which  at  one  time  it  had 
been  so  confiden  tly  maintained  that  such 
a  body  would  be  sure  to  encounter  on  its 
passage  through  New  York.  There 
existed,  in  fact,  in  Baltimore  much 
stronger  elements  of  opposition,  growing 
chiefly  out  of  its  more  intimate  relation 
with  the  Southern  States.  The  material 
for  a  mob  is  always  present  in  all  large 
cities  and,  in  the  present  instance,  its 
ordinary  spirit  of  violence  was  aggra- 
vated by  political  animosity  and  the 
confidence  which  it  derived  from  the 
general  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  policy 
indicated  in  the  call  of  the  President 
for  troops.  The  passage  of  Northern, 
and  particularly  of  New  England  troops 
through  the  city,  was  especially  obnox- 
ious to  this  portion  of  the  inhabitants 
in  its  excited  state  of  feeling.  The 
arrival  of  the  train  with  the  Massa- 
chusetts troops  thus  became  the  signal 
for  popular  disturbance. 

We  have  seen  the  answer  to  the 
summons  of  the  President  given  by 
Governor  Hicks,*  in  his  Proclamation 
of  the  18th  of  April.  "  In  conse- 
quence," he  then  said,  uof  our  pecu- 
liar position,  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  the  people  of  the  State  can  unani- 
mously agree  upon  the  best  mode  of  pre- 
serving the  honor  and  integrity  of  the 
State,  and  of  maintaining  within  her  limits 
that  peace  so  earnestly  desired  by  all 
good  citizens.  The  emergency  is  great. 
The  consequences  of  a  rash  step  will  be 
fearful.  It  is  the  imperative  duty  of 
every  true  son  of  Maryland  to  do  all 
that  he  can  to  arrest  the  threatened  evil. 
I  therefore  counsel  th'e  people  in  all  ear- 
nestness, to  withhold  their  hands  from 
whatever  may  tend  to  precipitate  us  into 
the  gulf  of  discord  and  ruin  gaping  to 

*  Ante,  p.  127. 


receive  us."  Fully  conscious  of  the  dif- 
ficulty of  his  position,  he  announced  his 
intention  in  the  future,  as  it  had  been  his 
endeavor  in  the  past,  to  preserve  the 
people  of  Maryland  from  civil  war,  and 
invoked  the  assistance  of  every  true  and 
loyal  citizen  to  aid  him  to  that  end.  The 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  George 
William  Brown,  also  issued  a  Proclama- 
tion, in  which  he  spoke  of  the  great  di- 
vision of  opinion  existing  in  relation  to 
"  subjects  of  the  gravest  political  import- 
ance, and  tfee  consequent  apprehensions 
which  had  arisen  in  the  minds  of  many 
that  violations  of  the  peace  might  occur, 
and  earnestly  invoked  all  good  citizens 
to  refrain  from  every  act  leading  to  out- 
break or  violence,  and  to  render  prompt 
assistance  to  the  public  authorities,  whose 
efforts  would  be  exerted  to  maintain  the 
peace  of  the  city."* 

The  occasion  for  this  interference  was 
now  at  hand.  The  outbreak  at  Baltimore 
which  these  precautionary  addresses  evi- 
dently anticipated,  arose  on  the  morning 
of  the  19th,  with  the  arrival  of  the  train 
from  Philadelphia  bringing  the  Massa- 
chusetts regiment,  accompanied  by  a 
body  of  unarmed  Pennsylvania  troops. 
The  cars  reached  the  President  street 
depot  on  the  northern  side  of  the  city 
about  ten  o'clock,  when  its  arrival  was 
the  signal  for  the  collection  of  a  crowd 
evidently  bent  upon  opposing  the  further 
passage  of  the  troops.  To  pursue  their 
route  to  Washington  it  was  necessary 
that  they  should  traverse  a  portion  of 
the  city  from  one  station  to  another  in 
cars  drawn  by  horses.  As  Colonel  Jones' 
regiment  was  thus  passing  through  Pratt 
street,  the  cars  were  assailed  with  stones 
torn  from  the  pavement  and  other  mis- 
siles, and  the  way  was  greatly  impeded 

*  Proclamation  of  Mayor  Brown.     April  17,  1S61. 


164 


WAR  FOE,  THE   UNION. 


by  tha  throng.  A  number  of  the  cars, 
however,  made  their  way  through,  the 
soldiers  remaining  quietly  within,  offer- 
ing no  resistance  to  the  assaults  and  in- 
sults of  the  populace.  Four  companies 
were  yet  left  in  the  cars  in  the  rear,  when 
word  was  brought  to  them  that  the  rails 
were  so  blocked  by  heavy  anchors,  which 
lay  at  hand  in  the  neighborhood,  being 
thrown  across  them,  that  the  passage 
was  no  longer  practicable.  The  mob, 
meanwhile,  pleased  with  its  efforts,  was 
"  cheering  lustily  for  the  South,  for  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  South  Carolina  and  Seces- 
sion, with  groans  for  sundry  obnoxious 
parties."  In  this  emergency,  the  Massa- 
chusetts men  who  were  left,  determined 
to  alight  and  proceed  through  the  city 
as  best  they  could  and  join  their  com- 
rades at  the  Washington  depot.  A  con- 
sultation was  held,  and  the  command  as- 
signed to  Captain  Albert  S.  Follansbee 
of  Lowell.  "  I  immediately,"  says  that 
officer,  "  informed  Captain  Pickering 
of  the  Lawrence  Light  Infantry,  and  we 
filed  out  of  the  cars  in  regular  order. 
Captain  Hart's  company  of  Lowell  and 
Captain  Dike's  of  Stoneham  did  the  same, 
and  formed  in  a  line  on  the  sidewalk.  The 
captains  consulted  together,  and  decided 
that  the  command  should  devolve  upon 
me.  I  immediately  took  my  position  at 
the  right,  wheeled  into  column  of  sec- 
tions, and  requested  them  to  march  in 
close  order.  Before  we  had  started,  the 
mob  was  upon  us,  with  a  secession  flag 
attached  to  a  pole,  and  told  us  we  never 
could  march  through  that  city.  They 
would  kill  every  white  nigger  of  us  be- 
fore we  could  reach  the  other  depot.  I 
paid  no  attention  to  them,  but  after  I  had 
wheeled  the  battalion  gave  the  order  to 
march.  As  soon  as  the  order  was  given, 
the  brickbats  began  to  fly  into  our  ranks 


from  the  mob.  I  called  a  policeman,  and 
requested  him  to  lead  the  way  to  the 
other  depot.  He  did  so.  After  we  had 
marched  about  a  hundred  yards,  we 
came  to  a  bridge.  The  rebels  had  torn 
up  most  of  the  planks.  We  had  to  play 
'  Scotch  hop '  to  get  over  it.  As  soon  as 
we  had  crossed  the  bridge  they  com- 
menced to  fire  upon  us  from  the  streets 
and  houses.  We  were  loaded  but  not 
capped.  I  ordered  the  men  to  cap  their 
rifles  and  protect  themselves  ;  and  then 
we  returned  their  fire  and  laid  a  great 
many  of  them  away.  I  saw  four  fall  on 
the  sidewalk  at  one  time.  They  followed 
us  up,  and  we  fought  our  way  to  the 
other  depot — about  one  mile.  They 
kept  at  us  till  the  cars  started.  Quite  a 
number  of  the  rascals  were  shot  after 
we  entered  the  cars.  We  went  very 
slowly,  for  we  expected  the  rails  were 
torn  up  along  the  road.  I  do  not  know 
how  much  damage  Ve  did.  Eeport  says 
about  forty  were  killed,  but  I  think  this 
is  exaggerated.  Still,  it  may  be  so. 
There  is  any  quantity  of  them  wounded. 
Quite  a  number  of  horses  were,  killed. 
The  mayor  of  the  city  met  us  almost 
half  way.  He  said  that  there  would  be 
no  more  trouble,  and  that  we  could  get 
through,  and  kept  with  us  for  about  a 
hundred  yards  ;  but  the  stones  and  balls 
whistled  too  near  his  head,  and  he  left, 
took  a  gun  from  one  of  my  company, 
fired  and  brought  his  man  down.  That 
was  the  last  I  saw  of  him.  We  fought 
our  way  to  the  cars  and  joined  Colonel 
Jones  and  the  seven  companies  that  left 
us  at  the  other  end  of  the  city."*  Two 
Massachusetts  soldiers  were  slain  on  the 

*  Letter  of  Captain  Follansbee,  dated  from  Washington, 
published  in  the  Lowell  Courier,  Squier's  Pictorial  llis- 
tory,  p.  22.  Colonel  Edward  F.  Jones'  official  report  tc 
Major  Clemence,  Adjutant  of  General  Butler.  Washington 
April  22,  1861. 


THE  BALTIMORE   RIOT. 


165 


spot  in  this  murderous  and  unprovoked 
assault  upon  good  citizens  called  to  the 
discharge  of  an  onerous  and  honorable 
public  duty,  and  acting  in  direct  obe- 
dience to  the  highest  authority  of  the 
nation.  Their  names  were  Addison  0. 
Whitney  and  Luther  0.  Ladd,  from 
Lowell.  Nine  others  were  wounded, 
one  of  them,  Sumner  H.  Needham  of 
Lawrence,  mortally.  Captain  Dike  re- 
ceiving a  severe  wound  in  the  leg  was 
taken  up  and  cared  for  by  some  brother 
Masons.  Nine  citizens  of  Baltimore 
were  killed,  and  an  unknown  number 
wounded.  On  going  through  the  train 
on  its  way  to  Washington,  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  of  the  Massachu- 
setts men  were  found  missing.  The  cars 
were  assailed  with  stones  on  leaving,  and 
one  of  the  attacking  party  was  killed  by 
a  shot  fired  by  one  of  the  soldiers. 

The  Pennsylvania  troops  arriving  after 
the  rest  remained  at  the  depot  in  the  cars, 
and,  being  unarmed,  did  not  attempt  the 
passage  of  the  city.  General  Small,  the 
officer  in  command,  was  anxious  that 
they  should  retire  from  the  danger,  but 
before  this  could  be  accomplished,  the 
mob,  turning  from  the  attack  upon  the 
Massachusetts  men,  assailed  them  in  the 
cars  with  missiles,  breaking  the  windows 
and  inflicting  considerable  personal  injury. 
Numbers  of  the  Pennsylvanians  sprang  to 
the  ground,  and  were  there  set  upon  by 
the  infuriated  populace.  Some  took  ref- 
uge in  the  neighboring  houses,  and  others 
continued  the  fight,  while  Marshal  Kane 
assisted  by  "some  noble-hearted  and 
fearless  citizens"  mdeavored  to  arrest 
the  combat,  which  was  carried  on  in  the 
utmost  confusion,  as  the  soldiers  being 
ununiformed  as  well  as  without  arms,  it 
was  difficult  to  distinguish  friend  from  foe. 
Most  of  the  troops  were  finally  safely 


deposited  in  thfi  cars  and  sent  back  to 
Philadelphia.* 

Immediately  on  receiving  intelligence 
of  these  events,  Governor  Andrew  of 
Massachusetts  addressed  the  following 
telegraphic  message  to  the  Mayor  of  Balti- 
more : — r"Sir,  I  pray  you  to  cause  the 
bodies  of  our  Massachusetts  soldiers  dead 
in  Baltimore  to  be  immediately  laid  out, 
preserved  in  ice  and  tenderly  sent  for- 
ward by  express  to  me.  All  expenses 
will  be  paid  by  this  Commonwealth." 
To  this  Mayor  Brown  replied  the  same 
day.  "  No  one,"  said  he,  "  deplores  the 
sad  events  of  yesterday  in  this  city  more 
deeply  than  myself,  but  they  were  in- 
evitable. Our  people  viewed  the  pas- 
sage of  armed  troops  of  another  State 
through  the  streets  as  an  invasion  of  our 
soil,  and  could  not  be  restrained.  The 
authorities  exerted  themselves  to  the  best 
of  their  ability,  but  with  only  partial 
success.  Governor  Hicks  was  present, 
and  concurs  in  all  my  views  as  to  the 
proceedings  now  necessary  for  our  pro- 
tection. When  are  these  scenes  to  cease  ? 
Are  we  to  have  a  war  of  sections  ?  God 
forbid !  The  bodies  of  the  Massachusetts 
soldiers  could  not  be  sent  on  to  Boston 
as  you  requested  :  all  communication  be- 
tween this  city  and  Philadelphia  by  rail- 
road, and  with  Boston  by  steamers,  hav- 
ing ceased  ;  but  they  have  been  placed 
in  cemented  coffins,  and  will  be  placed 
with  proper  funeral  ceremonies  in  the 
mausoleum  of  Green  Mount  Cemetery, 
where  they  shall  be  retained  until  further 
directions  are  received  from  you.  The 
wounded  are  tenderly  cared  for.  I 
appreciate  your  offer,  but  Baltimore  will 
claim  it  as  her  right  to  pay  all  expenses 
incurred."  The  answer  of  Governor 

*  Letter  of  Geo.  P.  Kane,  Marshal,  to  Charles  Howard 
President  of  Board  of  Police.     Baltimore,  May  S,  1861. 


166 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Andrew,  the  same  day,  by  telegraph, 
closes  this  touching  correspondence.  "  I 
appreciate,"  he  sent  word,  "your  kind 
attention  to  our  wounded  and  our  dead, 
and  trust  that,  at  the  earliest  moment, 
the  remains  of  our  fallen  will  be  returned 
to  us.  I  am  overwhelmed  with  surprise 
that  a  peaceful  march  of  American  citi- 
zens over  the  common  highway  to  the 
defence  of  our  common  Capital  should 
be  deemed  aggressive  to  Baltimoreans. 
Through  New  York  the  march  was  tri- 
umphal." When  communication  with 
the  East  was  restored,  the  remains  "  ten- 
derly cared  for"  were  forwarded  to  Bos- 
ton, where,  as  well  as  at  their  resting 
place  at  Lowell,  they  were  received  with 
heartfelt  public  honors. 

"  How  shall  I  record,"  said  Governor 
Andrew  of  Massachusetts,  addressing 
the  Legislature  of  his  State  on  this  event, 
"  the  grand  and  sublime  uprising  of  the 
people,  devoting  themselves — their  lives 
—their  all.  No  creative  art  has  ever 
woven  into  song  a  story  more  tender  in 
its  pathos  or  more  stirring  to  the  martial 
blood  than  the  scenes  just  enacted,  pass- 
ing before  our  eyes  in  the  villages  and 
towns  of  our  dear  old  Commonwealth. 
Henceforth  be  silent,  ye  shallow  cavillers 
at  New  England  thrift,  economy  and 
peaceful  toil !  Henceforth  let  no  one 
dare  accuse  our  northern  sky,  our  icy 
winters,  or  our  granite  hills  !  '  Oh, 
what  a  glorious  morning,7  was  the  ex- 
ulting cry  of  Samuel  Adams,  as  he,  ex- 
cluded from  royal  grace,  heard  the 
sharp  musketry  which,  on  the  dawn  of 
the  19th  of  April,  1775,  announced  the 
beginning  of  the  War  of  Independence. 
The  yeomanry,  who  in  1775,  on  Lexing- 
ton Common  and  on  the  banks  of  the 
Concord  River,  first  made  that  day  im- 
mortal in  our  annals,  have  found  their 


lineal  representatives  in  the  historic  regi- 
ment, which  on  the  19th  of  April,  1801, 
in  the  streets  of  Baltimore,  baptized  our 
flag  anew  in  heroic  blood,  when  Massa- 
chusetts marched  once  more  '  in  the 
sacred  cause  of  liberty  and  the  rights  of 
mankind.' 7  Rising  from  the  immediate 
occasion  to  the  height  of  the  great  argu- 
ment before  the  nation,  he  added : — 
"  Grave  responsibilities  have  fallen,  in 
the  Providence  of  God,  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  people  ;  and  they  are 
welcome.  They  could  not  have  been 
safely  postponed.  They  have  not  ar- 
rived too  soon.  They  will  sift  and  try 
this  people,  all  who  lead  and  all  who  fol- 
low. But  this  trial,  giving  us  an  heroic 
present  to  revive  our  past,  will  breathe 
the  inspiration  of  a  new  life  into  our 
national  character  and  re-assure  the  des- 
tiny of  the  Republic."* 

The  afternoon  of  that  same  19th  of 
April,  while  the  town  was  excited  with 
reports  of  the  mob  at  Baltimore,  there 
was  setting  forth  from  New  York  a  band 
of  young  men,  among  them  numerous 
representatives  of  the  best  families  in 
the  city,  the  Seventh  Regiment  New 
York  State  Militia,  the  admirably  drilled 
and  favorite  National  Guard,  a  thousand 
or  more  in  number,  all  of  whom  had 
sprung  with  alacrity  at  the  first  call 
from  the  imperilled  Capital.  The  en- 
thusiasm as  they  passed  down  Broad- 
way was  unparalleled.  A  gentleman  of 
taste  and  culture  in  the  ranks,  whose 
death  in  battle  shortly  after  opened  to 
him  "  a  gate  of  good  fame"  in  the  sym- 
pathy of  thousands,  Mr.  Theodore  Win- 
throp,  has  left  an  enduring  record  of  that 
day.  " It  was  worth,"  says  he,  "a  life, 
that  march.  Only  one  who  passed,  as  we 

*  Governor  Andrew's  Address  to  the  Legislature.    May 
14,  1861. 


THE  NEW  YORK  SEVENTH. 


167 


did  through  that  tempest  of  cheers,  two 
miles  long,  can  know  the  terrible  enthu- 
siasm of  the  occasion.  I  could  hardly 
hear  the  rattle  of  our  own  gun-carriages, 
and  only  once  or  twice  the  music  of  our 
band  came  to  me  muffled  and  quelled  by 
the  uproar.  We  knew  now,  if  we  had 
not  before  divined  it,  that  our  great  city 
was  with  us  as  one  man,  utterly  united 
in  the  great  cause  we  were  marching  to 
sustain.  This  grand  fact  I  learned  by 
two  senses.  If  hundreds  of  thousands 
roared  it  into  my  ears,  .thousands  slap- 
ped it  into  my  back.  My  fellow-citizens 
smote  me  on  the  knapsack,  as  I  went  by 
at  the  gun-rope,  and  encouraged  me  each 
in  his  own  dialect.  '  Bully  for  you ! '  al- 
ternated with  benedictions,  in  the  pro- 
portion of  two  '  bullies '  to  one  blessing. 
I  was  not  so  fortunate  as  to  receive  more 
substantial  tokens  of  sympathy.  But 
there  were  parting  gifts  showered  on  the 
regiment,  enough  to  establish  a  variety- 
shop.  Handkerchiefs,  of  course,  came 
floating  down  upon  us  from  the  windows, 
like  a  snow  storm.  Pretty  little  gloves 
pelted  us  with  love-taps.  The  sterner  sex 
forced  upon  us  pocket-knives  new  and 
jagged,  combs,  soap,  slippers,  boxes  of 
matches,  cigars  by  the  dozen  and  the 
hundred,  pipes  to  smoke  shag  and  pipes 
to  smoke  Latakia,  fruit,  eggs,  and  sand- 
wiches. One  fellow  got  a  new  purse  with 
ten  bright  quarter-eagles.  At  the  corner 
of  Grand  Street,  or  thereabouts,  a  'b'hoy ' 
in  red  flannel  shirt  and  black  dress  pan- 
taloons, leaning  back  against  the  crowd 
with  Herculean  shoulders,  called  me, — 
*  Saay,  bully !  take  my  dorg !  he's  one  of 
the  kind  that  holds  till  he  draps.'  This 
gentleman,  with  his  animal,  was  instant- 
ly shoved  back  by  the  police,  and  the 
Seventh  lost  the  '  dorg.'  These  were 
the  comic  incidents  of  the  march,  but 


underlying  all  was  the  tragic  sentiment 
that  we  might  have  tragic  work  present- 
ly to  do.  The  news  of  the  rascally  attack 
in  Baltimore  on  the  Massachusetts  Sixth 
had  just  come  in.  Ours  might  be  the 
same  chance.  If  there  were  any  of  us 
not  in  earnest  before,  the  story  of  the 
day  would  steady  us.  So  we  said  good- 
bye to  Broadway,  moved  down  Cortlandt 
Street  under  a  bower  of  flags,  and  at 
half-past  6  shoved  off  in  the  ferry-boat. 
Everybody  has  heard  how  Jersey  City 
turned  out  and  filled  up  the  Railroad 
Station,  like  an  opera-house,  to  give  God- 
speed to  us  as  a  representative  body,  a 
guaranty  of  the  unquestioning  loyalty  of 
the  '  conservative '  class  in  New  York. 
Everybody  has  heard  how  the  State  of 
New  Jersey,  along  the  railroad  line, 
stood  through  the  evening  and  the  night 
to  shout  their  quota  of  good  wishes.  At 
every  station  the  Jerseymen  were  there, 
uproarious  as  Jerseymen,  to  shake  our 
hands  and  wish  us  a  happy  despatch.  I 
think  I  did  not  see  a  rod  of  ground  with- 
out its  man,  from  dusk  till  dawn,  from 
the  Hudson  to  the  Delaware."  * 

The  gallant  company  met  with  many 
hardships  on  the  way,  in  their  severe- 
night  march  from  Annapolis  to  Wash- 
ington, which  it  was  six  days  from  the 
time  they  left  New  York  before  they 
reached,  for  the  ordinary  railway  route 
was  by  that  time  broken  up,  and  they 
had  to  proceed  from  Philadelphia  by  sea, 
but  there  was  nothing  in  all  that  experi- 
ence or  in  their  subsequent  camp  life  by 
the  Potomac,  guarding  the  outposts  of  the 
Capital,  which  could  compare  with  the 
cheerfulness  mingled  with  the  solemn  en- 
thusiasm of  that  New  York  departure. 
Many  like  scenes  followed  it :  old  men 

*  "  New  York  Seventh  Regiment ;  Our  March  to  Wash- 
ington."    Atlantic  Monthly,  June,  1861. 


168 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION. 


as  venerable  accompanied  their  sons  on 
the  march  through  the  streets  of  the  city, 
prolonging  the  parting  hour  ;  maidens  as 
beautiful  sighed  their  farewells  from  the 
windows  ;  there  came  a  deeper  meaning 
afterward  in  these  processions  as  the  cry 
of  blood  went  up  from  the  land  ;  but  this 
was  the  first,  and  it  remains  in  the  mem- 
ory of  New  York  consecrated  by  youth 
and  chivalrous  patriotism. 

We  are  tempted  to  linger  over  the 
scenes  of  that  journey  so  darkly  sur- 
rounded with  gloomy  perils,  so  cheer- 
fully lighted  within  by  youth  and  enthu- 
siasm. The  '  Seventh '  had  the  good 
fortune  to  have  a  bounteous  infusion  of 
literature  in  its  ranks — men  ready  with 
the  pen  and,  sure  of  an  appreciative  au- 
dience, not  afraid  to  record  what  they 
saw,  as  they  saw  it,  and  communicate 
their  unstudied  reflections  to  the  public. 
Winthrop's  charming  paper  has  a  hun- 
dred animated  sketches  by  the  way,  full 
of  life,  and  here  and  there  touched  with 
the  pathos  of  the  occasion,  which  will  be 
sought  for  hereafter. 

Philadelphia,  of  course,  became  an 
important  landing-place  in  the  transit  of 
the  Northern  troops  in  the  progress  of 
the  war,  and  the  hospitality  of  its  kind 
inhabitants,  often  as  it  was  called  upon, 
was  never  exhausted.  Winthrop,  like 
many  others,  passed  through  with  a 
pleasing  impression  of  the  city.  "When 
are  rendezvoused  at  the  train,"  says  he, 
'  we  found  that  the  orders  were  for  every 
man  to  provide  himself  three  days'  ra- 
tions in  the  neighborhood,  and  be  ready 
for  a  start  at  a  moment's  notice.  A 
mountain  of  bread  was  already  piled  up 
in  the  station.  I  stuck  my  bayonet 
through  a  stout  loaf,  and,  with  a  dozen 
comrades  armed  in  the  same  way,  went 
foraging  about  for  other  vivers.  It  is  a 


poor  part  of  Philadelphia  ;  but  whatever 
they  had  in  the  shops  or  the  houses 
seemed  to  be  at  our  disposition.  I 
stopped  at  a  corner  shop  to  ask  for  pork, 
and  was  amicably  assailed  by  an  earnest 
dame, — Irish,  I  am  pleased  to  say.  She 
thrust  her  last  loaf  upon  me,  and  sighed 
that  it  was  not  baked  that  morning  for 
my  'honor's  service.'  A  little  farther 
on,  two  kindly  Quaker  ladies  compelled 
me  to  step  in.  *  What  could  they  do?7 
they  asked  eagerly.  '  They  had  no  meat 
in  the  house  j .  but  could  we  eat  eggs  ? 
They  had  in  the  house  a  dozen  and  a 
half,  new-laid.'  So  the  pot  to  the  fire, 
and  the  eggs  boiled,  and  bagged  by  my- 
self and  that  tall  Saxon,  my  friend  E., 
of  the  Sixth  Company.  While  the  eggs 
simmered,  the  two  ladies  thee-ed  us 
prayerfully  and  tearfully,  hoping  that 
Glod  would  save  our  country  from  blood, 
unless  blood  must  be  shed  to  preserve 
Law  and  Liberty." 

There  was  another  young  participant 
in  that  expedition  of  the  New  York 
Seventh,  a  brilliant  author  likewise,  des- 
tined also  to  add  his  name  to  the  honored 
obituaries  of  the  war,  and,  like  Win- 
throp, to  be  borne  to  his  grave  by  his 
comrades  of  the  regiment  in  the  great  city. 
This  was  Fitz  James  O'Brien.  Of  English 
birth,  .lively,  versatile,  an  accomplished 
poet  and  essayist,  eager  in  the  pursuit  of 
social  enjoyment,  he  turned  from  the  de- 
lights of  the  metropolis  to  seek  a  new 
happiness  in  the  excitement  of  the  camp. 
It  was  a  manly  resolution,  and  he  cheer- 
fully bore  the  hardships  he  encountered. 
He,  too,  has  left  us  an  account  of  that 
journey  of  the  Seventh,  written  in  the 
fresh  glow  of  the  war  when  all  was  novel 
to  actors  and  observers.  Such  scenes 
grew  strangely  familiar  throughout  the 
land  ;  but  it  will  be  long  before  the  first 


APPEALS  TO   THE   PRESIDENT. 


169 


striking  impressions  of  these  early  adven- 
turers will  be  forgotten. 

The  first  effect  of  the  mob  in  Baltimore 
was  so  to  infuriate  the  citizens  that  the 
most  outrageous  acts  were  done  in  the 
blind  passion  of  the  moment.  The  gun 
shops  of  the  city  were  plundered  at  night 
by  the  populace.  The  authorities  of  the 
city,  Mayor  Brown  and  the  Marshal  of 
Police,  George  P.  Kane,  the  same  night, 
issued  an  order  for  the  destruction  of  the 
railway  bridges  on  the  northern  routes, 
as  the  only  means  of  impeding  the  arrival 
of  the  Pennsylvania  troops  on  their  way 
and  preventing  a  repetition  of  the  conflict 
of  the  day,  and  the  order  was  promptly 
executed.  The  greatest  excitement  and 
apprehension  prevailed  throughout  the 
city.  The  most  violent  secession  sym- 
pathies were  openly  avowed,  the  flag  of 
the  Confederate  States  was  seen  in  all 
directions,  and  the  exhibition  of  the  old 
banner  of  the  United  States  was  sup- 
pressed. On  one  point  there  seemed  to 
be  a  general  agreement,  that  no  more 
troops  from  the  North  should  be  per- 
mitted to  pass  through  the  city. 

Immediately  on  the  occurrence  of  the 
riot,  on  the  19th,  the  following  telegraphic 
message,  signed  by  the  Governor  and  the 
Mayor,  was  sent  to  President  Lincoln  :— - 
"  Sir, — A  collision  between  the  citizens 
and  the  Northern  troops  has  taken  place 
in  Baltimore  and  the  excitement  is  fear- 
ful. Send  no  more  troops  here.  We 
will  endeavor  to  prevent  all  bloodshed." 
At  the  same  time  an  embassy  was  sent 
by  an  express  train,  with  the  concurrence 
of  Governor  Hicks,  by  Mayor  Brown  to 
the  President,  composed  of  the  Honorable 
II .  Lenox  Bond,  George  W.  Dobbin  and 
John  C.  Brune,  who  were  charged  to 
ey plain  "  the  fearful  condition  of  affairs 
in  the  city."  "The  people,"  was  the 
22 


language  of  the  letter  which  they  bore 
with  them,  "  are  exasperated  to  the  high- 
est degree  by  the  passage  of  troops,  and 
the  citizens  are  universally  decided  in  the 
opinion  that  no  more  troops  should  be 
ordered  to  come.  The  authorities  did 
their  best  to-day  to  protect  both  strangers 
and  citizens,  and  to  prevent  a  collision, 
but  in  vain  ;  and  but  for  their  great 
efforts  a  fearful  slaughter  would  have 
occurred.  Under  these  circumstances  it 
is  my  solemn  duty  to  inform  you  that  it 
is  not  possible  for  more  soldiers  to  pass 
through  Baltimore,  unless  they  fight  their 
way  at  every  step.  I  therefore  hope  and 
trust,  and  most  earnestly  request,  that 
no  more  troops  be  permitted  or  ordered 
by  the  Government  to  pass  through  the 
city.  If  they  should  attempt  it,  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  bloodshed  will  not 
rest  upon  me  '  To  this  letter  the  Presi- 
dent, addressing  Governor  Hicks  and 
Mayor  Brown,  the  following  day,  re- 
plied : — "  Gentlemen, — Your  letter  by 
Messrs.  Bond,  Dobbin  and  Brune,  is  re- 
ceived. I  tender  you  both  my  sincere 
thanks  for  your  efforts  to  keep  the  peace 
in  the  trying  situation  in  which  you  are 
placed.  For  the  future  troops  must  be 
brought  here,  but  I  make  no  point  of 
bringing  them  through  Baltimore.  With- 
out any  military  knowledge  myself,  of 
course  I  must  leave  details  to  General 
Scott.  He  hastily  said  this  morning  in 
the  presence  of  these  gentlemen,  '  March 
them  around  Baltimore,  and  not  through 
it.'  I  sincerely  hope  the  General,  on 
fuller  reflection,  will  consider  this  prac- 
tical and  proper,  and  that  yon  will  not 
object  to  it.  By  this  a  collision  of  the 
people  of  Baltimore  with  the  troops  will 
be  avoided,  unless  they  go  out  of  their 
way  to  seek  it.  I  hope  you  will  exert 
your  influence  to  prevent  this.  Now 


170 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


ever  I  shall  do  all  in  my  power  for  peace, 
consistently  with  the  maintenance  of  the 
Government." 

At  3  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
next  day,  the  21st,  Mayor  Brown  re- 
ceived a  despatch  from  the  President 
requesting  the  presence  of  himself  and 
Governor  Hicks  at  the  Capital  to  confer 
respecting  the  preservation  of  the  peace 
of  Maryland.  Governor  Hicks  not  be- 
ing at  Baltimore,  Mayor  Brown,  at  the 
further  request  of  the  President,  pro- 
ceeded without  him,  taking  with  him 
Messrs.  Dobbin,  Brune  and  S.  T.  Wallis. 
Having  procured  a  special  train  they 
reached  Washington  about  10  in  the 
forenoon  and  forthwith  repaired  to  the 
President's  house,  where  they  were  ad- 
mitted to  an  immediate  interview,  to 
which  the  Cabinet  and  General  Scott 
were  summoned.  A  Ipng  conversation 
and  discussion  ensued,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing statement  was  prepared  by  Mayor 
Brown  and  his  companions  immediately 
after  the  interview  : 

"  The  President,  upon  his  part,  re- 
cognized the  good  faith  of  the  city  and 
state  authorities,  and  insisted  upon  his 
own.  He  admitted  the  excited  state  of 
feeling  in  Baltimore,  and  his  desire  and 
duty  to  avoid  the  fatal  consequences  of  a 
collision  with  the  people.  He  urged,  on 
tLe  other  hand,  the  absolute,  irresistible 
necessity  of  having  a  transit  through  the 
State  for  such  troops  as  might  be  neces- 
sary for  the  protection  of  the  federal 
Capital.  The  protection  of  Washington, 
he  asseverated  with  great  earnestness, 
was  the  sole  object  of  concentrating 
troops  there,  and  he  protested  that  none 
of  the  troops  brought  through  Maryland 
were  intended  for  any  purpose  hostile  to 
the  State,  or  aggressive  as  against  the 
Southern  States.  Being  now  unable  to 


bring  them  up  the  Potomac  in  security, 
the  Government  must  either  bring  them 
through  Maryland,  or  abandon  the  Cap- 
ital. He  called  on  General  Scott  for 
his  opinion,  which  the  General  gave  at 
length,  to  the  effect  that  troops  might  be 
brought  through  Maryland  without  go- 
ing through  Baltimore,  by  either  carry- 
ing them  from  Perryville  to  Annapolis, 
and  thence  by  rail  to  Washington,  or  by 
bringing  them  on  to  the  Eelay  House  on 
the  Northern  Central  Railroad,  and 
marching  them  to  the  Eelay  House  on 
the  Washington  Railroad,  and  thence  by 
rail  to  the  Capital.  If  the  people  would 
permit  them  to  go  by  either  of  these 
routes  uninterruptedly,  the  necessity  of 
their  passing  through  Baltimore  would 
be  avoided.  If  the  people  would  not 
permit  them  a  transit  thus  remote  from 
the  city,  they  must  select  their  own  best 
route,  and,  if  need  be,  fight  their  way 
through  Baltimore,  a  result  which  the 
General  earnestly  deprecated. 

"  The  President  expressed  his  hearty 
concurrence  in  the  desire  to  avoid  a 
collision,  and  said  that  no  more  troops 
should  be  ordered  through  Baltimore, 
if  they  were  permitted  to  go  uninter- 
rupted by  either  of  the  other  routes 
suggested.  In  this  disposition  the  Sec- 
ret' ry  of  War  expressed  his  participa- 
tion. Mayor  Brown  assured  the  Presi- 
dent that  the  city  authorities  would  use 
all  lawful  means  to  prevent  their  citizens 
from  leaving  Baltimore  to  attack  the 
troops  in  passing  at  a  distance  ;  but  he 
urged  at  the  same  time,  the  impossibility 
of  their  being  able  to  promise  anything 
more  than  their  best  efforts  in  that  di- 
rection. The  excitement  was  great,  he 
told  the  President ;  the  people  of  all 
classes  were  fully  aroused,  and  it  was 
impossible  for  any  one  to  answer  for  the 


NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  THE  PRESIDENT. 


171 


consequences  of  the  presence  of  North- 
ern troops  anywhere  within  our  borders. 
He  reminded  the  President  also  that  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  city  authorities  was 
confined  to  their  own  population,  and 
that  he  could  give  no  promises  for  the 
people  elsewhere,  because  he  would  be 
unable  to  keep  them  if  given.  The 
President  frankly  acknowledged  this  dif- 
ficulty, and  said  that  the  Government 
would  only  ask  the  city  authorities  to 
use  their  best  efforts  with  respect  to 
those  under  their  jurisdiction.  The  in- 
terview terminated  with  the  distinct  as- 
surance, on  the  part  of  the  President, 
that  no  more  troops  would  be  sent 
through  Baltimore,  unless  obstructed  in 
their  transit  in  other  directions,  and 
with  the  understanding  that  the  city  au- 
thorities should  do  their  best  to  restrain 
their  own  people. 

"  On  returning  to  the  cars,  and  just 
about  to  leave,  about  2  p.  M.,  the  mayor 
received  a  dispatch  from  Mr.  Garrett, 
announcing  the  approach  of  troops  to 
Cockeysville,  and  the  excitement  conse- 
quent upon  it  in  the  city.  Mr.  Brown 
and  his  companions  returned  at  once  to 
the  President,  and  asked  an  immediate 
audience,  which  was  promptly  given. 
The  mayor  exhibited  Mr.  Garrett's  dis- 
patch, which  gave  the  President  great 
surprise.  He  immediately  summoned 
the  Secretary  of  War  and  General  Scott, 
who  soon  appeared,  with  other  members 
of  the  cabinet.  The  dispatch  was  sub- 
mitted. The  President  at  once,  in  the 
most  decided  way,  urged  the  recall  of 
the  troops,  saying  that  he  had  no  idea 
they  would  be  here  to-day,  and  lest  there 
should  be  the  slightest  suspicion  of  bad 
faith  on  his  part  in  summoning  the  mayor 
to  Washington,  and  allowing  troops  to 
march  on  the  city  during  his  absence,  he 


desired  that  the  troops  should,  if  it  were 
practicable,  be  sent  back  at  once  to  York 
or  Harrisburg.  General  Scott  adopted 
the  President's  views  warmly,  and  an 
order  was  accordingly  prepared  by  the 
Lieutenant-General  to  that  effect,  and 
forwarded  by  Major  Belger  of  the  army, 
who  accompanied  the  mayor  to  this  city. 
The  troops  at  Cockeysville,  the  mayor 
was  assured,  were  not  brought  there  for 
transit  through  the  city,  but  were  in- 
tended to  be  marched  to  the  Relay 
House,  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  rail- 
road. They  will  proceed  to  Harrisburg, 
from  there  to  Philadelphia,  and  thence 
by  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  canal, 
or  by  Perrysville,  as  Major-General  Pat- 
terson may  direct." 

So  little  was  the  excitement  at  Balti- 
more allayed  by  these  reasonable  replies 
and  kindly  concessions,  that  Governor 
Hicks,  overcome  for  the  moment  by  the 
popular  tumult,  felt  compelled  on  the 
22d  to  address  this  further  communica- 
tion to  the  President : — "  I  feel  it  my 
duty,  most  respectfully  to  advise  you 
that  no  more  troops  be  ordered  or  al- 
lowed to  pass  through  Maryland,  and 
that  the  troops  now  off  Annapolis  be 
sent  elsewhere,  and  I  most  respectfully 
urge  that  a  truce  be  offered  by  you,  so 
that  the  effusion  of  blood  may  be  pre- 
vented. I  respectfully  suggest  that  Lord 
Lyons  be  requested  to  act  as  mediator 
between  the  contending  parties  of  our 
country."  To  this  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Mr.  Seward,  replied  in  behalf  of  the 
President : — "  The  President  directs  me 
to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  that  com- 
munication, and  to  assure  you  that  he 
has  weighed  the  counsels  which  it  con- 
tains with  the  respect  which  he  habitually 
cherishes  for  the  Chief  Magistrates  of 
the  several  States,  and  especially  for 


172 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


yourself.  He  regrets,  as  deeply  as  any 
magistrate  or  citizen  of  the  country  can, 
that  demonstrations  against  the  safety  of 
the  United  States,  with  very  extensive 
preparations  for  the  effusion  of  blood, 
have  made  it  his .  duty  to  call  out  the 
force  to  which  you  allude.  The  force 
now  sought  to  be  brought  through  Mary- 
land, is  intended  for  nothing  but  the  de- 
fence of  this  Capital.  The  President  has 
necessarily  confided  the  choice  of  the 
national  highway  which  that  force  shall 
take  in  coming  to  the  city,  to  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General  commanding  the  army  of 
the  United  States,  who,  like  his  only  pre- 
decessor, is  not  less  distinguished  for  his 
humanity,  than  for  his  loyalty,  patriotism 
and  distinguished  public  service.  The 
President  instructs  me  to  add,  that  the 
national  highway  thus  selected  by  the 
Lieutenant-General  has  been  chosen  by 
him,  upon  consultation  with  prominent 
magistrates  and  citizens  of  Maryland,  as 
the  one  which,  while  a  route  is  absolute- 
ly necessary,  is  furthest  removed  from 
the  populous  cities  of  the  State,  and  with 
the  expectation  that  it  would,  therefore, 
be  the  least  objectionable  one.  The 
President  cannot  but  remember  that 
there  has  been  a  time  in  the  history  of 
our  country  when  a  general  of  the  Am- 
erican Union,  with  forces  designed  for 
the  defence  of  its  capitol,  was  not  un- 
welcome anywhere  in  the  State  of  Mary- 
land, and  certainly  not  at  Annapolis  then, 
as  now,  the  capital  of  that  patriotic  State, 
and  then,  also,  one  of  the  capitals  of  the 
Union.  If  eighty  years  could  have  ob- 
literated all  the  other  noble  sentiments 
of  that  age  in  Maryland,  the  President 
would  be  hopeful,  nevertheless,  that  there 
is  one  that  would  forever  remain  there 
and  everywhere.  That  sentiment  is  that 
no  domestic  contention  whatever,  that 


may  arise  among  the  parties  of  this  Re- 
public, ought  in  any  case  to  be  referred 
to  any  foreign  arbitrament,  least  of  all 
to  the  arbitrament  of  an  European  mon- 
archy." It  will  certainly  be  looked  back 
upon  as  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
assumptions  of  this  most  extraordinary 
war,  that  the  chief  authorities  of  a  State 
not  denying  its  allegiance  to  the  govern- 
ment, requested  the  President  to  forbid 
the  passage  of  United  States  troops 
through  its  territories  when  they  were 
summoned  to  protect  the  capital  against 
a  self-styled  foreign  enemy  openly  in 
arms. 

In  addition  to  these  embassies  and 
appeals  of  the  Governor  and  Mayor,  a 
special  delegation  from  five  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  of  Baltimore 
proceeded  on  the  22d  to  Washington, 
to  intercede  with  the  .President  on  be- 
half of  a  peaceful  policy,  and  to  entreat 
him  not  to  pass  troops  through  Baltimore 
or  Maryland.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Fuller  of 
the  -Baptist  Church  accompanied  the 
the  party,  by  invitation,  as  chairman.  A 
report  of  the  characteristic  interview 
which  followed  appeared  next  day  in  the 
Baltimore  Sun,  which,  while  it  is  hardly 
to  be  taken  as  a  literal  report  of  the 
words  of  the  conversation,  preserves 
enough  of  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  to 
present  it  to  the  reader  as  a  curious  me- 
morial of  the  times.  "  Upon  the  intro- 
duction of  the  delegation,"  says  this 
account,  "  they  were  received  very  cor- 
dially by  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  conversa- 
tion opened  by  Dr.  Fuller  seeking  to 
impress  upon  him  the  vast  responsibility 
of  the  position  he  occupied,  and  that 
upon  him  depended  the  issue  of  peace  or 
war — on  one  hand,  a  terrible,  fratricidal 
conflict,  and  on  the  other,  peace.  'But,' 
said  Mr.  Lincoln,  'what  am  I  to  do?' 


THE   YOUNG  MEN   OF  BALTIMORE. 


173 


'  Wli3r,  sir,  let  the  country  know  that  you 
are  disposed  to  recognize  the  independ- 
ence of  the  Southern  States.  I  say 
nothing  of  secession  ;  recognise  the  fact 
that  they  have  formed  a  government  of 
their  own  ;  that  they  will  never  be  united 
again  with  the  North,  and  peace  will  in- 
stantly take  the  place  of  anxiety  and 
suspense,  and  war  may  be  averted.' 
'  And  what  is  to  become  of  the  revenue?' 
was  the  reply.  '  I  shall  have  no  govern- 
ment— no  revenues.'  Dr.  Fuller  then 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Northern 
States  would  constitute  an  imposing  gov- 
ernment and  furnish  revenue. 

"  The  conversation  next  turned  upon 
the  passage  of  troops  through  Maryland, 
Dr.  Fuller  expressing  very  earnestly  the 
hope  that  no  more  would  be  ordered  over 
the  soil  of  this  State.  He  remarked 
that  Maryland  had  shed  her  blood  freely 
in  the  War  for  Independence,  she  was 
the  first  to  move  for  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  arid  had  only  yielded  her 
clinging  attachment  to  the  Union  when 
the  blood  of  her  citizens  had  been  shed 
by  strangers  on  their  way  to  a  conflict 
with  her  sisters  of  the  South.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln insisted  that  he  wanted  the  troops 
only  for  the  defence  of  the  Capital,  not 
for  the  invasion  of  the  Southern  States. 
'And/  he  said,  '  I  must  have  the  troops, 
and  mathematically  the  necessity  exists 
that  they  should  come  through  Maryland. 
They  can't  crawl  under  the  earth,  and 


they  can't  fly  over  it,  and  mathematically 
they  must  come  across  it.  Why,  sir,  those 
Carolinians  are  now  crossing  Virginia  to 
come  here  to  hang  me,  and  what  can  I 
do  ?'  In  some  allusion  to  the  importance 
of  a  peace  policy,  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked 
that  if  he  adopted  it  under  the  circum- 
stances there  '  would  be  no  Washington 
in  that — no  Jackson  in  that — no  spunk 
in  that !'  Whereupon  Dr.  Fuller  hoped 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  not  allow  '  spunk' 
to  override  patriotism.  Mr.  Lincoln 
doubted  if  he  or  Congress  could  recog- 
nize the  Southern  Confederacy.  With 
regard  to  the  Government,  he  said,  'he 
must  run  the  machine  as  he  found  it.' 
In  reference  to  passing  troops  through 
Baltimore  or  Maryland,  he  said  : — '  Now, 
sir,  if  you  won't  hit  me,  I  won't  hit 
you.'  As  the  delegations  were  leaving, 
Mr.  Lincoln  said  to  one  or  two  of  the 
young  men,  '  I'll  tell  you  a  story.  You 
have  heard  of  the  Irishman  who,  when  a 
fellow  was  cutting  his  throat  with  a  blunt 
razor,  complained  that  he  haggled  it. 
Now,  if  I  can't  have  troops  direct  through 
Maryland,  and  must  have  them  all  the 
way  round  by  water,  or  marched  across 
out-of-the-way  territory,  I  shall  be  hig- 
gled.'" From  this  idiomatic  and  suffi- 
ciently life-like  report  of  the  conversa- 
tion the  true  position  of  affairs,  we  appre- 
hend, can  be  quite  as  readily  understood 
as  from  the  more  for.nal  diplomatic  lan- 
guage of  the  Secretary  of  State. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


GENERAL    BUTLER'S    DEPARTMENT    OF    ANNAPOLIS. 


WHILST  these  various  painful  inter- 
views and  negotiations  respecting  the 
apparently  simple  matter  of  a  passage 
of  United  States  troops  to  the  national 
Capital  were  forced  upon  the  President, 
the  question  under  discussion  was  prac- 
tically solved,  and  Maryland  saved,  by 
an  enterprising  Massachusetts  Brigadier 
General  of  Militia,  who  opened  and  held 
the  route  by  way  of  Annapolis.  Gen- 
eral Benjamin  Franklin  Butler,  who  now 
first  appears  upon  the  stage  of  the  war 
in  which  he  was  to  play  an  important 
part,  was  a  native  New  Englander,  now 
forty-three  years  of  age,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  considerable  reputation  as  a 
stirring  member  of  the  bar  and  an  ac- 
tive, influential  Democratic  politician. 
As  a  member  of  the  Charleston  Presi- 
dential Convention  and  an  advocate  of 
the  election  of  the  extreme  Southern 
candidate,  the  fact  of  his  prompt  sup- 
port of  the  Government  of  President 
Lincoln  when  the  issue  was  made  at 
Sumter  was  of  no  little  significance  of 
the  final  success  of  the  cause.  It  was 
an  indication  of  the  utmost  value  at  the 
time,  that  whatever  party  differences 
there  had  been  heretofore,  there  would 
be  but  one  opinion  at  the  North  on  the 
propriety  and  necessity  of  using  every 
effort  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

The  talents  of  General  Butler  were 
of  a  kind  well-suited  for  the  work,  half 
civil,  half  military,  upon  which  he  was 
to  enter.  Quick,  sagacious,  and 


above  all  resolute,  he  was  not  to  be 
turned  aside  by  unexpected  practical 
obstacles  on  his  route,  of  which  quite 
enough  might  be  looked  for  ;  nor  was  he 
to  be  perplexed  by  any  of  the  sophis- 
tries of  rebellion  which  might  be  inter- 
posed to  interrupt  the  straightforward 
path  of  his  civil  duties.  He  might  lack 
experience  for  an  active  campaign  in  the 
field,  but  those  who  knew  him  felt  that 
the  enemy  would  not  easily  get  the  ad- 
vantage of  him  in  the  diplomacy  of  war. 
The  man  who  had  commenced  his  legal 
career  in  securing  the  claim  of  a  female 
operative  by  attaching  the  wheel  of  the 
mill  of  her  wealthy  manufacturing  debt- 
or, would,  it  was  said,  know  how  and 
where  to  strike.  There  was  another 
story  told  of  him,  illustrating  his  pre- 
sence of  mind,  which  inspired  some  con- 
fidence in  his  performance  of  his  new 
military  duties.  It  was  in  Lowell,  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  1856,  during  the  Presi- 
dential contest,  when  the  Hon.  Rufus 
Choate  had  been  invited  to  address  the 
citizens.  The  largest  hall  of  the  town 
was  crowded  to  overflowing  and  all  were 
listening  delighted  to  the  orator  of.  the 
occasion,  when  suddenly  a  burst  of  ap- 
plause was  interrupted  by  a  jar  in  the 
building,  and  the  cry  that  the  floor  was 
sinking.  General  Butler  instantly  rose 
and  allayed  the  excitement  by  assuring 
the  assembly  that  he  did  not  apprehend 
the  least  danger,  but  as  the  architect 
was  present,  for  the  greater  certainty, 


GENERAL  BUTLER. 


175 


he  would  go  with  him  and  make  an  in- 
stant examination.  The  investigation  at 
once  convinced  him  of  the  utter  insecu- 
rity of  the  edifice  and  the  probability  of 
a  fearful  disaster  to  the  whole  company 
if  there  was  any  disturbance  or  haste  to 
escape.  Making  his  way  through  the 
dense  crowd  on  his  return  with  perfect 
calmness,  he  approached  the  speaker 
and  apparently  communicating  to  him 
some  pleasing  intelligence,  while  he  was 
with  startling  emphasis  actually  whisper- 
ing the  terrific  sentence  in  his  ear,  "  Mr. 
Choate,  I  must  clear  this  house,  or  we 
shall  all  be  in  h — 1  in  five  minutes," 
turned  to  the  audience  and  blandly 
remarked,  "  My  friends,  there  is  no  pre- 
sent danger  ;  but  as  the  house  is  over- 
crowded it  will  be  better  to  quietly  ad- 
journ to  the  open  air  ;  and  I  therefore 
invite  you  to  the  front  of  the  Merrimac 
House."  The  assembly,  in  blissful  ig- 
norance of  the  danger,  quietly  adopting 
the  suggestion,  retired  in  safety. 

A  clever  sketch  of  General  Butler 
written  a  year  or  two  previously  by  a 
member  of  the  New  England  bar  was 
reproduced  at  the  time  of  his  new  mili- 
tary appointment,  pleasantly  shows  us 
something  of  the  man.  "  He  was  born 
in  New  Hampshire.  He  worked  his 
own  way  to  college,  and  through  it, 
at  Waterville,  Maine.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  his  alma  mater  never  .graduated 
such  another.  He  supported  himself  in 
college  by  making  chairs.  Through  life 
he  has  cut  his  own  way,  and  a  wide, 
long  breadth  of  swarth  has  he  carried. 
He  has  wrung  success  from  men  and  cir- 
cumstances, moreover,  that  were  reluc- 
tant to  concede  it  to  him.  And  in  so 
doing  he  has  indicated  his  great  strength. 
When  he  iirst  came  to  the  Bar  the  Courts 
looked  upon  him  as  a  sort  of  portentous 


phenomenon,  such  as  never  before  came 
athwart  the  judicial  vision.  He  had  no 
family  influence  to  aid  his  young  steps. 
He  had  no  friends  to  '  blow  for  him,'  as 
the  phrase  is.  His  early  days  were 
spent  in  steady  rowing  up  stream,  with  a 
strong  wind  and  the  current  both  dead 
against  him.  But  he  never  faltered. 
He  cleared  the  rapids,  and  up  he  con- 
tinued to  sail.  He  is  in  calmer  water 
now.  He  might  anchor  if  he  would. 
But  his  temperament  will  never  suffer 
him  to  rest  this  side  the  '  narrow  house.' 
But  the  fact  that  all  he  has  and  all  he  is, 
are  the  conquest  of  his  own  energy,  is  a 
fact  that  indicates  this  pluck.  He  may 
be  safely  set  down  as  a  man  of  irrepres- 
sible energy.  .  .  .  He  is  not  a  fluent  nor 
graceful  speaker.  His  voice  is  harsh 
and  grating.  There  is  no  mistaking  his 
meaning.  He  uses  '  talk  words  '  with 
fiery  vehemence.  He  makes  awkward 
work  when  he  undertakes  to  utter  com- 
pliments. But  he  smites  an  adversary 
with  the  plainest  of  Anglo-Saxon  epi- 
thets, as  though  he  had  had  long  prac- 
tice in  their  use,  as,  indeed,  he  has.  The 
laughs  he  creates  are  more  apt  to  be  in 
the  rear  seats  than  on  the  bench  or  in 
the  bar.  .  .  .  He  is  a  faithful  and  stead- 
fast friend.  His  zeal  in  his  client's  cause 
never  flags  for  an  instant.  His  fidelity 
to  his  client  is  never  shaken  ;  and  fidel- 
ity is  equally  strong  in  all  cases.  It 
isn't  at  all  measured  by  the  fees  receiv- 
ed. Pay  or  no  pay— the  earnestness 
and  the  energy  are  the  same  so  long  as 
the  relation  of  attorney  and  client  con-  j 
tinues.  The  General  has  a  memory  we 
think  especially"  tenacious  of  friendly 
acts.  He  is  quite  apt  not  to  forget  or 
wholly  to  forgive  injuries,  real  or  fan- 
cied. But  no  temptation  would  cause 
him  to  desert  or  betray  a  friend.  He 


176 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


lives  in  a  style  anything  but  Democratic, 
according  to  our  New  England  ideas. 

^j  **j 

Scarcely  any  other  lawyer,  from  the  in- 
come of  his  profession,  could  maintain 
such  an  establishment  as  his.  But  he 
has  earned  it  by  his  energy,  industry 
and  perseverance.  And  though  we  hope 
he  may  be  unsuccessful  in  his  politics, 
we  hope  he  may  survive  through  many 
years  of  happy  life  in  his  elegant  resi- 
dence on  the  banks  of  the  Merrimac, 
with  its  '  shrubbery '  which  Shenstone 
indeed  might  envy.  '  Ability/  quoth 
the  lexicographer,  '  means  the  art  of 
accomplishing.'  Then  General  Butler  is 
as  able  a  man  as  walks  the  soil  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. He  has  all  the  elements 
necessary  for  the  successful  accomplish- 
ment of  whatever  he  undertakes.  He 
has  a  resolute  will.  He  is  fertile  in  re- 
sources. He  is  ingenious.  He  is  a  ge- 
nial companion.  His  wit,  in  conversa- 
tion, tells  better  than  in  formal  speeches 
or  arguments.  He  can  set  and  keep  the 
'  table  in  a  roar.' ' 

Brigadier-General  Butler  having  been 
appointed  by  Governor  Andrew  to  com- 
mand the  Massachusetts  men  sent  to 
Washington,  left  Boston  on  the  18th  of 
April,  with  the  8th  State  Regiment, 
and  was  with  it  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
day  of  the  attack  upon  the  advanced 
portion  of  his  force  in  the  riot  at  Balti- 
more. Quickly  appreciating  the  state  of 
affairs  in  Maryland,  and  conscious  of  the 
obstacles  which  would  be  interposed  in 
the  way  of  direct  communication  with 
the  National  Capital,  with  characteristic 
promptness  and  decision  he  resolved 
upon  opening  the  way  by  a  path  of  his 
own.  "  I  propose,"  said  he,  in  a  de- 
spatch to  Governor  Andrew,  from  Phil- 
adelphia, written  on  the  morning  of  the 
20th,  "  to  take  the  1,500  troops  to  An- 


napolis, arriving  there  to-morrow  about 
4  o'clock,  and  occupy  the  capital  of  Mary- 
land, and  thus  call  the  State  to  account 
for  the  death  of  Massachusetts  men, — my 
friends  and  neighbors.  .  .  In  pursu- 
ance of  this  plan  I  have  detailed  Cap- 
tains Devereux  and  Briggs  with  their 
commands  to  hold  the  boat  at  Havre  de 
Grace.  .  .  If  1  succeed,  success  will 
justify  me.  If  I  fail,  purity  of  intention 
will  excuse  want  of  judgment  or  rash- 
ness."* In  accordance  with  this  resolu- 
tion he  travelled  that  night  with  the  regi- 
ment by  rail  to  Havre  de  Grace  on  the 
Susquehanna,  where,  in  pursuance  of  his 
scheme,  he  at  once  took  military  posses- 
sion of  the  powerful  steam  ferry  boat 
Maryland  at  the  station,  and  sailed  with 
his  troops  down  the  Chesapeake  to  Anna- 
polis, from  which  place  there  was  railway 
communication  with  Washington. 

Arriving  before  the'  town  he  found  it 
in  the  hands  of  a  body  of  insurgents,  and 
the  United  States  property  at  the  Na- 
val Academy  stationed  there,  especially 
the  frigate  Constitution, — "  old  Iron- 
sides,"— which  lay  at  the  dock  and  was 
employed  as  a  practice  ship  by  the  pupils 
of  the  school,  in  immediate  danger  of 
capture.  A  number  of  men  selected 
from  his  command  on  the  deck  of  the 
Maryland  for  their  acquaintance  with 
nautical  duties,  were  promptly  put  on 
board  of  the  frigate,  and  by  their  exer- 
tions and  the  aid  of  the  ferry  boat,  the 
honored  old  ship  was  worked  into  the 
stream  and  placed  out  of  danger.  A 
special  order  of  General  Butler,  dated  on 
board  the  Maryland,  addressed  to  his 
Eighth  Regiment,  handsomely,  and  not 
without  a  few  pardonable  patriotic  flour- 
ishes, acknowledged  their  services.  "  The 

*  Report   of  the  Adjutant  General    of   Massachusetts. 
December  31,  1861,  p.  22. 


"OLD   IRONSIDES.' 


177 


frigate  Constitution,"  said  he,  "lias  lain 
lor  a  long  time  at  this  port,  substantially 
at  the  mercy  of  the  armed  mob  which 
sometimes  paralyzes  the  otherwise  loyal 
State  ol  Maryland.  Deeds  of  daring, 
successful  contests  and  glorious  victories, 
had  rendered  '  old  Ironsides'  so  con- 
spicuous in  the  naval  history  of  the  coun- 
try, that  she  was  fitly  chosen  as  the 
school  in  .which  to  train  the  future  officers 
of  the  Navy  to  like  heroic  acts.  It  was 
given  to  Massachusetts  and  Essex  County 
first  to  man  her ;  it  was  reserved  to 
Massachusetts  to  have  the  honor  to 
retain  her  for  the  service  of  the  Union 
and  the  laws.  This  is  a  sufficient  triumph 
of  right,  a  sufficient  triumph  for  us.  By 
this  the  blood  of  our  friends,  shed  by  the 
Baltimore  mob,  is  so  far  avenged.  The 
Eighth  Eegiment  may  hereafter  cheer 
lustily  upon  all  proper  occasions,  but 
never  without  orders.  The  old  Consti- 
tution, by  their  efforts,  aided  untiringly 
by  the  United  States  officers  having  her 
in  charge,  is  now  'possessed,  occupied 
and  enjoyed'  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  safe  from  all  her 
enemies."  We  may  add,  as  a  sequel  to 
this  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  old 
frigate,  so  splendidly  illuminated  by  the 
heroism  of  Hall,  Stewart  and  Bainbridge, 
that  the  Constitution  was  shortly  after 
brought  to  New  York  with  the  pupils  of 
the  Naval  Academy  on  board,  and  that 
she  thence  passed  to  a  permanent  station 
in  the  harbor  of  Newport,  where  with- 
out delay  the  usual  discipline  of  the 
school  was  resumed. 

While  General  Butler  with  his  troops 
was  still  on  board  the  Maryland,  de- 
tained by  the  grounding  of  that  vessel 
on  a  sand  bar,  "the  steamer  Boston,  on 
the  morning  of  the  22d,  came  into  the 
harbor,  bringing  the  Seventh  New  York 
23 


regiment,  which,  despairing  of  the  com- 
munication by  Baltimore,  had  taken  the 
ocean  route  from  Philadelphia.  The  joint 
forces  landed  in  the  afternoon,  and  took 
up  their  quarters  at  the  grounds  of  the 
Naval  Academy  with  no  more  formidable 
opposition  than  a  protest  against  the 
proceeding  from  Governor  Hicks,  who, 
being  in  the  town,  had  been-  engaged 
from  the  first  arrival  of  the  troops  in  a 
correspondence  with  General  Butler  on 
the  subject  of  their  reception.  "  I  would 
most  earnestly  advise,"  he  wrote,  on  the 
appearance  of  the  Maryland,  "  that  you 
do  not  land  your  men  at  Annapolis.  The 
excitement  here  is  very  great,  and  I 
think  that  you  should  take  your  men 
elsewhere."  To  this  the  General  replied 
with  exceeding  moderation,  pleading  the 
necessities  of  his  position,  the  wants  of 
his  men  and  their  extreme  and  unhealthy 
confinement  on  a  transport  not  fitted  to 
receive  them,  and  above  all,  his  duty  in 
obedience  to  the  requisitions  of  the  Presi- 
dent to  proceed  to  Washington.  .In 
amendment  of  the  terms  in  which  the 
Governor  had  spoken  of  his  troops,  he 
added,  "  I  beg  leave  to  call  your  excel- 
lency's attention  to  what  I  hope  I  may 
be  pardoned  for  deeming  an  ill-advised 
designation  of  the  men  under  my  com- 
mand. They  are  not  Northern  troops  ; 
they  are  a  part  of  the  whole  militia  of 
the  United  States,  obeying  the  call  of  the 
President."  The  commander's  resolu- 
tion was  decided,  and  the  Governor 
yielded,  if  not  to  the  logic  of  the  law- 
yer, at  least  to  the  equally  stubborn 
arguments  of  the  general.  "  I  content 
myself,"  he  wrote  in  reply,  "  with  pro- 
testing against  this  movement,  which  in 
view  of  the  excited  condition  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  State,  I  cannot  but  consider 
an  unwise  step  on  the  part  of  the  gov- 


178 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


eminent."  Thus  beset  with  difficulties, 
at  this  time,  was  the  execution  by  its 
constituted  officers  of  the  simplest  duties 
to  the  nation. 

The  landing  being  now  accomplished, 
the  troops  began  the  work  of  repairing 
the  railway  connecting  with  Washington, 
which  had  been  broken  up  within  the 
last  few  days  by  the  disaffected  popula- 
tion. The  Massachusetts  soldiers  took 
the  lead,  and  were  particularly  efficient 
in  this  employment,  the  8th  regiment 
numbering  many  skilled  artisans  accus- 
tomed to  this  species  of  labor.  With  a 
keen  scent  the  abstracted  rails  were 
quickly  discovered  where  they  had  been 
hidden  in  wood  and  field,  and  drew  them 
forth  from  their  lurking-places  near,  and 
remote  :  one  enterprising  detective,  argu- 
ing from  the  probabilities  of  the  case, 
inferred  that  a  missing  link  of  the  iron 
road  must  be  in  the  bed  of  the  river, 
plunged  in  headlong  and  brought  it  to 
the  surface.  Forges  were  extemporized, 
and  an  engine  which  had  been  pur- 
posely disabled  was  put  in  order  for 
its  work.  Oddly  enough,  though  not 
without  its  significance  for  a  contest  in 
which  Northern  labor  was  to  be  so  im- 
portant a  principle,  the  very  maker  of 
the  now  dilapidated  machine, — Charles 
Homans  of  the  Beverley  Light  Guard,— 
stepped  forward  from  the  ranks  to  repair 
it ;  and  when  it  was  restored  there  were 
Massachusetts  engineers  ready  to  carry 
it  forward.  In  two  days'  time  from  the 
landing,  all  was  in  sufficient  order  to 
afford  means  of  transit  for  the  sick  of  the 
New  York  "  Seventh,"  their  howitzers, 
ammunition  and  medical  stores  on  the 
way  to  the  Junction,  from  which  point, 
by  the  vigilant  precautions  of  General 
Scott,  the  remainder  of  the  road  to 
Washington  was  sufficiently  protected. 


The  march  of  the  Seventh  across 
Maryland  was  a  striking  event  in  the 
early  annals  of  the  war — not  so  for- 
midable and  extraordinary  perhaps  tc 
old  campaigners  as  it  appeared  to  the 
inexperienced  youths  suddenly  removed 
from  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  their 
homes,  but  sufficiently  rigorous  under  the 
circumstances,  and  undoubtedly  attended 
with  many  unmilitary  privations  of  needed 
repose  and  a  proper  commissariat.  After 
four  or  five  days  of  excitement  and  hard- 
ships, ill  supplied  with  food,  and  beset 
with  dangers  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile 
population,  word  was  given  at  Annapolis 
to  advance  and  open  the  route  to  the 
Capital.  On  the  morning  of  the  24th  of 
April,  says  O'Brien,  a  member  of  the 
regiment,  in  the  narrative  already  al- 
luded to,  "  we  started  on  what  after- 
wards proved  to  be  one  of  the  hardest 
marches  on  record.  The  secessionists  of 
Annapolis  and  the  surrounding  district 
had  threatened  to  cut  us  off  in  our  march, 
and  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  they 
would  attack  our  quarters.  This,  of 
course,  was  the  drunken  Southern  ebul- 
lition. A  civilian  told  me  that  he  met  in 
the  streets  of  Annapolis  two  cavalry  sol- 
diers who  came  to  cut  our  throats  without 
delay,  but  as  each  brave  warrior  was 
endeavoring  to  hold  the  other  up,  my 
friend  did  not  apprehend  much  danger. 
A  curious  revulsion  of  feeling  took  place 
at  Annapolis,  and  indeed  all  through 
Maryland  after  our  arrival.  The  ad- 
mirable good  conduct  which  characterizes 
the  regiment,  the  open  liberality  which 
it  displays  in  all  pecuniary  transactions, 
and  the  courteous  demeanour  which  it 
exhibits  to  all  classes,  took  the  narrow- 
minded  population  of  this  excessively 
wretched  town  by  surprise.  They  were 
prepared  for  pillage.  They  thought  we 


A  MIDNIGHT  MARCH. 


179 


were   going   to   sack   the   place.     They 
found,  instead,  that  we  were  prepared 
and   willing   to   pay  liberal   prices   for 
everything,  and  that  even  patriotic  pre- 
sentations were  steadily  refused.     While 
we  were  in  the  Navy  School,  of  course 
all  sorts  of  rumors  as  to  our  operations 
were  floating  about.      It  surprised  me 
that  no  one  suggested  that  we  were  to  go 
off  in  a  balloon  ;  however,  all  surmises 
were  put  an  end  to  by  our  receiving  or- 
ders, the  evening  of  the  23d,  to  assemble 
in  marching  order  next  morning.     The 
dawn  saw  us  up.     Knapsacks,  with  our 
blankets  and  overcoats  strapped  on  them, 
were  piled  on  the  green.     A  brief  and 
insufficient  breakfast  was  taken,  our  can- 
teens filled  with  vinegar  and  water,  car- 
tridges distributed  to  each  man,  and  after 
mustering  and  loading,  we  started  on  our 
first  march  through  a  hostile  country. 
We  marched  the  first  eight  miles  under 
a  burning  sun,  in  heavy  marching  order, 
in  less  than  three  hours  ;  and  it  is  well 
known  that,  placing  all  elementary  con- 
siderations out  of  the  way,  marching  on 
a  railroad  track  is  the  most  harassing. 
We  started  at  about  8  o'clock  A.  M.,  and 
for  the  first  time,  saw  the  town  of  An- 
napolis, which,  without  any  disrespect  to 
that  place,  I  may  say,  looked  very  much 
as  if  some  celestial  schoolboy,  with  a  box 
of  toys  under  his  arm,  had  dropped  a  few 
houses  and  men  as  he  was  going  home 
from  school,  and  that  the  accidental  set- 
tlement was  called  Annapolis.  The  tracks 
had  been  torn  up  between  Annapolis  and 
the  Junction,  and  here  it  was  that  the 
wonderful  qualities  of  the  Massachusetts 
Eighth  regiment  came  out.     The  locomo- 
tives had  been  taken  to  pieces  by  the  in- 
habitants, in  order  to  prevent  our  travel. 
In  steps  a  Massachusetts  volunteer,  looks 
at  the  piece-meal,  and  then  takes  up  a 


flange,  and  says  coolly,  '  I  made  this  en- 
gine, and  I  can  put  it  together  again.' 
Engineers  were  wanted  when  the  engine 
was  ready.  Nineteen  stepped  out  of  the 
ranks.  The  rails  were  torn  up.  Practical 
railroad  makers  out  of  the  regiment  laid 
them  again,  and  all  this,  mind  you,  with- 
out care  or  food.  These  brave  boys,  I 
say,  were  starving  while  they  were  doing 
all  this  good  work.  What  their  Colonel 
was  doing  I  can't  say.  As  we  marched 
along  the  track  that  they  had  laid,  they 
greeted  us  with  ranks  of  smiling  but 
hungry  faces.  One  boy  told  me,  with  a 
laugh  on  his  young  lips,  that  he  had  not 
ate  anything  for  thirty  hours.  There 
was  not,  thank  God,  a  haversack  in  our 
regiment  that  was  not  emptied  into  the 
hands  of  these  ill-treated  heroes,  nor  a 
flask  that  was  not  at  their  disposal.  I 
am  glad  to  pay  them  tribute  here,  and 
mentally  doff  my  cap. 

"  Our  march  lay  through  an  arid,  sandr, 
tobacco-growing  country.  The  sun  pour- 
ed on  our  heads  like  hot  lava.  The  Sixth 
and  Second  companies  were  sent  on  for 
skirmishing  duty,  under  the  command  of 
Captains  Clarke  and  Nevers,  the  latter 
commanding  as  senior  officer.  A  car,  on 
which  was  placed  a  howitzer,  loaded  with 
grape  and  canister^  headed  the  column, 
manned  by  the  engineer  and  artillery 
corps,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Bunt- 
ing. This  was  the  rallying  point  of  the 
skirmishing  party,  on  which,  in  case  of 
difficulty,  they  could  fall  back.  In  the 
centre  of  the  column  came  the  cars  laden 
with  medical  stores,  and  bearing  our  sick 
and  wounded,  while  the  extreme  rear 
was  brought  up  with  a  second  howitzer, 
loaded  also  with  grape  and  canister. 
The  engineer  corps,  of  course,  had  to  do 
the  forwarding  work.  New  York  dan- 
dies, sir— but  they  built  bridges,  laid 


180 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


rails,  and  headed  the  regiment  through 
that  terrible  inarch.  After  marching 
about  eight  miles,  during  which  time 
several  men  caved  in  from  exhaustion, 
and  one  young  gentleman  was  sunstruck 
and  sent  back  to  New  York,  we  halted, 
and  instantly,  with  the  divine  instinct 
which  characterizes  the  hungry  soldier, 
proceeded  to  forage.  The  worst  of  it 
was  there  was  no  foraging  to  be  done. 
The  only  house  within  reach  was  inhabit- 
ed by  a  lethargic  person,  who,  like  most 
Southern  men,  had  no  idea  of  gaining 
money  by  labor.  We  offered  him  ex- 
travagant prices  to  get  us  fresh  water, 
and  it  was  with  the  utmost  reluctance  we 
could  get  him  to  obtain  us  a  few  pailsful. 
Over  the  mantel-piece  of  his  miserable 
shanty  I  saw — a  curious  coincidence — 
the  portrait  of  Colonel  Duryea,  of  our 
regiment. 

"After  a  brief  rest  of  about  an  hour, 
we  again  commenced  our  march ;  a  march 
which  lasted  until  the  next  morning — a 
march  than  which  in  hjstory  nothing  but 
those  marches  in  which  defeated  troops 
have  fled  from  the  enemy  can  equal. 
Our  Colonel,  it  seems,  determined  to 
march  by  railroad,  in  preference  to  the 
common  road,  inasmuch  as  he  had  ob- 
tained such  secret  information  as  led  him 
to  suppose  that  we  were  waited  for  on 
the  latter  route.  Events  justified  his 
judgment.  There  were  cavalry  troops 
posted  in  defiles  to  cut  us  off.  They 
could  not  have  done  it,  of  course,  but 
they  could  have  harassed  us  severely. 
As  we  went  along  the  railroad,  we  threw 
out  skirmishing  parties  from  the  Second 
and  Sixth  companies,  to  keep  the  road 
clear.  I  know  not  if  I  can  describe  that 
night's  march.  I  have  dim  recollections 
of  deep  cuts  through  which  we  passed, 
gloomy  and  treacherous-looking,  with  the 


moon  shining  full  on  our  muskets,  while 
the  banks  were  wrapped  in  shade,  and 
each  moment  expecting  to  see  the  flash 
and  hear  the  crack  of  the  rifle  of  the 
Southern  guerilla.  The  tree  frogs  and 
lizards  made  a  mournful  music  as  we 
passed.  The  soil  on  which  we  travelled 
was  soft  and  heavy.  The  sleepers  lying 
at  intervals  across  the  track,  made  the 
marching  terribly  fatiguing.  On  all  sides 
dark,  lonely  pine  woods  stretched  away, 
and  high  over  the  hooting  of  owls  or  the 
plantive  petition  of  the  whip-poor-will 
rose  the  bass  commands  of  Halt !  For- 
ward, march ! — and  when  we  came  to 
any  ticklish  spot,  the  word  would  run 
from  the  head  of  the  column  along  the 
line,  'Holes,'  'Bridge,  pass  it  along/  etc. 
As  the  night  wore  on,  the  monotony  of 
the  march  became  oppressive.  Owing 
to  our  having  to  explore  every  inch  of 
the  way,  we  did  not  make  more  than  a 
mile  or  mile  and  a  half  an  hour.  "We 
ran  out  of  stimulants,  and  almost  out  of 
water.  Most  of  us  had  not  slept  for  four 
nights,  and  as  the  night  advanced,  our 
march  was  almost  a  stagger.  This  was 
not  so  much  fatigue  as  want  of  excite- 
ment. Our  fellows  were  spoiling  for  a 
fight,  and  when  a  dropping  shot  was 
heard  in  the  distance,  it  was  wonderful 
to  see  how  the  languid  legs  straightened, 
and  the  column  braced  itself  for  action. 
If  we  had  had  even  the  smallest  kind  of 
a  skirmish  the  men  would  have  been  able 
to  walk  to  Washington.  As  it  was,  we 
went  sleepily  on.  I  myself  fell  asleep 
walking  in  the  ranks.  Numbers,  I  find, 
followed  my  example  ;  but  never  before 
was  there  shown  such  indomitable  plm  k 
and  perseverance  as  the  Seventh  showed 
in  that  march  of  twenty  miles."  * 


*  The  Seventh  Regiment.    How  it  Got  from  New  YorTi 
to  "Washington.    New  York  Times,  May  2,  1862. 


DEFENCE   OF   WASHINGTON. 


181 


The  Seventh  found  a  hearty  welcome 
at  Washington.  •Their  presence  com- 
pleted the  trio  of  Pennsylvania,  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York  regiments  quar- 
tered at  the  Capital,  which  with  several 
hundred  United  States  troops  at  hand, 
and  a  few  companies  of  volunteers,  con- 
stituted the  defence  of  the  city.  The 
threatening  events  in  Virginia  follow- 
ing so  rapidly  the  fall  of  Sumter,  the 
secession  of  the  State  and  the  too-well 
founded  rumors  of  attack  upon  the  na- 
tional property,  naturally  produced  some- 
thing like  a  panic  at  Washington.  We 
have  seen  the  anticipations  by  the 
Southern  press  of  its  easy  capture,  and 
many  an  anxious  patriot  in  the  metro- 
polis, no  doubt,  during  the  week  after  the 
fall  of  Sumter,  trembled  to  think  that  a 
bold  hand  only  was  wanted  to  convert 
them  into  realities.  Washington,  how- 
ever, had  a  powerful  defender  in  General 
Scott,  who  was  fully  prepared  to  dispose  of 
his  little  force  to  the  best  advantage.  The 
entrance  to  the  city  by  the  Long  Bridge 
was  doubly  guarded  and  batteries  were 
arranged  at  convenient  points,  while  of- 
ficers of  the  army,  navy  and  marine  corps 
were  abandoning  the  service,  notable 
among  them  Commodore  Buchanan  at  the 
Washington  Navy  Yard  and  Colonel  Ma- 
gruder  of  the  Flying  Artillery.  The  work 
of  organizing  a  volunteer  force  was  vigor- 
ously prosecuted  at  the  War  Department 
and  by  the  well  known  Cassius  M.  Clay 
of  Kentucky,  who  drilled  a  company  of 
guards,  and  James  H.  Lane,  who  mus- 
tered a  little  band  of  Kansas  volunteers 
at  the  Presidential  mansion.  Defections 
were  so  numerous,  and  it  was  thought  in 
certain  quarters  so  much  a  matter  of 
course  that  an  officer,  whatever  his  rela- 
tions to  the  Government,  should  follow 
the  fortunes  of  his  State,  that  it  was 


supposed  at  the  South  that  General  Scott 
would  resign  his  command  in  the  United 
States  Army,  and  take  command  in  the 
Confederate  service.  It  is  said  that  an 
overture  of  this  kind  was  made  him  by 
an  old  personal  friend  from  Richmond. 
"  I  remember,"  said  Secretary  Cameron, 
speaking  of  those  clays,  "  General  Scott 
came  to  me,  apparently  in  great  tribula- 
tion. 'I  have  spent/  said  he,  'the  most 
miserable  day  of  my  life  ;  a  friend  of  my 
boyhood  has  just  told  me  I  am  disgrac- 
ing myself  by  staying  here  and  serv- 
ing this  fragment  of  the  government  in 
place  of  going  to  Virginia  and  serving 
under  the  banner  of  my  native  State.'  "* 
In  answer  to  some  such  ignorant  sugges- 
tion, he  telegraphed  to  Senator  Critten- 
den  of  Kentucky,  on  the  21st  of  April : — 
"I  have  not  changed  ;  have  no  thought 
of  changing  ;  always  a  Union  man." 

The  leading  spirits  of  the  administra- 
tion in  Washington  were  actively  pro- 
viding for  defence.  Mr.  Cameron,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  immediately  on  issuing 
the  call  for  troops,  sent  his  son  into 
Pennsylvania  to  expedite  the  work  of 
recruiting,  and  within  three  days,  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  18th  of  April,  had  the 
satisfaction  of  welcoming  at  Washington 
a  body  of  about  500  troops  from 
his  native  State,  the  first  who  arrived 
in  answer  to  the  President's  Proclama- 
tion for  the  defence  of  the  Capital. 
They  came  unarmed  and  were  without 
experience  as  soldiers  ;  but  arms  were 
found  for  them  at  the  arsenal,  and  they 
were  installed  with  satisfaction  in  the 
House  wing  of  the  Capitol.  The  next 
day  brought  Colonel  Jones  with  his 
Massachusetts  men,  who  escaped  the  vio- 
lence of  the  mob  at  Baltimore.  They 

*  Speech  of  Hon.  Simon  Cameron  at  HarrisbirgL,  Ponn 
May  3,  1862. 


182 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


were  quartered  alongside  of  the  Penn- 
sylvanians  in  the  national  Senate  Cham- 
ber, where  these  New  England  laborers 
from  the  forge,  the  loom  and  the  plough, 
enjoyed  the  patriotic  gratification  of  dat- 
ing their  letters  from  the  late  desks  of 
Davis,  Toombs,  Wigfa\l,  Hunter,  Mason 
and  other  prominent  seceders.  The 
Capitol  meanwhile  was  boarded  and  bar- 
ricaded as  if  to  withstand  a  siege.  The 
iron  plates  intended  for  the  new  dome 
were  used  for  breastworks  between  the 
marble  columns.  Behind  them  were 
placed  barrels  of  cement,  piles  of  stone 
and  timber.  The  statuary  in  the  hall 
was  boxed,  and  the  pictures  in  the  panels 
covered  with  a  heavy  planking  to  pro- 
tect them  from  harm.  The  basement, 
where  there  was  shortly  established  an 
immense  bakery  for  the  army,  was  as- 
signed for  the  culinary  department.  The 
Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
was  made  ready  for  the  New  York 
Seventh  Regiment  and  received  them  on 
their  arrival. 

General  Butler  meanwhile  remained 
at  Annapolis  in  possession  of  the  heights 
which  commanded  the  town  and  of  the 
railway  leading  to  it.  Governor  Hicks  in 
a  communication,  dated  the  23d  of  April, 
objected  to  his  holding  the  latter,  lest  it 
should  prevent  the  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature from  reaching  the  city,  where  he 
had  called  a  session  of  that  body  for  the 
26th  ;  to  which  the  Massachusetts  lawyer 
General  astutely  replied: — "You  are 
credibly  informed  that  I  have  taken  pos- 
session of  the  Annapolis  and  Elk  Ridge 
Railroad.  It  might  have  escaped  your 
notice,  but  at  the  official  meeting  which 
was  had  between  your  Excellency  and 
the  Mayor  of  Annapolis  and  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Government  and  myself,  as 
to  the  landing  of  my  troops,  it  was  ex- 


pressly stated  as  the  reason  why  I  should 
not  land,  that  my  troeps  could  not  pass 
the  railroad,  because  the  company  had 
taken  up  the  rails  and  they  were  private 
property.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  can 
be,  that  if  my  troops  could  not  pass  over 
the  railroad  one  way,  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  could  pass  the  other  way.  I 
have  taken  possession  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  the  execution  of  the  threats 
of  the  mob,  as  officially  represented  to 
me  by  the  Master  of  Transportation  of 
the  railroad  in  this  city,  '  that  if  my 
troops  passed  over  the  railroad,  the  rail- 
road should  be  destroyed.'  "*  The  re- 
sult of  the  matter  was  that  another  place 
of  meeting  was  found  for  the  Legislature 
at  Frederick.  When  it  assembled  its 
councils  were  disturbed  and  uncertain, 
from  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of 
members  deeply  tainted  with  disaffection 
to  the  Union  ;  but  happily  by  the  influ- 
ence of  earnest  and  judicious  counsellors 
and  the  obvious  embarrassments  attend- 
ing a  disloyal  course,  time  was  gained  for 
reflection  and  the  State  was  saved  the 
bitter  experiences  of  a  professedly  rebel 
administration.  The  efforts  made  to 
bring  about  that  dangerous  agency,  a 
convention  of  the  people,  which  had 
proved  so  tyrannical  a  means  of  suppres- 
sing Southern  loyalty,  and  the  kindred 
establishment  of  a  Board  of  Public  Safety 
to  take  into  its  hands  the  military  power 
of  the  State,  proved  alike  abortive. 
The  Legislature  ungraciously  protesting 
against  the  unavoidable  policy  of  the  na- 
tional Government,  was  compelled  by  the 
pressure  of  events  to  submit  to  the 
preservation  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
citizens. 

Among  those  who  guided  the  opinions 


*  Brigadier-General  B.  F.  Butler  to  Governor  Thos.  H 
Hicks.     Annapolis,  April  23,  1861. 


SPEECH   OF  RE  VERB  Y  JOHNSON. 


183 


of  the  people  at  this  crisis  in  Maryland, 
her  eminent  representative  the  Hon. 
Reverdy  Johnson  was  distinguished  by 
his  candor  and  earnestness.  "  With  manly 
resistance  to  the  prejudices  of  the  hour 
he  vindicated  the  national  Government 
from  the  aspersions  which  had  been  cast 
upon  it,  and  warned  his  fellow-citizens  of 
the  abyss  upon  the  edge  of  which  they 
were  treading.  "  That  the  end,"  said  he, 
on  an  important  occasion,  in  speaking  of 
the  plans  of  the  Confederate  conspiracy, 
"  must  fail,  who  can  doubt  ?  The  recent 
census  furnishes  pregnant  proof  of  this. 
It  shows  that  the  Free  States  have  a  pop- 
ulation of  males  between  eighteen  and 
forty-five  of  3,778,000  and  all  the  Slave 
States  only  1,655,000,  and  the  seceding 
States,  excluding  Virginia,  but  531,000  ; 
and  if  to  this  vast  difference  of  men  is 
added  that  of  wealth,  inventive  skill, 
habits  of  industry,  and  the  absence  of 
any  element  of  domestic  danger,  the  dis- 
parity is  infinitely  greater."  Looking  to 
the  welfare  of  Maryland,  the  inference 
from  the  statement  on  the  score  of  pol- 
icy, to  say  nothing  of  the  higher  claims 
of  patriotic  duty,  was  obvious.  "  Let 
those,"  said  he,  "  who  have  produced 
the  rebellion  exclusively  share  its  cer- 
tain adverse  fate.  Let  them  not,  by 
specious  promises  of  assistance  and  fu- 
ture prosperity,  swerve  us  from  our  al- 
legiance. They  are  even  now  promis- 
ing themselves  comparative  exemption 
from  the  perils  of  the  struggle.  A  re- 
cent Secretary,  after  having  used  his 
high  position  to  produce  the  result,  and 
by  his  grossly  ignorant  or  faithless  meas- 
ures bankrupt  the  Treasury,  is  now  ad- 
dressing the  people  of  his  immediate 
section  to  persuade  them  that  the  com- 
ing war  and  its  horrors  will  be  kept  far 
from  them,  and  confined  to  the  Border 


States.  Let  us,  as  far  as  ours  is  con- 
cerned, be  wise  enough  to  frustrate  this 
cowardly  policy.  If  to  gain  their  trai- 
torous views  war  is  to  be  waged,  let 
them  bear  its  entire  brunt.  Let  us  not 
be  their  deluded  victims." 

"  What  is  there,"  he  asked  with  with- 
ering emphasis,  and  keen  insight  into 
the  calculations  of  the  rebellion,  "  in  the 
modern  history  of  South  Carolina  which 
should  recommend  her  teachings  to  Mary- 
land ?  What  is  there  in  the  intellects  of 
the  Khetts,  the  Yauceys,  the  Cobbs,  and 
id  genus  omne,  to  make  them  our  lead- 
ers ?  They  did  all  they  could  to  achieve 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  hailed 
its  accomplishment  with  undissembled  de- 
light. They  thought  they  saw  in  it  the 
realization  of  their  long-cherished  hopes 
—the  precipitation  of  the  Cotton  States 
into  a  revolution  ;  and  then  fancied  ex- 
emption from  the  worst  of  the  perils — and 
they  now  seek  to  effect  it — in  the  inter- 
vention of  the  other  Slave  States  be- 
tween them  and  the  danger.  Short- 
sighted men,  they  never  anticipated  the 
calamities  already  upon  them,  and  the 
greater  certain  to  follow.  Besides  rely- 
ing on  the  fact  just  stated,  they  also 
counted  securely  on  a  large  and  influen- 
tial support  in  the  Free  States.  Little 
did  they  know  the  true  patriotic  heart 
of  the  land.  The  first  gun  fired  on  the 
nation's  flag  raised  that  feeling  in  the 
Northern  heart.  That  gun,  fired  with- 
out cause,  and  upon  a  noble  garrison 
about  to  be  starved  into  a  surrender,  by 
being,  through  timidity  or  a  worse  cause, 
left  in  that  condition,  caused  every  man 
able  to  bear  arms  to  rush  to  the  support 
of  the  Government.  Where,  in  the  past, 
the  South  could  count  its  friends  by  thou- 
sands and  hundreds  of  thousands,  not  one 
is  now  to  be  found.  The  cry  i«  the  Gov- 


184 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


eminent  must  be  sustained — the  flag  must 
be  vindicated.  Heaven  forbid  that  the 
duty  of  that  vindication  should  be  for- 
gotten by  Maryland  !  "  * 

While  General  Butler  was  at  Annapo- 
lis an  incident  occurred,  of  interest  as 
the  first  formal  consideration  in  the  war, 
of  an  important  question  of  the  treat- 
ment of  the  negro  population.  On  the 
morning  after  his  arrival  he  was  inform- 
ed that  the  city  and  its  environs  were  in 
danger  from  an  insurrection  of  the  slaves. 
The  report  proved  groundless,  but  Gener- 
al Butler,  while  it  was  credited,  prompt- 
ly offered  the  services  of  his  command  to 
Governor  Hicks  to  put  down  the  move- 
ment. A  report  of  the  affair  reached 
Governor  Andrew  of  Massachusetts, 
who  addressed  a  letter  to  General  But- 
ler inquiring  into  the  circumstances  and 
expressing  the  opinion  that  "  the  matter 
of  servile  insurrection  among  a  commu- 
nity in  arms  against  the  Federal  Union 
is  no  longer  to  be  regarded  by  our  troops 
in  a  political  but  solely  in  a  military  point 
of  view,  and  is  to  be  contemplated  as 
one  of  the  inherent  weaknesses  of  the 
enemy,  from  the  disastrous  operations  of 
which  we  are  under  no  obligation  of 
a  military  character  to  guard  them,  in 
order  that  they  may  be  enabled  to  im- 
prove the  security  which  our  arms  would 
afford,  so  as  to  prosecute  with  more  en- 
ergy their  traitorous  attacks  upon  the 
Federal  Government  and  the  Capital." 
To  this  General  Butler  replied,  that  he 
regarded  the  State  of  Maryland  as  gen- 
erally friendly  to  the  Union,  that  the  dis- 
affection was  confined  to  rebellious  in- 
surgents and  that  consequently  it  was  in 
the  way  of  his  duty  to  offer  aid.  In  re- 
gard to  the  suggestion  of  the  weakness 

*  Speech  at  Frederick,  Maryland,  May  7,  1861.    N<t- 
tioval  Inteliigenr.?.r.  May  11. 


of  the  rebels  from  their  slave  popula-  ! 
tion,  General  Butler  deprecated  the  hor- 
rors of  a  servile  insurrection,  which  he 
presented  in  vivid  terms,  and  recalled 
the  odium  which  attached  to  the  British 
government  for  their  employment  of  the 
savages  in  their  war  with  the  colonies. 
"  Shall  history,"  he  asked,  "  teach  us  in 
vain  ?  Could  we  justify  ourselves  to  our- 
selves, although  with  arms  in  our  hands 
amid  the  savage  wildness  of  camp  and 
field,  we  may  have  blunted  many  of  the 
finer  moral  sensibilities,  in  letting  loose 
four  millions  of  worse  than  savages  upon 
the  homes  and  hearths  of  the  South." 
He,  however,  added  this  pregnant  inti- 
mation, should  dishonorable  means  be 
taken  by  the  rebels  against  the  Govern- 
ment. "  If,"  said  he,  "  as  has  been  done 
i  in  a  single  instance,  my  men  are  to  be 
attacked  by  poison,  or  as  in  another, 
stricken  down  by 'the  assassin's  knife, 
and  thus  murdered,  the  community  using 
such  weapons  may  be  required  to  be 
taught  that  it  holds  within  it  own  border 
a  more  potent  means  for  deadly  purposes 
and  indiscriminate  slaughter  than  any 
which  it  can  administer  to  us."  * 

On  the  5th  of  May,  General  Butler, 
the  route  from  Annapolis  to  the  Capital 
being  effectually  guarded,  advanced  a 
portion  of  his  command  toward  Balti- 
more, and  took  possession  of  the  impor- 
tant position  of  the  Kelay  House,  about 
ten  miles  from  Baltimore,  on  the  Pataps- 
co,  where  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road joins  the  line  to  Washington.  In  a 
special  order  of  the  8th  of  May  he  con- 
gratulated the  troops  on  their  prompt- 
ness and  efficiency,  and  particularly  no- 
ticed several  incidents  of  camp  life, 
among  them  one  which  it  would  be  a 
pleasure  to  a  philanthropist  if  possible  to 

*  General  Butler  to  Governor  Andrew,  May  9,  1861. 


THE   WINANS'  STEAM   GUN. 


185 


discredit,  "Wishing,"  he  said  to  his 
soldiers,  "  to  establish  the  most  friendly 
relations  between  you  and  this  neighbor- 
hood, the  General  invited  all  venders  of 
supplies  to  visit  our  camp  and  replenish 
our  somewhat  scanty  commissariat.  But 
to  his  disgust  and  horror  he  finds  well- 
authenticated  evidence  that  a  private  in 
the  Sixth  Regimen^  has  been  poisoned  by 
means  of  strychnine  administered  in  the 
food  brought  into  the  camp  by  one  of 
these  peddlers.  I  am  happy  to  be  in- 
formed that  the  man  is  now  out  of  danger. 
This  act,  of  course,  will  render  it  neces- 
sary for  me  to  cut  off  all  purchases  from 
unauthorized  persons.  Are  our  few  in- 
sane enemies  among  the  loyal  men  of 
Maryland,  prepared  to  wage  war  upon 
us  in  this  manner?  Do  they  know  the 
terrible  lesson  of  warfare  they  are  teach- 
ins;  us  ?  Can  it  be  that  they  realize  the 
fact  that  we  can  put  an  agent  with  a 
word  into  every  household  armed  with 
this  terrible  weapon  ?  In  view  of  the 
terrible  consequences  of  this  mode  of 
warfare,  if  adopted  by  us  from  their 
teaching,  wi|h  every  sentiment  of  devo- 
tional prayer,  may  we  not  exclaim, 
'  Father,  forgive  them,  they  know  not 
what  they  do.'  Certain  it  is  that  any 
other  such  attempt,  reasonably  authenti- 
cated as  to  the  person  committing  it,  will 
be  followed  by  the  swiftest,  surest,  and 
most  condign  punishment."55 

Tales  of  this  kind  were  frequent  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  For  the  honor  of 
human  nature  let  us  hope  that,  with  other 
rumors  of  the  camp,  they  were  often  ex- 
aggerated. The  fact  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  population  of  Maryland, 
then  and  long  after,  was  embittered  and 
hostile  to  the  citizen  soldiery  who  were 
ordered  thither  for  the  preservation  of 


*  General  Order.     Eelay  House,  May  8,  1861. 

24 


the  Union  unhappily  admits  of  no  ques- 
tion. 

An  exploit  which  enlivened  the  uniform 
duties  at  the  Relay  House  was  the  cap- 
ture by  a  scouting  party  from  that  station 
of  the  Winans'  steam  gun,  a  formidable 
looking  military  apparatus,  a  species  of 
locomotive,  designed  by  the  inventor,  a 
wealthy  and  enterprising  gentleman  of 
Baltimore,  of  reputation  as  an  engineer, 
whose  name  it  bore,  "  to  inaugurate  a 
new  era  in  the  science  of  war."  Ball- 
proof,  protected  by  an  iron  roof,  mounted 
on  a  four-wheeled  carriage,  it  was  con- 
structed to  discharge  from  an  ill-looking 
mouth  at  the  apex  of  its  projecting  cone, 
a  hundred  or  more  balls  a  minute  of  any 
capacity  from  an  ounce  to  a  24-pound 
shot.  The  prospectus  in  which  the  ex- 
traordinary merits  of  this  invention  were 
set  forth  by  the  patentee,  Mr.  Charles 
S.  Dickinson,  represented  it  as  capable 
on  the  field  of  battle  of  "  mowing  down 
opposing  troops  as  the  scythe  mows 
standing  grain,"  while  in  sea  fights, 
"  mounted  on  low  deck  steamers  it  would 
be  capable  of  sinking  any  ordinary  war 
vessel."  In  fact  it  was  enthusiastically 
predicted  that  "  the  day  was  not  far  dis- 
tant when,  through  its  instrumentality, 
the  new  era  in  the  science  of  war  (already 
alluded  to)  being  inaugurated,  it  would 
be  generally  adopted  by  the  Powers  of 
the  Old  and  New  Worlds,  and  from  its 
very  destructiveness  prove  the  means 
and  medium  of  peace."  This  ingeniously 
constructed  weapon  was  taken  on  the 
road  in  course  of  transportation  from 
Baltimore  to  Harper's  Ferry,  whither  the 
rebel  citizens  were  flor-king,  carrying  aid 
and  comfort  to  the  Virginians  in  arms. 
There  was  some  talk  of  making  the  en- 
gine serviceable  in  the  national  defence  ; 
but  we  may  presume  there  were  inherent 


18b 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION. 


difficulties  in  the  way,  else  the  inventive 
people  into  whose  hands  it  fell  would 
have  turned  it  to  some  account.  The 
'"  Winans7  Steam  Gun,"  after  supplying 
paragraphs  to  the  newspapers  till  all  in- 
terest in  it  was  exhausted,  was  transported 
by  way  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Fortress 
Monroe  as  a  trophy  of  war  to  Boston. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  General  Butler 
entered  the  city  of  Baltimore,  included 
in  the  department  of  Annapolis,  with  his 
troops,  among  them  a  detachment  of  the 
very  Massachusetts  regiment  which  had 
been  assailed  in  the  riot,  and  established 
his  headquarters  in  a  fortified  camp  on 
Federal  Hill,  a  position  which  thoroughly 
commanded  the  town.  The  Proclama- 
tion which  he  sent  forth  on  the  occasion 
was  business-like  and  judicious.  While 
it  was  resolutely  set  against  acts  of  re- 
bellion, the  administration  of  the  city 
government  was  left  to  the  civil  authori- 
ties, a  profitable  traffic  was  invited  for 
the  supply  of  the  wants  of  the  army,  and 
every  assurance  given  of  good  will.  "A 
detachment,"  was  its  language,  "of  the 
forces-ef  the  Federal  Government  under 
my  command  have  occupied  the  city  of 
Baltimore  for  the  purpose,  among  other 
things,  of  enforcing  respect  and  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws,  as  well  of  the  State— 
if  requested  thereto,  by  the  civil  authori- 
ties— as  of  the  United  States  laws,  which 
are  being  violated  within  its  limits  by 
some  malignant  and  traitorous  men,  and 
in  order  to  testify  the  acceptance  by  the 
Federal  Government  of  the  fact  that  the 
city  and  all  the  well-intentioned  portion 
of  its  inhabitants  are  loyal  to  the  Union 
and  the  Constitution,  and  are  to  be  so 
regarded  and  treated  by  all.  To  the 
end,  therefore,  that  all  misunderstanding 
of  the  purpose  of  the  Government  may 
be  prevented,  and  to  set  at  rest  all  un- 


founded, false,  and  seditious  rumors  ;  to 
relieve  all  apprehensions,  if  any  are  felt, 
by  the  well-disposed  portion  .of  the  com- 
munity, and  to  make  it  thoroughly  un- 
derstood by  all  traitors,  their  aiders  and 
abettors,  that  rebellious  acts  must  cease  : 
I  hereby,  by  the  authority  vested  in  me 
as  commander  of  the  department  of  An- 
napolis, of  which  Baltimore  forms  a  part, 
do  now  command  and.  make  known  thai 
no  loyal  and  well-disposed  citizen  will  be 
disturbed  in  his  lawful  occupation  or  busi- 
ness, that  private  property  will  not  be 
interfered  with  by  the  men  under  my 
command,  or  allowed  to  be  interfered 
•  with  by  others,  except  in  so  far  as  it 
may  be  used  to  afford  aid  and  comfort 
to  those  in  rebellion  against  the  Govern- 
ment, whether  here  or  elsewhere  ;  all  of 
which  property,  munitions  of  war,  and 
that  fitted  to  aid  and  support  the  rebel- 
lion, will  be  seized  and  held  subject  to 
confiscation,  and,  therefore,  all  manufac- 
turers of  arms  and  munitions  of  war  are 
hereby  requested  to  report  to  me  forth- 
with, so  that  the  lawfulness  of  their  oc- 
cupation may  be  known  and^understood, 
and  all  misconstruction  of  their  doings 
be  avoided.  No  transportation  from  the 
city  to  the  rebels  of  articles  fitted  to  aid 
and  support  troops  in  the  field  will  be 
permitted,  and  the  fact  of  such  transpor- 
tation, after  the  publication  of  this  pro- 
clamation, will  be  taken  and  received  as 
proof  of  illegal  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  consignors,  and  will  render  the  goods 
liable  to  seizure  and  confiscation. 

"  The  Government  being  ready  to  re- 
ceive all  such  stores  and  supplies,  ar- 
rangements will  be  made  to  contract  for 
them  immediately,  and  the  owners  and 
manufacturers  of  such  articles  of  equip- 
ment and  clothing,  and  munitions  of  war 
and  provisions,  are  desired  to  keep  them- 


GENERAL  BUTLER'S  PROCLAMATION. 


187 


selves  in  communication  with  the  Com- 
missary-General, in  order  that  their 
workshops  may  be.  employed  for  loyal 
purposes,  and  the  artisans  of  the  city 
resume  and  carry  on  their  profitable  oc- 
cupations. The  acting  Assistant-Quar- 
termaster and  Commissary  of  Subsist- 
ence of  the  United  States  here  stationed, 
has  been  instructed  to  proceed  and  furn- 
ish, at  fair  prices,  40,000  rations  for  the 
use  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and 
further  supplies  will  be  drawn  from  the 
city  to  the  full  extent  of  its  capacity,  if 
the  patriotic  and  loyal  men  choose  so  to 
furnish  supplies.  All  assemblages,  ex- 
cept the  ordinary  police,  of  armed  bodies 
of  men,  other  than  those  regularly  organ- 
ized and  commissioned  by  the  State  of 
Maryland,  and  acting  under  the  orders 
of  the  Governor  thereof,  for  drill  and 
other  purposes,  are  forbidden  within  the 
department.  All  officers  of  the  militia 
of  Maryland,  having  command  within 
the  limits  of  the  department,  are  re- 
quested to  report  through  their  officers 
forthwith  to  the  General  in  command,  so 
that  he  may  be  able  to  know  and  distin- 
guish the  regularly  commissioned  and 
loyal  troops  of  Maryland  from  armed 
bodies  who  may  claim  to  be  such.  The 
ordinary  operations  of  the  corporate 
government  of  the  city  of  Baltimore 
and  of  the  civil  authorities  will  not  be 
interfered  with,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
will  be  aided  by  all  the  power  at  the 
command  of  the  General,  upon  proper 
call  being  made,  and  all  such  authorities 
are  cordially  invited  to  cooperate  with 
the  General  in  command  to  carry  out 
the  purposes  set  forth  in  the  proclama- 
tion, so  that  the  city  of  Baltimore  may 
be  shown  to  the  country  to  be,  what  she 
is  in  fact,  patriotic  and  loyal  to  the 
Union,  the  Constitution,  and  the  laws. 


"  No  flag,  banner,  ensign,  or  device  of 
the  oO-called  Confederate  States  or  any 
of  them  will  be  permitted  to  be  raised 
or  shown  in  this  department,  and  the  ex- 
hibition of  either  of  them  by  evil-dis- 
posed persons  will  be  deemed,  arid  taken 
to  be  evidence  of  a  design  to  afford  aid 
and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  coun- 
try. To  make  it  the  more  apparent  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  by 
far  more  relies  upon  the  loyalty,  patriot- 
ism, and  zeal  of  the  good  citizens  of  Bal- 
timore and  vicinity  than  upon  any  exhi- 
bition of  force  calculated  to  intimidate 
them  into  that  obedience  to  the  laws 
which  the  Government  doubts  not  will 
be  paid  from  inherent  respect  and  love 
of  order,  the  commanding  General  has 
brought  to  the  city  with  him,  of  the 
many  thousand  troops  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood,  which  might  be  at  once 
concentrated  here,  scarcely  more  than 
an  ordinary  guard,  and  until  it  fails  him, 
he  will  continue  to  rely  upon  that  loyalty 
and  patriotism  of  the  citizens  of  Mary- 
land, which  have  never  yet  been  found 
wanting  to  the  Government  in  time  of 
need.  The  General  in  command  desires 
to  greet  and  treat  in  this  part  of  his  de- 
partment all  the  citizens  thereof  as  friends 
and  brothers,  having  a  common  purpose, 
a  common  loyalty,  and  a  common  coun- 
try. Any  infractions  of  the  laws  by  the 
troops  under  his  command,  or  any  dis- 
orderly, unsoldierlike  conduct,  or  any 
interference  with  private  property,  he 
desires  to  have  immediately  reported  to 
him,  and  pledges  himself  that  if  any  sol- 
dier so  far  forgets  himself  as  to  break 
those  laws  that  he  has  sworn  to  defend 
and  enforce,  he  shall  be  most  rigorously 
punished. 

"  The  General  believes  that  if  the  sug- 
gestions and  requests  contained  in  this 


188 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


proclamation  are  faithfully  carried  out  by 
the  cooperation  of  all  good  and  Union- 
loving  citizens,  and  peace  and  quiet,  and 
certainty  of  future  peace  and  quiet  are 
thus  restored,  business  will  resume  its  ac- 
customed channels,  trade  take  the  place 
of  dullness  and  inactivity,  efficient  labor 
displace  idleness,  and  Baltimore  will  be 
in  fact  what  she  is  entitled  to  be,  in  the 
front  rank  of  the  commercial  cities  of 
the  nation." 

Thenceforth,  under  the  control  and 
security  of  these  provisions,  arms  were 
seized,  disorder  suppressed  and  peaceable 
citizens  protected.  The  route  through 
Baltimore  was  again  open  from  the  North, 
the  trade  of  the  city  began  to  revive,  Union 
men  uttered  their  sentiments  with  confi- 
dence, the  Confederate  flag  was  proscribed 
and  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  the  exhibition 
of  which  had  been  forbidden  by  the  muni- 
cipal authorities,  were  restored  to  their 
old  honors  ;  loyalty  was  recognized  as  the 
rule,  and  sedition,  for  unhappily  it  was 
not  as  yet  altogether  extinguished,  be- 
came the  exception.  In  accordance  with 
the  friendly  design  of  the  occupation, 
Governor  Hicks  the  same  day  issued  the 
following  Proclamation,  meeting  under 
certain  conditions  the  original  requisition 
of  the  President : — "  Whereas,  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  by  his  Proclama- 
tion of  the  15th  of  April,  1861,  has  called 
upon  me,  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  for 
four  regiments  of  infantry  or  riflemen  to 
serve  for  a  period  of  three  months,  the 
said  requisition  being  made  in  the  spirit 
and  in  pursuance  of  the  law,  and 


Whereas,  To  the  said  requisition  has 
been  added  the  written  assurance  of  the 
Secretary  of  War,  that  said  four  regi- 
ments shall  be  detailed  to  serve  within 
the  limits  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  or 
for  the  defence  of  the  Capital  of  the 
United  States  and  not  to  serve  beyond 
the  limits  aforesaid ;  Now,  therefore,  I, 
Thomas  Holliday  Hicks,  Governor  of 
Maryland,  do,  by  this  my  proclamation, 
call  upon  loyal  citizens  of  Maryland 
to  volunteer  their  services  to  the  extent 
of  four  regiments,  as  aforesaid,  to  serve 
during  a  period  of  three  months  within 
the  limits  of  Maryland,  or  for  the  defence 
of  the  Capital  of  the  United  States,  to  be 
subject  under  the  conditions  aforesaid,  to 
the  orders  of  the  Commander-in- Chief 
of  the  Army  of  the  United  States.  Given 
under  my  hand  and  the  great  seal  of  the 
State  of  Maryland,  at  the  city  of  Fred- 
erick, this  14th  day  of  May,  1861." 

General  Butler  having  thus  by  his 
firm  but  moderate  course,  seconding  the 
wishes  of  the  majority  of  the  people 
whom  he  came  to  serve,  secured  the 
safety  of  his  district  from  the  violence 
of  the  secessionists,  was  rewarded  by 
the  Government  with  the  rank  of  Major- 
General  and  assigned  the  command  of 
a  new  military  district  of  Virginia  and 
North  and  South  Carolina  with  his  head- 
quarters at  Fortress  Monroe.  His  new 
commission  was  dated  the  16th  of  May, 
the  same  day  on  which  General  Mc- 
Clellan  was  also  made  a  Major-General. 
General  Cadwalader  of  Philadelphia 
succeeded  to  the  command  at  Baltimore. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  ADVANCE  ACROSS  THE  POTOMAC. 


THE  month  of  May  found  the  country 
everywhere  engaged  in  preparations  for 
active  war.  The  forces  called  for  by  the 
President  were  mustering  into  service  in 
the  loyal  States ;  officers  were  busy  at 
the  recruiting  stations ;  companies  were 
forming  ;  men  were  enlisting  in  favorite 
regiments  ;  State  and  municipal  authori- 
ties were  lending  their  aid  ;  money  in 
private  contributions  and  legislative  loans 
or  grants  was  liberally  placed  at  the  dis- 
position of  the  local  committees  and  the 
government  agents.  Millions  were  fur- 
nished for  the  war,  in  the  fortnight  follow- 
ing the  day  of  Sumter,  of  which  a  large 
proportion  was  the  voluntary  gift  of 
individuals.  Within  the  same  time  at 
least  one  hundred  thousand  men  were 
in  active  preparation  for  the  field.  Of 
these  about  thirty  thousand  New  York, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island  and  Penn- 
sylvania troops  were  already  at  Wash- 
ington or  on  their  way  thither.  On  one 
day,  Sunday  the  21st  of  April,  while 
the  land  route  was  interrupted,  more 
than  four  thousand  men  of  New  York, 
Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts  left 
the  city  of  New  York  for  the  Capital, 
by  way  of  the  Potomac,  in  five  ocean 
steamers.  The  alacrity  and  efficiency  of 
the  Rhode  Islanders  was  the  subject  of 
general  comment.  A  meeting  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  State,  specially  sum- 
moned, was  held  within  a  few  days  of  the 
call  of  the  President,  money  was  liber- 
ally voted,  and  before  the  week  was  over 


a  regiment  was  in  arms  and  en  its  way 
to  Washington.  "  Not  only  the  officers 
of  the  regiment,"  says  an  enthusiastic 
chronicler  of  the  day,  "but  the  Governor 
and  Lieutenant-Governor"  led  the  van, 
bearing  with  them  the  sovereignty  of  the 
State.  With  the  side-arms  of  the  officers 
and  the  shouldered  muskets  of  the  pri- 
vates, came,  in  the  simple  blouse  of  their 
uniform,  the  representatives  of  more  than 
$30,000,000  of  wealth.  No  such  event 
has  ever  before  been  recorded  in  war, 
nor  has  there  been  seen,  by  the  past  or 
present  generation,  such  an  impersonation 
of  the  muscle  and  the  material  aid  of  a 
campaign  upon  its  muster  and  within  its 
roll  call."  The  Massachusetts  men  were 
attended  to  the  Capital  with  similar 
plaudits.  "  God  save  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts !"  exclaimed  another 
journalist — "the  State  that  compromise 
was  to  leave  out  of  the  new  Confederacy, 
and  blessings  be  upon  the  State  of  Roger 
Williams,  so  confidently  calculated  on  as 
the  first  of  the  Northern  States  that 
would  avow  its  allegiance  to  the  piratical 
government  of  Jeff.  Davis."  Nor  were 
the  other  eastern,  middle  and  western 
States  deficient  in  the  work.  Under  the 
animating  impulse  of  their  several  Gov- 
ernors, all  moved  quickly  and  steadily 
onward  according  to  their  several  oppor- 
tunities. New  York,  under  Governor 
Morgan,  assisted  by  General  Wool  and 
the  Union  Defence  Committee,  gathered 
her  tens  of  thousands  to  the  camp ; 


190 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


Governor  Curtin  did  the  same  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Governor  Dennison  of  Ohio 
speedily  laid  the  foundation  of  an  Army 
of  the  West.  We  shall  have  occasion 
hereafter  to  speak  particularly  of  the 
services  of  Governor  Yates  of  Illinois. 
Nor  should  the  names  of  Morton  of  In- 
diana or  Eandall  of  Wisconsin  be  here 
forgotten.  In  the  message  which  the 
latter  delivered  to  the  State  legislature 
in  May  he  had,  with  the  full  sympathy 
of  the  people^  urged  the  energetic  prose- 
cution of  the  war  ;  recommending  the 
immediate  equipment  of  six  regiments 
of  volunteers,  the  purchase  of  rifled  can- 
non, and  an  appropriation  of  one  million 
of  dollars.  In  conclusion  on  that  occa- 
sion he  said,  with  indignant  severity, 
"The  people  will  never  consent  to  any 
cessation  of  the  war,  forced  so  wickedly 
upon  us,  until  the  traitors  are  hung  or 
driven  into  an  ignominious  exile.  This 
war  begun  where  Charleston  iff — it  should 
end  where  Charleston  was.  The  Su- 
preme Ruler  can  but  smile  upon  the 
efforts  of  the  law-loving,  government- 
loving,  liberty-loving  people  of  this  land, 
in  resisting  the  disruption  of  this  Union. 
These  gathering  armies  are  instruments 
of  His  vengeance,  to  execute  His  judg- 
ments— they  are  His  flails,  wherewith 
on  God's  great  southern  threshing  floor 
He  will  pound  rebellion  for  its  sins."* 
In  less  than  eight  days  after  the  call 
of  Governor  Morton  for  the  quota  of 
troops  to  be  'furnished  by  Indiana  in 
accordance  with  the  President's  Proc- 
lamation, more  than  12,000  men,  about 
three  times  the  number  asked  for, 
tendered  their  services  in  eager  emula- 
tion for  a  place  in  the  ranks.  This  re- 
sponse, says  the  Governor,  "has  been 

*  Message  of  Governor  Alexander  W.  Randall  to  the 
Legislature  of  Wisconsin,  at  its  extra  session  May,  1861. 


most  gratifying  and  extraordinary,  air 
furnishes    indubitable    evidence   of  the 
patriotism  of  Indiana  and  her  entire  de- 
votion to  the  Union.     Without  distinc- 
tion of  party,  condition  or  occupation, 
men  have   rallied    round   the   nations 
standard,  and  in  every  part  of  the  State 
may  be  heard  the  sound  of  martial  music, 
and   witnessed   the   mustering   of  com- 
panies into  the  field."* 

On  the  3d  of  May  President  Lincoln, 
by  a  Proclamation,  made  a  second  call 
upon  the  country  for  troops.  Avoiding 
the  threatened  evils  of  the  short  three 
months'  enlistment,  he  made  the  re- 
quisition for  a  period  of  three  years, 
unless  sooner  discharged.  42,034  volun- 
teers were  thus  called  for,  while  the  reg- 
ular army  was  directed  to  be  increased 
by  the  addition  of  eight  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, one  of  cavalry  and  one  of  artillery, 
making  an  aggregate  of  nearly  23,000, 
officers  and  men.  18,000  seamen  were 
at  the  same  time  ordered  to  be  enlisted 
for  the  naval  service  of  the  United 
States.  The  several  proceedings,  the 
Proclamation  announced,  would  be  sub- 
mitted to  Congress  as  soon  as  it  assem- 
bled. "  In  the  mean  time,"  added  the 
President,  "  I  earnestly  invoke  the  co- 
operation of  all  good  citizens  in  the  mea- 
sures hereby  adopted  for  the  effectual 
suppression  of  unlawful  violence,  for  the 
impartial  enforcement  of  constitutional 
laws,  and  for  the  speediest  possible  re- 
storation of  peace  and  order,  and  with 
those,  of  happiness  and  prosperity 
throughout  our  country. 

While  these  preparations  were  being 
made  at  the  North  a  similar  activity  was 
witnessed  at  the  South.  The  work  of 


*  Message  of  Governor  Oliver  P.  Morton  delivered  at 
the  called  session  of  the  Indiana  Legislature.  April  25, 
1861. 


NORTH    CAKULINA. 


191 


spoliation  begun  at  Charleston,  Savannah 
and  New  Orleans,  was  also  vigorously 
carried  on  in  other  regions  of  the  coun- 
try. Within  a  few  days  of  the  fall  of 
Sumter  the  steam  transport  Star  of  the 
West,  loaded  with  provisions,  sent  for 
the  relief  of  the  United  States  troops  in 
Texas,  was  treacherously  seized  at  In- 
dianola  by  a  body  of  insurgents,  under 
Colonel  Yan  Dorn  ;  the  arsenals  at  Lib- 
erty, Missouri,  Fayetteville,  North  Car- 
olina, Napoleon,  Arkansas,  with  stores 
of  arms  and  ammunition,  were  plundered 
by  the  rebels  ;  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas, 
was  taken  possession  of  by  Colonel  Solon 
Borland,  the  leader  of  a  volunteer  band 
of  secessionists.  In  consequence  of  the 
various  acts  of  robbery  and  violence  in 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  defeating 
the  exercise  of  the  proper  powers  of  the 
Federal  Government,  President  Lincoln, 
on  the  27th  of  April,  by  proclamation, 
extended  the  blockade  of  the  Southern 
coast  to  those  States. 

The  formal  work  of  revolt  was  going 
on  with  great  rapidity  under  the  im- 
pulses of  the  leading  conspirators.  Two 
new  States,  Arkansas  and  Tennessee, 
passed  ordinances  of  secession  on  the 
same  day,  the  6th  of  May,  and  fourteen 
days  after,  North  Carolina  followed  their 
example.  The  proceedings  by  which  the 
last  mentioned  State  was  separated  from 
the  Union  were  of  the  most  unhappy 
character,  conflicting  as  they  evidently 
did  with  the  better  judgment  and  long 
settled  convictions  of  the  people.  The 
majority  at  the  outset  was  clearly  for  the 
preservation  of  the  national  Union,  and 
had  the  State  authorities  been  disposed 
to  consult  the  popular  will  in  this  matter, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  North  Carolina 
might  have  been  saved  from  her  destruc- 
tive alliance  with  the  Southern  Confed- 


eracy. Early  in  the  year,  OD  the  30th 
of  January,  an  act  was  passed  by  the 
^Democratic  Legislature  referring  the 
question  of  a  State  convention  to  a  vote 
of  the  people  and,  taking  it  for  granted 
that  the  convention  would  be  authorized, 
delegates  were  at  the  same  time  directed 
to  be  chosen  for  that  body.  When  the 
vote  was  taken  on  the  28th  of  February, 
it  stood  46,672  in  favor  of  calling  the 
convention,  and  47,333  against  it,  giving 
a  "no  convention"  majority  of  661  ; 
while  at  the  same  time  84  Union  dele- 
gates were  elected  to  36  disunion,  show- 
ing on  the  latter  issue  a  popular  Union 
majority  of  at  least  10,000  voters.  The 
convention,  of  course,  did  not  meet  and 
matters  remained  in  their  old  condition 
till  the  fall  of  Sumter.  We  have  seen 
the  irate  and  intemperate  reply  which 
Governor  Ellis  made  to  the  call  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  for  troops  to  sustain  the 
Government  and  the  terms  in  which  he 
summoned  a  special  session  of  the  Legis- 
lature to  meet  on  the  1st  of  May.*  That 
body  when  it  did  assemble,  in  accordance 
with  its  previous  inclinations,  promptly 
passed  an  act  directing  a  new  election  for 
a  convention  to  be  held  on  the  13th.  It 
was  no  time  then  for  an  impartial  verdict 
•of  the  people  when,  as  in  Virginia,  Union 
men  were  coerced  and  proscribed  and 
allegiance  to  the  national  Government 
was  denounced  as  treason  to  their  own 
State.  Under  the  influence  of  violence, 
artfully  stimulated  prejudices  and  false 
political  doctrines,  the  voice  of  the  Union- 
loving  people  was  so  far  silenced  or  their 
judgments  perverted  that  a  majority  of 
secessionists  were  elected  for  the  conven- 
tion. This  body  met  a  week  after  on  the 
20th  and,  without  submission  of  their  act 
to  the  people  for  their  confirmation,  the 


*  Ante,  p.  128. 


192 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


same  day  passed  an  ordinance  of  reces- 
sion and  handed  the  State  over  to  the 
Southern  Confederacy.* 

In  Tennessee,  early  in  May,  a  virtual 
act  of  secession  was  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature in  secret  session,  in  direct  dis- 
agreement with  a  previous  expression 
of  the  will  of  the  people  of  the  State, 
who  had  in  February  refused  to  hold  a 
convention  for  the  purpose.  By  this  act 
a  "  Declaration  of  Independence  and  or- 
dinance dissolving  the  Federal  relations 
between  the  State  of  Tennessee  and  the 
United  States  of  America,"  was  no- 
minally required  to  be  submitted  to  a 
popular  vote,  to  be  taken  a  month  after- 
ward, on  the  8th  of  June  ;  but  the  Legis- 
lature did  not  wait  for  this  ratification. 
Already,  on  the  1st  of  May,  previous 
even  to  the  passage  of  the  act,  the  two 
Houses,  following  the  precedent  of  Vir- 
ginia, had  taken  the  preliminary  steps 
for  the  formation  of  an  intimate  alliance 
with  the  rebel  government  at  Montgom- 
ery, by  adopting  a  resolution  that  coin- 
.missioners  should  be  appointed  on  the 
part  of  Tennessee  "  to  enter  into  a  mili- 
tary league  with  the  authorities  of  the 
Confederate  States,  and  with  the  authori- 
ties of  such  other  slaveholding  States  as 
may  wish  to  enter  into  it ;  having  in  view 
the  protection  and  defence  of  the  entire 
South  against  the  war  that  is  now  being 
carried  on  against  it."  Governor  Har- 
ris accordingly  appointed  Gustavus  A. 
Henry,  Archibald  0.  W.  Totten  and 
Washington  Barrow  commissioners.  They 
were  promptly  met  at  Nashville  by  Henry 
W.  Hilliard,  a  delegate  with  similar 
powers  from  the  Confederate  States,  with 
whom  a  convention  was  entered  into  on 
the  7th  of  May.  By  the  terms  of  this 


*  N  Y.  Herald,  May  20, 1862.     N.Y.  Tribune,  May  22, 
1862. 


instrument  "the  whole  military  force  and 
military  operations,  offensive  and  defen- 
sive, of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  in  the  im- 
pending conflict  with  the  United  States, 
were  placed,  to  be  employed  for  the  com- 
mon defence  under  the  chief  control  and 
direction  of  the  President  of  the  Confed- 
erate States,  upon  the  same  basis,  princi- 
ples and  footing  as  if  said  State  were  now, 
and  during  the  intervals,  a  member  of  the 
said  confederacy."  The  league  thus 
formed  was  on  the  same  day  consum- 
mated and  ratified  by  a  joint  resolution  of 
the  Senate  and  General  Assembly.  In 
the  former  the  vote  stood  for  the  adop- 
tion ayes  14,  nays  6,  absent  and  not  vot- 
ing 5 ;  in  the  latter,  ayes  42,  nays  15, 
absent  and  not  voting  18.  There  was 
one  peculiarity  in  the  language  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  submitted 
to  the  people.  It  frankly  put  the  pro- 
ceeding forward  as  a  revolutionary  mea- 
sure. "Waiving  an  expression  of  opin- 
ion," were  its  words,  "  as  to  the  abstract 
doctrine  of  secession,  but  asserting  the 
right  as  a  free  and  independent  people  to 
alter,  reform  or  abolish  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment in  such  manner  as  we  think 
proper,  do  ordain  and  declare  that  all 
the  laws  and  ordinances  by  which  the 
State  of  Tennessee  became  a  member  of 
the  Federal  Union  of  the  United  States 
of  America  are  hereby  abrogated  and 
annulled,  and  that  all  obligations  on  our 
part  be  withdrawn  therefrom."  We  shall 
see  in  another  chapter  how  the  "act" 
was  received  by  the  people. 

Eleven  States  were  thus  enrolled  under 
the  government  of  Jefferson  Davis  and 
the  Southern  Confederacy.  Missouri 
might  probably  have  made  a  twelfth  but 
for  the  strong  arm  of  military  interference. 
Kentucky  was  saved  by  the  energy  of 
her  own  people.  Mindful  of  Henry  Clay, 


A  FLAG  RAISING  AT  WASHINGTON. 


193 


and  with  no  disposition  to  follow  South- 
ern dictation,  they  woull  not  desert  the 
old  flag  of  the  Union. 

The  Administration  at  Washington, 
meanwhile,  impatient  of  the  work  of  re- 
volt, and  determined,  at  the  hazard  of  a 
stretch  of  prerogative,  to  arrest  if  possible 
the  traitorous  communications  of  agents 
and  sympathizers  with  secession,  gave 
instruction  for  the  seizure  at  the  leading 
telegraph  offices  through  the  northern 
States  of  "  any  despatches  that  may 
have  been  sent  or  received  with  pur- 
poses hostile  to  the  Government  or  in 
relation  to  supplies  of  arms  or  provi- 
sions purchased  or  forwarded  to  the 
Southern  rebels."*  This  was  success- 
fully accomplished  by  the  United  States 
Marshal  by  a  simultaneous  movement  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  20th  of  May.  As 
the  despatches  which  had  been  sent  and 
received  were  kept  on  file  at  the  offices, 
and  the  secrecy  and  suddenness  of  the 
descent  gave  no  opportunity  for  their 
destruction,  much  valuable  information 
was  gained  in  this  way  which  was  doubt- 
less employed  with  effect  in  repressing 
the  acts  of  northern  "  sympathizers,'7 
and  checking  the  schemes  of  the  rebel- 
lion. 

A  flag  raising  over  the  General  Post- 
Office  building  at  Washington  at  noon  of 
the  22d  of  May,  was  a  proceeding  of 
more  than  ordinary  interest  among  the 
frequent  displays  of  this  kind,  attended 
as  it  was  by  the  President  and  several 
members  of  the  Cabinet  who  spoke  on 
the  occasion.  The  flag  was  the  gift  of 
the  officers  and  clerks  of  the  Depart- 
ment, who  took  this  opportunity  in  the 
midst  of  rumors  of  disaffection  prevalent 


*  Instructions  of  E.  Delafield  Smith,  United  States  Dis- 
trict Attorney,  New  York,  to  the  United  States  Marshal 
for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 

25 


concerning  the  employes  at  the  public 
offices,  to  testify  their  loyalty  to  the  Ad- 
ministration. To  the  President  was  as- 
signed the  honor  of  raising  the  flag  to 
the  mast-head.  After  a  few  preliminary 
words  suitable  to  the  business  in  hand, 
the  cords  were  placed  in  his  hands  and 
the  banner  ascended  to  its  position.  The 
air  happening  to  be  quiet  at  the  moment 
it  at  first  clung  motionless  to  the  staff, 
when  it  was  caught  by  a  gentle  wind 
rising  from  the  north  and  fully  displayed 
to  the  assembly,  who  hailed  the  sight 
with  enthusiasm.  Pleasantly  turning  the 
incident  to  account,  the  President  said 
to  the  multitude,  "  I  had  not  thought  to 
say  a  word,  but  it  has  occurred  to  me 
that  a  few  weeks  ago  the  '  Stars  and 
Stripes '  hung  rather  languidly  about  the 
staff  all  over  the  nation.  So,  too,  with 
this  flag,  when  it  was  elevated  to  its 
place.  At  first  it  hung  rather  languidly 
but  the  glorious  breeze  came  and  it  now 
floats  as  it  should.  And  we  hope  that 
the  same  breeze  is  swelling  the  glorious 
flag  throughout  the  whole  nation." 

Postmaster-General  Blair  was  then 
called  for,  and  replied  in  a  few  remarks, 
in  which  he  maintained  the  national 
cause  still,  spite  of  Southern  disunion, 
represented  by  the  flag.  It  was  the  es- 
pecial emblem,  he  said,  of  that  popular 
government  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the 
nation.  "It  is  for  that  and  that  only, 
that  the  people  of  this  country  are  ris- 
ing, not  as  a  party,  for  we  have  ceased  to 
be  parties.  We  are  no  longer  democrats, 
we  are  no  longer  whigs,  we  are  no  longer 
republicans — we  are  Americans — stand- 
ing up  for  free  institutions.  And  we  in- 
tend to  exhibit  to  the  world  that  in  the 
presence  of  the  great  principle  of  main- 
taining free  institutions  we  are  as  one 
people,  devoted  unto  the  end,  be  that  end 


194 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


far  or  near.  Do  not  mistake  my  own 
people  of  the  South.  I  am  a  Southern 
man,  and  the  people  speaking  through 
my  voice,  beg  you  to  come  and  preserve 
them  from  a  military  despotism." 

Mr.  Seward  also  addressed  a  few  perti- 
nent words  to  the  assembly  identifying  the 
cause,  as  was  his  wont,  with  a  life-giving 
principle.  "Fellow  citizens,"  said  he, 
"you  here  have  known  well  the  states- 
men and  orators  of  some  of  the  South- 
ern States.  We  have  known  their  cour- 
age, and  the  courage,  the  spirit  and  the 
resolution  of  the  people  of  all  the  South- 
ern States.  But  knowing  all  these,  we 
know  two  things  which  even  they  cannot 
do — one  is  to  destroy  '  Hail  Columbia,' 
and  the  other  is  to  destroy  the  Star 
Spangled  Banner.  They  will  fail  to  do 
it  only  because  human  nature  needs  that 
the  one  shall  continue  to  be  so,  and  that 
the  other  shall  float  over  the  sea  and  the 
land.  And  what  human  nature  needs, 
God  Almighty,  the  father  of  human  na- 
ture decrees."  The  Hon.  Caleb  B.  Smith, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  in  a  simi- 
lar hearty  strain  declared  his  conviction 
that  the  American  people  were  equal  to 
the  work  before  them,  the  work  of  pre- 
serving the  Union  which  Washington 
and  the  men  of  his  day  had  founded. 
"  I  have  to-day,"  he  said,  "  an  abiding- 
faith  that  treason  will  be  repelled,  that 
rebellion  will  be  crushed  out,  and  that 
the  foundations  of  this  glorious  republic 
will  be  found  firmer,  stronger  and  more 
enduring  when  this  time  of  tribulation 
shall  pass  than  they  ever  have  been." 

A  sufficient  force  being  now  established 
at  Washington,  it  was  frequently  asked 
why  orders  were  not  given  for  the  occu- 
pation of  the  commanding  positions  on 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  Potomac.  The 
enemy  were  represented  as  hovering  with- 


in range  of  the  city,  and  nothing  appeared 
more  probable  than  that  they  would  per- 
manently fortify  the  heights  at  Arlington. 
The  Secession  flag  was  openly  displayed 
in  sight  of  the  Capital.  Would  the  Gov- 
ernment, it  was  inquired,  respect  the  ab- 
surd pretensions  of  an  inviolable  soil, 
urged  by  men  who  were  in  arms  against 
their  country  ?  Should  the  Capital  be 
endangered  for  a  technical  scruple  ? 
Would  the  hesitation  which  was  the 
besetting  sin  of  the  old  Administration 
be  carried  into  the  new?  The  answer 
was  at  length  rendered,  and  the  occa- 
sion shows  how  scrupulously  the  respect 
due  the  deliberations  of  a  separate  State 
was  maintained.  It  was  not  till  the  day 
on  which,  by  the  act  of  the  Convention, 
the  people  were  to  vote  on  the  question 
of  Secession  had  arrived  and  was  con- 
cluded, and  it  was  evident  that  the  vot- 
ing, such  as  it  was,  confirmed  the  ordin- 
ance, that  any  invasion  of  the  State  was 
attempted.  The  moment,  however,  that 
fatal  act  was  fully  accomplished  and  Vir- 
ginia assumed  to  herself  the  position  of 
a  foreign  belligerent  power,  the  Govern- 
ment hesitated  no  longer. 

A  forward  movement  into  Virginia 
was  resolved  upon,  and  on  the  night  of 
the  23d  of  May  was  carried  into  effect. 
The  passage  across  the  Potomac  under 
the  direction  of  General  Mansfield  was 
highly  imposing  in  the  cool,  pure  atmos- 
phere and  bright  moonlight,  particularly 
at  the  Long  Bridge  where  the  largest 
body  of  troops  crossed.  At  2  o'clock 
in  the  morning  eight  thousand  infantry, 
two  regular  cavalry  companies,  and  two 
sections  of  Sherman's  artillery  battalion 
were  in  line  on  the  Washington  side. 
The  12th  New  York  Eegiment,  followed 
by  the  25th,  led  the  way.  The  1st 
Michigan  regiment  succeeded,  and  then 


COLONEL  ELLSWORTH. 


195 


the  regiments  of  the  New  Jersey  Bri- 
gade. The  cavalry  and  artillery  next 
crossed,  and  the  New  York  7th,  followed 
by  a  long  train  of  wagons  filled  with 
trenching  tools  brought  up  the  rear. 
The  transit  was  rapidly  made,  the  first 
regiment  passing  the  Long  Bridge  at 
twenty- two  minutes  past  2,  and  the  last 
a  quarter  to  4  o'clock.  Major-General 
Sandford  and  staff  of  the  New  York 
militia  then  joined  the  forces  and  took 
command  in  the  advance  to  Arlington. 
The  troops  quartered  at  Georgetown, 
the  69th  and  other  New  York  regiments 
under  the  command  of  General  McDow- 
ell, crossed  by  the  Chain  Bridge  above 
the  Aqueduct  and  took  possession  of  the 
heights  in  that  direction.  The  regiment 
of  Colonel  Ellsworth's  Fire  Zouaves  at 
the  same  time  embarked  at  their  camp 
at  the  Navy  Yard  to  proceed  to  Alex- 
andria. The  3d  Michigan  regiment  and 
a  portion  of  Sherman's  Battery  were  to 
advance  by  land  and  cooperate  with 
them  ;  when  it  was  expected  the  town 
would  be  taken,  the  railway  communica- 
tion cut  off,  and  the  rebel  soldiers  sta- 
tioned there  captured.  As  it  happened, 
however,  notice  of  the  attack  was  given 
in  the  night  to  the  occupants  of  Alexan- 
dria by  the  commander  of  the  United 
States  steamer  Pawnee  which  was  sta- 
tioned in  the  river  to  guard  the  place. 
The  military  fled  in  consequence,  and 
when  the  Michigan  troops  arrived  m  the 
morning  to  cut  off  their  retreat  there 
was  but  a  small  detachment  of  cavalry, 
which  was  found  at  the  station,  left  to 
conquer.  The  prisoners  taken  were  a 
company  of  Fairfax  county,  thirty-seven 
in  number,  commanded  by  Captain  Ball. 
Meanwhile  Colonel  Ellsworth  with  his 
Zouaves  had  arrived  by  water,  and  made 
good  his  landing  in  the  town. 


We  have  seen  this  officer  setting  forth 
from  Illinois  in  the  train  of  the  President, 
intent  upon  military  service  and  occupa- 
tion. It  was  his  desire  to  obtain  a  chief 
clerkship  in  the  War  Department,  where 
he  might  bring  forward  his  favorite 
scheme  of  a  uniform  organization  and 
equipment  of  the  militia  throughout  the 
country  ;  but  finding  the  pursuit  of  office 
too  fatiguing  for  his  temper,  or  the  posi- 
tion already  occupied,  he  received  from 
the  President  a  commission  in  the  army 
as  Lieutenant.  With  this,  in  ordinary 
times  he  might  have  been  content,  rely- 
ing upon  the  opportunities  he  would  have 
secured  for  proving  his  usefulness  in  a 
capacity  for  which  he  seems  to  have 
always  had  an  ardent  inclination  ;  but  a 
wider  field  now  presented  itself  to  him 
than  that  afforded  in  the  slow  promotion 
of  the  regular  service.  The  demand  for 
volunteers  summoned  men  of  enthusiasm 
and  energy  into  the  field  as  leaders — 
whose  personal  influence  might  enlist 
their  fellow- citizens  as  combatants  in  the 
national  cause.  Ellsworth  was  essentially 
one  of  these  popular  and  desirable  per- 
sonages. He  had  already  in  the  previ- 
ous summer  attracted  general  attention 
by  a  triumphant  holiday  tour  through 
the  Atlantic  cities  from  the  West,  when 
he  had  exhibited  to  the  public  the  extra- 
ordinary agility  and  feats  of  arms  of  his 
well-drilled  band  of  Chicago  Zouave  Ca- 
dets, a  corps  which,  after  the  plan  of  the 
French  service,  he  had  equipped  and  dis- 
ciplined and  brought  to  great  pe  -fection 
in  their  military  exercises.  They  had 
appeared  in  the  public  squares,  parks 
and  theatres,  and  had  everywhere  elicited 
the  public  admiration.  With  his  repu- 
tation thus  established,  immediately  after 
the  fall  of  Sumter,  taking  advantage  of  the 
first  burst  of  excitement,  he  presented  him- 


196 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


self  at  New  York  and  prepared  to  carry 
out  a  plan  of  enlistment,  which  as  soon 
as  it  was  mentioned  was  received  with 
favor.  This  was  to  form  a  regiment  from 
the  New  York  firemen,  a  body  of  men, 
young,  bold  and  enterprising,  who  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  voluntary  duties  in  the 
city  were  accustomed  to  encounter  with 
alacrity  well  nigh  every  form  of  fatigue 
and  danger.  He  saw  in  their  fearless 
qualities  and  thoroughly  organized  em- 
ployments the  proper  elements  for  the 
camp  and  the  assault.  In  agreement 
with  his  anticipations  the  regiment  quick- 
ly came  at  his  call,  and  were  immediate- 
ly well-armed  and  equipped  by  the  aid 
of  the  New  York  Union  Defence  Com- 
mittee, a  body  of  distinguished  citizens 
organized  for  the  public  service  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  resolution  of  the  meeting 
in  Union  Square  on  the  20th  of  April, 
who  had  entered  upon  their  duties  with 
praiseworthy  devotion  to  the  national 
cause.  Much  was  expected  from  the 
Fire  Zouaves,  and  they  were  certainly 
sent  on  their  way  when  they  left  New 
York,  on  the  29th  of  April,  under  the 
happiest  auspices.  Three  stands  of  colors 
were  presented  to  them  at  different  sta- 
tions of  their  procession  through  the  city 
as  they  were  escorted  by  their  brethren 
of  the  Fire  Department  in  full  uniform  ; 
one  the  gift  of  the  Corporation  and  the 
Fire  Department,  another  from  Mrs. 
Astor,  and  the  third  by  the  ladies  of  the 
Astor  House.  On  each  of  these  occa- 
sions speeches  were  delivered  and  the 
best  feeling  manifested.  On  its  arrival 
at  Washington  the  regiment  was  well  re- 
ceived, and  in  a  few  days  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  distinguish  itself  and  ingratiate 
itself  farther  with  the  inhabitants  in  a 
characteristic  manner  in  the  line  of  the 
old  vocation  of  its  members.  A  fire 


broke  out  in  a  building  adjoining  Wil- 
lard's  Hotel,  which  threatened  the  de- 
struction of  that  edifice.  The  Fire  Zou- 
aves, then  lodged  in  the  Capitol,  nothing 
loth,  were  called  in,  and  after  perform- 
ing the  most  extraordinary  feats  of  agil- 
ity in  their  attempts  to  compensate  for 
the  lack  of  the  necessary  apparatus,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  admiration  of  the  towns- 
people in  saving  the  structure.  They 
were  presently  provided  with  tents  and 
settled  down  in  their  encampment  on  the 
Potomac.  From  this  they  were  now 
aroused  to  advance  into  the  hostile  terri- 
tory. 

Colonel  Ellsworth  reached  Alexandria 
by  steamboat  with  his  force  about  half- 
past  5  in  the  morning,  and  landed  in 
safety.  In  fact  the  town  being  com- 
manded by  the  guns  of  the  Pawnee  in 
the  river,  however  belligerent  might  have 
been  the  disposition"  of  its  inhabitants, 
was  not  disposed  to  make  much  resist- 
ance, and  having  received  warning,  as 
we  have  seen,  from  the  commander  of 
that  vessel,  its  military  occupants  were 
anxious  only  to  secure  their  departure. 
At  this  early  hour  of  the  morning  the 
streets  were  seemingly  in  their  usual 
quiet.  Giving  some  directions  for  the 
destruction  of  the  railway  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  the  Virginia  troops,  Ellsworth 
himself  hastened  forward  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  telegraph  office,  to  break  up 
the  rebel  communication  with  the  inte- 
rior. He  was  accompanied  by  three 
persons,  two  correspondents  of  New 
York  daily  papers,  Mr.  A.  J.  Winser  of 
the  Times,  Mr.  E.  M.  House  of  the  Tri- 
bune, and  the  Rev.  E.  W.  Dodge  the 
Chaplain  of  the  Eegiment.  What  fol- 
lowed may  be  best  told  in  the  nar- 
rative of  one  of  these  eye  witnesses  of  the 
transaction.  "  At  first,77  says  Mr.  House 


DEATH   OF  ELLSWORTH. 


197 


in  his  graphic  report  of  the  affair,  "  Colo- 
nel Ellsworth  summoned  no  guard  to  fol- 
low him,  but  he  afterward  turned  and 
called  forward  a  single  squad,  with  a 
sergeant  from  the  first  company.  We 
passed  quickly  through  the  streets,  meet- 
ing a  few  bewildered  travellers  issuing 
from  the  principal  hotel,  which  seemed 
to  be  slowly  coming  to  its  daily  senses, 
and  were  about  to  turn  toward  the  tele- 
graph office,  when  the  Colonel,  first  of 
all,  caught  sight  of  the  secession  flag, 
which  has  so  long  swung  insolently  in 
full  view  of  the  President's  House.  He 
immediately  sent  back  the  sergeant,  with 
an  order  for  the  advance  of  the  entire 
first  company,  and  leaving  the  matter  of 
the  telegraph  office  for  a  while,  pushed 
on  to  the  hotel,  which  proved  to  be  the 
Marshall  House,  a  second-class  inn.  On 
entering  the  open  door,  the  Colonel  met 
a  man  in  his  shirt  and  trowsers,  of  whom 
he  demanded  what  sort  of  flag  it  was 
that  hung  above  the  roof.  The  stranger, 
who  seemed  greatly  alarmed,  declared 
he  knew  nothing  of  it,  and  that  he  was 
only  a  boarder  there.  Without  question- 
ing him  further  the  Colonel  sprang  up 
stairs,  and  we  all  followed  to  the  topmost 
story,  whence,  by  means  of  a  ladder,  he 
clambered  to  the  roof,  cut  down  the  flag 
with  Winser's  knife,  and  brought  it  from 
its  staff.  There  were  two  men  in  bed  in 
the  garret  whom  we  had  not  observed  at 
all  when  we  entered,  their  position  being 
somewhat  concealed,  but  who  now  rose 
in  great  apparent  amazement,  although 
I  observed  that  they  were  more  than  half 
dressed.  We  at  once  turned  to  descend, 
Private  Brownell  leading  the  way,  and 
Colonel  Ellsworth  immediately  following 
him  with  the  flag.  As  Brownell  reached 
the  first  landing-place,  or  entry,  after  a 
descent  of  some  dozen  steps,  a  man 


jumped  from  a  dark  passage,  and  hardly 
noticing  the  private,  leveled  a  double- 
barreled  gun  square  at  the  Colonel's 
breast.  Brownell  made  a  quick  pass  to 
turn  the  weapon  aside,  but  the  fellow's 
hand  was  firm,  and  he  discharged  one 
barrel  straight  to  its  aim,  the  slugs  or 
buckshot  with  which  it  was  loaded  enter- 
ing the  Colonel's  heart,  and  killing  him 
at  the  instant.  I  think  my  arm  was  rest- 
ing on  poor  Ellsworth's  shoulder  at  the 
moment.  At  any  rate  he  seemed  to  fall 
almost  from  my  own  grasp.  He  was  on 
the  second  or  third  step  from  the  landing, 
and  he  dropped  forward  with  that  heavy, 
horrible,  headlong  weight  which  always 
comes  of  sudden  death  inflicted  in  this 
manner.  His  assailant  had  turned  like 
a  flash  to  give  the  contents  of  the  other 
barrel  to  Brownell,  but  either  he  could 
not  command  his  aim  or  the  Zouave  was 
too  quick  with  him,  for  the  slugs  went 
over  his  head,  and  passed  through  the 
panels  and  wainscot  of  a  door  which 
sheltered  some  sleeping  lodgers.  Simul- 
taneously with  this  second  shot,  and 
sounding  like  the  echo  of  the  first,  Brown- 
ell's  rifle  was  heard,  and  the  assassin 
staggered  backward.  He  was  hit  exactly 
in  the  middle  of  the  face,  and  the  wound, 
as  I  afterward  saw  it,  was  the  most  fright- 
ful I  ever  witnessed.  Of  course  Brown- 
ell did  not  know  how  fatal  his  shot  had 
been,  and  so  before  the  man  dropped,  he 
thrust  his  sabre-bayonet  through  and 
through  the  body,  the  force  of  the  blow 
sending  the  dead  man  violently  down  the 
upper  section  of  the  second  flight  of 
stairs,  at  the  foot  of  which  he  lay  with 
his  face  to  the  floor.  Winser  ran  from 
above  crying,  '  Who  is  hit  ?'  but  as  he 
glanced  downward  by  our  feet,  he  needed 
no  answer. 

"Bewildered   for  an  instant  by  the 


198 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


suddenness  of  this  attack,  and  not  knowing 
what  more  might  be  in  store,  we  forbore 
to  proceed,  and  gathered  together  defen- 
sively. There  were  but  seven  of  us 
altogether,  and  one  was  without  a  weapon 
of  any  kind.  Brownell  instantly  reload- 
ed, and  while  doing  so  perceived  the 
door  through  which  the  assailant's  shot 
had  passed,  beginning  to  open.  He 
brought  his  rifle  to  the  shoulder,  and 
menaced  the  occupants,  two  travellers, 
with  immediate  death  if  they  stirred. 
The  three  other  privates  guarded  the  pas- 
sages, of  which  there  were  quite  a  number 
converging  to  the  point  where  we  stood, 
while  the  Chaplain  and  Winser  looked  to 
the  stair-case  by  which  we  had  descend- 
ed, and  the  adjoining  chambers.  I  ran 
down  stairs  to  see  if  anything  was  threat- 
ened from  the  story  below,  but  it  soon 
appeared  there  was  no  danger  from  that 
quarter.  However,  we  were  not  at  all 
disposed  to  move  from  our  position. 
From  the  opening  doors,  and  through  the 
passages,  we  discerned  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  forms  to  assure  us  that  we  were 
dreadfully  in  the  minority.  I  think  now 
that  there  was  no  danger,  and  that  the 
single  assailant  acted  without  concert 
with  anybody  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to 
know  accurately,  and  it  was  certainly  a 
doubtful  question  then.  The  first  thing 
to  be  done  was  to  look  to  our  dead  friend 
and  leader.  He  had  fallen  on  his  face, 
and  the  streams  of  blood  that  flowed  from 
his  wound  had  literally  flooded  the  way. 
The  Chaplain  turned  him  gently  over, 
and  I  stooped  and  called  his  name  aloud, 
at  which  I  thought  then  he  murmured  in- 
articulately. .  I  presume  I  was  mistaken, 
and  I  am  not  sure  that  he  spoke  a  word 
after  being  struck,  although  in  my  dis- 
patch I  repeated  a  single  exclamation 
which  I  had  believed  he  uttered.  It 


might  have  been  Brownell,  or  the  Chap- 
lain, who  was  close  behind  me.  Winser 
and  I  lifted  the  body  with  all  the  care 
we  could  apply,  and  laid  it  upon  a  bed  in 
a  room  near  by.  The  rebel  flag,  stained 
with  his  blood,  and  purified  by  this  con- 
tact from  the  baseness  of  its  former  mean- 
ing, we  laid  about  his  feet.  It  was  at 
first  difficult  to  discover  the  precise  local- 
ity of  his  wound,  for  all  parts  of  his  coat 
were  equally  saturated  with  blood.  By 
cautiously  loosening  his  belt  and  unbut- 
toning his  coat,  we  found  where  the  shot 
had  penetrated.  None  of  us  had  any 
medical  knowledge,  but  we  saw  that  all 
hope  must  be  resigned.  Nevertheless,  it 
seemed  proper  to  summon  the  surgeon 
as  speedily  as  possible.  This  could  not 
easily  be  done,  for,  secluded  as  we  were 
in  that  part  of  the  town,  and  uncertain 
whether  an  ambush  might  not  be  await- 
ing us  also,  no  man  could  volunteer  to 
venture  forth  alone,  and  to  go  together, 
and  leave  the  Colonel's  body  behind,  was 
out  of  the  question.  We  wondered  at 
the  long  delay  of  the  first  company,  for 
the  advance  of  which  the  Colonel  had 
sent  back  before  approaching  the  hotel, 
but  we  subsequently  learned  that  they 
had  mistaken  a  street,  and  gone  a  little 
out  of  their  way.  Before  they  arrived 
we  had  removed  some  of  the  unsightly 
stains  from  the  Colonel's  features,  and 
composed  his  limbs.  His  expression  in 
death  was  beautifully  natural.  The  Col- 
onel was  a  singularly  handsome  man,  and, 
excepting  the  pallor,  there  was  nothing 
different  in  his  countenance  now  from 
what  all  his  friends  had  so  lately  been 
accustomed  to  gladly  recognize.  The 
detachment  was  heard  approaching  at 
last,  a  reinforcement  was  easily  called 
up,  and  the  surgeon  was  sent  for.  His 
arrival,  not  long  after,  of  course  sealed 


TOUCHING  IMPRESSIONS. 


201 


was  everywhere  proclaimed  as /hat  of  a 
hero  ;  his  praises  were  sung  and  record- 
ed and  his  example  put  forward  as  an 
incentive  to  all  defenders  of  their  homes, 
and  an  instructive  warning  to  all  North- 
ern invaders.  Sums  of  money  were  sub- 
scribed and  collections  taken  up  even  in 
churches  for  a  fund  for  his  family. 

"  The  deed  of  patriotism,"  was  the 
language  of  an  article  in  the  Charleston 
Mercury,  written  in  that  tone  of  exag- 
geration which  seemed  to  be  an  element 
of  the  Southern  cause,  "performed  by 
Jackson  has  stained,  for  the  first  time, 
the  '  Stars  and  Bars '  of  the  Confederate 
flag  with  blood — and  that  blood  worthy 
of  a  true  Southern  heart — the  blood  of  a 
hero.  Upon  his  own  hearth  he  fell, 
arms  in  hand,  dealing  death  to  the  in- 
sulter  of  that  flag — one  man  against  a 
thousand  murderers.  He  fell  hewed  to 
pieces  by  the  rabble  horde.  But  his 
spirit  will  live — will  live  upon  the  storm 
-—and  like  the  hurricanes  of  the  South, 
will  sweep  from  the  uttermost  shores  of 
the  Grulf  to  the  rugged  mountain  peaks 
of  the  North.  It  will  soar  over  the  field 
of  bloody  battle  to  come  and  shriek  aloud 
for  vengeance  amid  carnage.  It  shall 
rush  forth  in  the  booming  of  every  can- 
non, and  shall  gleam  in  the  flash  of  every 
Southern  blade.  And  it  will  live,  too, 
in  times  to  come,  when  the  smoke  of  bat- 
tle shall  have  passed  away,  and  the  mem- 
ory of  blood  shall  have  almost  been  for- 
gotten. The  name  of  Jackson  shall  be 
enshrined  in  the  heart  of  Virginia  as 
the  name  of  Jasper  in  South  Carolina, 
and  recorded  upon  the  brightest  pages 
of  her  history.  His  death  is  a  victory 
won,  and  his  name  should  be  inscribed, 
in  monumental  marble,  by  the  side  of 
Virginia's  worthiest  sons." 

Th«>  injudicious  act,  for  such  it  must 
26 


be  regarded  in  any  proper  military  esti- 
mate of  the  unnecessary  exposure,  by 
which  Ellsworth  thus  lost  his  life,  was 
forgotten  in  the  impressions  of  his  youth, 
his  strength  and  beauty,  his  enthusiasm 
and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his  country. 
The  resolution  with  which  he  had  over- 
come the  obstacles  of  fortune  and  raised 
himself,  thus  early,  to  an  honored  posi- 
tion, the  purity  of  his  character,  the 
friendship  of  the  President  which  he  en- 
joyed, the  welfare  and  conduct  of  his 
corps  so  immediately  and  wholly  depend- 
ing on  his  personal  influence,  all,  with 
the  circumstances  of  his  foremost  place 
among  the  martyrs  of  the  war,  enhanced 
the  appreciation  of  his  loss.  His  chiv- 
alric  enthusiasm  was  called  to  mind, 
while  the  account  of  his  last  midnight 
hours  in  the  camp  added  a  touch  of  per- 
sonal feeling  and  pathos  to  the  story  of 
his  brief  career.  In  those  silent  hours, 
seemingly  more  silent,  in  anticipation  of 
the  coming  tumult,  after  arranging  the 
details  of  his  command  he  wrote  two 
letters,  one  addressed  to  a  lad}^  in  the 
West  to  whom  he  was  betrothed,  the 
other  to  his  parents.  The  latter  has 
been  published.  It  is  sadly  in  earnest, 
yet  cheerful  in  its  reliance  on  Provi- 
dence. We  can  offer  no  better  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  the  gallant  young  offi- 
cer whom  "  the  Fates  but  showed  to  the 
earth,"  than  to  recite  it.  It  reads,  "  My 
dear  father  and  mother — The  regiment 
is  ordered  to  move  across  the  river  to- 
night. We  have  no  means  of  knowing 
what  reception  we  are  to  meet  with.  I 
am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  our  en- 
trance to  the  city  of  Alexandria  will  be 
hotly  contested,  as  I  am  just  informed  a 
large  force  has  arrived  there  to-day. 
Should  this  happen,  my  dear  parents,  it 
may  be  my  lot  to  be  injured  in  some 


202 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


manner.  Whatever  may  happen,  cher- 
ish the  consolation  that  I  was  engaged  in 
the  performance  of  a  sacred  duty  ;  and, 
to-night,  thinking  over  the  probabilities 
of  to-morrow,  and  the  occurrences  of  the 


past,  I  am  perfectly  content  to  accept   bless,  protect  and  care  for  you." 


that  He  who  noteth  even  the  fall  of  a 
sparrow,  will  have  some  purpose  even 
in  the  fate  of  one  like  me.  My  darling 
and  ever-loved  parents,  good-bye.  God 


CHAPTER    XI  Y. 


AFFAIRS    ON    THE    POTOMAC. 


MILITARY  possession  having  thus  been 
taken  of  the  positions  in  Yirginia  front- 
ing the  Capital,  the  main  avenues  to  the 
city  between  Georgetown  and  Alex- 
andria guarded,  the  railway  approaches 
from  the  interior  cut  off  and  intrench- 
ments  thrown  up  for  protection,  Major- 
General  Charles  W.  Sandford  of  the  New 
York  militia  established  his  headquarters 
at  Arlington  House,  the  well-known  seat 
of  the  Custis  family,  which  had  been  a 
few  days  before  vacated  by  its  owner 
and  occupant,  General  Robert  E.  Lee, 
formerly  of  the  United  States  army,  and 
of  late  commander  of  the  insurgent  forces 
in  the  vicinity.  As  an  indication  of  the 
courteous  spirit  in  which  these  novel 
military  proceedings  were  commenced, 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  on  presenting 
himself  before  the  mansion  General 
Sandford  sent  to  inquire  if  the  family -of 
the  rebel  officer  remained,  and  if  so  that 
he  would  place  a  guard  for  their  protec- 
tion. On  being  assured  that  they  had 
left  a  fortnight  before,  he  sent  to  General 
Lee  to  say  that  he  was  obliged  to  make 
Arlington  House  his  quarters,  and  would 
see  that  the  premises  received  no  dam- 
age.* 

*  Special  Dispatch  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  May  26, 
1861. 


Immediately  on  his  arrival  at  these 
desirable  headquarters,  General  Sand- 
ford  issued  the  following  proclamation : 
"  Fairfax  County  being  occupied  by  the 
troops  under  my  command,  I  deem  it 
proper  to  repeat  publicly  the  assurances 
I  have  personally  given  to  many  of  the 
good  citizens  about  me  that  all  of  its  in- 
habitants may  return  to  or  remain  in 
their  homes  and  usual  pacific  occupations 
in  peace  and  confidence,  and  with  as- 
sured protection  to  their  persons  and 
property,  as  the  United  States  forces  in 
Yirginia  will  be  employed  for  no  other 
purpose  than  that  of  suppressing  unlaw- 
ful combinations  against  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  Union,  and  of  causing 
the  laws  thereof  to  be  duly  respected 
and  executed."* 

Colonel  0.  B.  Wilcox,  of  the  1st 
Regiment  Michigan  Yolunteers,  was  at 
the  same  time  in  command  of  the  Union 
forces  in  and  about  Alexandria.  In  a 
proclamation  of  the  26th  he  announced 
the  moderate  course  of  policy  he  would 
pursue  towards  the  city.  "The  peace 
of  the  city,"  he  promised,  "will  be  pre- 
served unless  attacked  by  the  enemy. 
Private  property  will  be  respected  and 


*  Proclamation  of   Major-General    Sandford,  May   28 
1861. 


THE   TOMB   OP   WASHINGTON. 


203 


protected  by  the  officers  and  men  of 
the  whole  commanL  Peaceable  citizens 
will  be  held  inviolate  in  the  persons 
of  themselves,  their  families  and  serv- 
ants." 

Colonel  Wilcox  was  presently  suc- 
ceeded in  command  of  the  brigade  at 
Alexandria  by  Colonel  Charles  P.  Stone 
of  the  14th  regular  infantry,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  whose  experience  in  the 
Mexican  war  and  in  other  responsible 
relations  had  commended  him  to  General 
Scott  to  take  charge  of  the  early  military 
preparations  for  the  defence  of  Wash- 
ington at  the  close  of  President  Bu- 
chanan's administration,  a  service  which 
he  had  performed  with  efficiency.  Colo- 
nel Stone  held  his  new  position  but  a 
few  days,  being  recalled  to  Washington 
to  resume  command  of  the  District  mi- 
litia. He  was  succeeded  at  Alexandria 
by  Colonel  Samuel  P.  Heintzelman  of 
the  17th  regular  infantry.  This  officer, 
who  was  presently  raised  to  the  rank  of 
Brigadier-General,  was  born  at  Man- 
heim,  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania, 
in  1806,  became  a  graduate  of  West 
Point  of  the  year  1826,  when  he  was 
appointed  to  a  2d  Lieutenancy  in  the  3d 
Infantry,  and  had  since  been  engaged  in 
every  active  duty  which  had  fallen  to 
the  army.  He  had  served  in  Florida 
and  Mexico,  and  particularly  distin- 
guished himself  in  Southern  California 
and  Texas,  where  independent  commands 
had  been  assigned  to  him,  and  he  had  exe- 
cuted some  brilliant  military  manoeuvres 
with  energy  and  success.  Foreseeing  the 
difficulties  at  hand,  he  had  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  obtained  leave  of  absence 
from  General  Twiggs,  in  whose  depart- 
ment of  the  Southwest  he  was  stationed, 
and  reporting  himself  at  Washington, 
had  been  employed  in  the  recruiting 


service,  and  within  the  last  mouth  as 
acting  Inspector-General  on  General 
Mansfield's  staff. 

One  of  the  agreeable  results  of  the 
occupation  of  Alexandria,  was  to  give 
the  public  assurance  of  the  safety  of  the 
remains  of  Washington  in  the  cemetery 
at  the  neighboring  Mount  Yernon.  It 
had  been  currently  reported,  with  some 
show  of  probability,  that  the  tomb  had 
been  violated  and  the  remains  removed 
to  some  secret  place  in  the  interior,  lest 
they  should  fall  under  Northern  pro- 
tection and  afford  a  certain  prestige  to 
the  cause  of  the  Union.  The  rumor  was 
connected  with  the  circumstance  of  the 
former  owner  of  the  estate,  Colonel  John 
A.  Washington,  who  had  retained  a 
right  of  guardianship  of  the  sepulchre, 
having  joined  the  Confederate  Army. 
There  appeared,  however,  on  exami- 
nation, to  be  no  authority  for  the 
report,  the  tomb  being  found  in  its  usual 
condition.  As  it  was  some  time  before 
the  lines  of  our  army  were  extended  in 
that  direction,  reports  arose  from  time 
to  time  of  the  occupation  of  the  grounds 
of  Mount  Yernon  by  the  rebel  troops, 
and  fears  were  entertained  of  injury  to 
the  premises,  which  had  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  property  of  the  nation. 
General  Scott,  subsequently,  when  the 
war  was  assuming  greater  intensity,  and 
rumors  were  again  current  of  acts  of 
spoliation,  made  the  protection  of  the 
spot  a  subject  of  his  especial  concern  in 
a  general  order  from  the  Capital.  "It 
has  been,"  he  proclaimed,  "the  prayer 
of  every  patriot  that  the  tramp  and  din 
of  civil  war  might  at  least  spare  the 
precincts  within  which  repose  the  sacred 
remains  of  the  Father  of  his  Country  ; 
but  this  pious  hope  is  disappointed. 
Mount  Yernon,  so  recently  consecrated 


r~ 


204 


WAS,  FOR  THE   UNION. 


anew  to  the  immortal  Washington  by  the 
ladies  of  America,  has  already  been  over- 
run by  bands  of  rebels,  who,  having 
trampled  under  foot  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States — the  ark  of  our  free- 
dom and  prosperity — are  prepared  to 
trample  on  the  ashes  of  him  to  whom  we 
are  all  mainly  indebted  for  those  mighty 
blessings.  Should  the  operations  of  war 
take  the  United  States  troops  in  that 
direction,  the  General-in-Chief  does  not 
doubt  that  each  and  every  man  will  ap- 
proach with  due  reverence  and  leave  un- 
injured, not  only  the  Tomb,  but  also  the 
House,  the  Groves  and  Walks  which 
were  so  loved  by  the  best  and  greatest 
of  men."* 

On  the  27th  May,  Brigadier-General 
Irvin  McDowell  of  the  regular  army  took 
command  of  the  Union  forces  in  Virginia, 
succeeding  General  Sandford  in  his  head- 
quarters at  Arlington  House.  General 
McDowell,  a  native  of  Ohio,  was  a  grad- 
uate of  the  West  Point  Military  Academy 
of  the  year  1838,  when  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  Brevet  2d  Lieutenant. 
He  was  assistant  instructor  in  infantry 
tactics  at  West  Point  in  1841,  and  Ad- 
jutant from  that  year  to  1845.  For  the 
next  two  years  he  was  aid-de-camp  to 
General  Wool,  serving  with  him  through- 
out the  Mexican  war.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  battle  of  Buena  Yista,  and  for  his 
gallant  services  on  that  field  received  the 
rank  of  Brevet  Captain  in  February, 
1847.  In  the  following  May  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  Assistant  Adjutant- 
General  with  the  rank  of  Captain.  In 
1856  he  became  Assistant  Adjutant- 
General  with  the  rank  of  Major.  His 
recent  appointment  of  Brevet  Brigadier- 
General  bore  date  the  17th  of  May. 

*  General  Order.     Head-quarters  of  the  Army,  Wash- 
ington, July  81,  1861. 


Previously  to  that  time  he  had  been 
actively  engaged  at  Washington  in  his 
department  by  the  side  of  General 
Scott  in  the  organization  of  the  army. 
Thoroughly  accomplished  in  military  af- 
fairs, of  an  unusually  manly  and  vigorous 
frame,  strengthened  by  habits  of  strict 
temperance,  associating  rare  candor  and 
modesty  with  the  patient,  steadfast  per- 
formance of  duty,  he  was  eminently 
qualified  for  the  peculiar  position  to 
which  he  was  now  advanced. 

The  month  of  June  opened  with  a 
spirited  dash  on  one  of  the  outposts  of 
the  line  of  the  enemy,  which  in  fact,  with 
the  exception  of  the  short  distance  be- 
tween Georgetown  and  Alexandria,  close- 
ly encompassed  the  whole  course  of  the 
Potomac  from  its  lower  waters  to  Har- 
per's Ferry  and  the  confines  of  North- 
western Yirginia,  where  the  Union  army, 
whose  proceedings  we  shall  trace  in  a 
subsequent  chapter,  already  held  the 
country  under  control.  The  military 
positions  of  the  enemy  immediately  be- 
fore Washington  were  at  Manassas  Junc- 
tion, an  important  station  commanding 
the  railway  communication  with  Bich- 
mond  and  the  South  and  the  central  val- 
ley of  the  State  ;  thence  sweeping  round 
the  Union  encampments  by  Fairfax  Court 
House  and  Yienna  to  Leesburg  on  the 
north.  Manassas  Junction,  where  the 
rebel  army  was  reported  assembling  in 
force  and  throwing  up  earthworks  for 
permanent  defence,  lies  in  a  south-west- 
erly direction  27  miles  from  Alexandria. 
Fairfax  Court  House,  intermediate  be- 
tween Alexandria  and  Georgetown,  is 
about  18  miles  distant  from  Washington. 
It  was  at  the  latter  place  that  the  first 
serious  skirmish  between  the  two  forces 
arrayed  against  each  other  in  front  of  the 
Capital  occurred.  On  the  night  of  the 


LIEUTENANT  TOMPKINS'   CAVALRY   CHARGE. 


205 


31st  of  May,  Lieutenant  Charles  H. 
Tompkins  of  the  3d  U.  S.  Cavalry,  in 
pursuance  of  instructions  from  Colonel 
David  Hunter  commanding,  set  out  from 
Camp  Union,  before  Washington,  in  com- 
mand of  company  B  of  the  regiment,  47 
in  number,  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitre- 
ing  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  Fairfax 
Court  House.  On  approaching  that  lo- 
cality he  fell  in  with  a  picket  guard  of 
the  eneni}r,  which  he  surprised  and  cap- 
tured. He  then  rode  onward  with  his 
men,  entering  the  town  at  early  dawn, 
when  his  command  was  fired  upon  by 
rebel  troops  from  the  windows  and  house 
tops.  He  was  also  opposed  by  a  body  of 
mounted  men,  upon  whom  he  promptly 
charged,  driving  them  from  the  town. 
Immediately,  however,  two  or  three  addi- 
tional companies  came  up  to  their  relief 
and  opened  fire,  which  was  returned. 
Finding  that  he  was  largely  outnumbered, 
Lieutenant  Tompkins  then  ordered  a  re- 
treat, which  he  accomplished  in  good 
order,  bringing  off  with  him  as  trophies  of 
the  encounter  five  prisoners  fully  armed 
and  equipped  and  two  horses.  The  loss 
of  the  rebels  was  estimated  by  Lieutenant 
Tompkins  in  his  dispatch  at  20  to  25 
killed  and  wounded.  Of  his  own  men, 
three  were  missing  and  three  slightly 
wounded.  He  also  lost  six  horses.* 
Captain  John  Q.  Marr,  whose  company 
of  the  Warrenton  Rifles  took  part  in  the 
engagement,  was  killed  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fight.  He  was  a  person  of  note  in 
Virginia,  and  his  death  was  much  la- 
mented. He  had  been  a  member  of  the 
recent  State  convention,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber elect  of  the  Legislature  from  Fau- 


*  Charles  H.  Tompkins,  1st  Lieutenant,  Commanding 
Co.  B,  3d  Cavalry,  to  Colonel  D.  Hunter,  3d  Cavalry,  Com- 
manding 1st  Brigade,  Dept.  Eastern  Virginia.  Camp  Union, 
Va.,  June  1,  1861. 


quier  County.  Among  the  prisoners 
taken  by  Lieutenant  Tompkins  on  this 
occasion  was  Captain  John  B.  Washing- 
ton, a  son  of  the  late  Colonel  John  A. 
Washington  of  the  regular  army.  A 
trooper,  it  is  said,  in  the  onset  caught 
him  by  the  hair,  lifted  him  on  the  pom- 
mel of  his  saddle,  and  holding  him  in  this 
position  charged  twice  through  the  town. 
After  an  interview  with  General  Scott, 
the  rebel  prisoner  accepted  the  more  na- 
tional views  of  duty  of  that  eminent  offi- 
cer, took  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  was 
released.  On  the  night  following  the  gal- 
lant charge  of  Lieutenant  Tompkins,  word 
having  been  brought  that  two  of  the  miss- 
ing dragoons  captured  by  the  rebels  wen 
about  being  hung,  the  company  was  agnin 
summoned  from  their  quarters,  made  a 
dashing  descent  upon  the  Court  House, 
where  their  companions  were  imprisoned, 
rescued  them  and  brought  them  back  to 
the  camp  at  daybreak.* 

The  next  military  incident  of  general 
interest  in  this  quarter  was  an  unhappy 
"  reconnoissance  "  in  the  direction  of  Vi- 
enna, which  occurring  a  few  days  after 
the  melancholy  affair  at  Bethel  in  Gen- 
eral Butler's  new  department,  of  which 
an  account  will  be  found  in  another 
chapter,  called'  forth  many  unpleasant 
comments  from  the  public  in  association 
with  that  disaster.  It  was  an  important 
object  for  the  Union  troops  in  their  ad- 
vance into  Virginia  to  secure  possession 
of  the  Loudon  and  Hampshire  railway, 
which,  following  the  Potomac  within  a 
few  miles  of  the  stream,  extended  from 
Alexandria  to  Leesburg.  The  lower 
end  being  already  in  their  possession, 
repairs  had  been  made  of  the  adjoining 
portion  which  had  been  broken  up  by 
the  insurgents,  and  on  the  16th  of  June 


*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  3,  1861. 


206 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


the  track  was  in  good  running  order  a 
distance  of  some  fifteen  miles  to  Yienna. 
As  there  was  some  danger  of  the  railway 
communication  being  again  interrupted, 
General  McDowell  ordered  Brigadier- 
General  Schenck  of  Ohio,  who  was  in 
camp  with  his -men  about  three  miles 
beyond  Alexandria,  to  go  over  the  line 
and  station  a  sufficient  body  of  men  at 
different  points  for  its  protection.  In 
pursuance  of  these  directions  General 
Schenck  early  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
17th  set  forth  on  the  track  with  about 
700  officers  and  men  of  the  1st  Ohio 
regiment,  under  the  immediate  com- 
mand of  Colonel  McCook.  As  the  train 
advanced  several  detachments  were  set 
down  at  various  stations  where  the  road 
seemed  easy  of  access  to  the  enemy, 
leaving  four  companies  in  the  cars,  num- 
bering in  all  275  men,  who  were  to  be 
stationed  at  Yienna.  As  the  same  train 
had  passed  over  the  route  the  day  be- 
fore, carrying  General  Tyler  and  his 
staff  beyond  the  town,  and  no  enemy 
had  been  reported  in  the  neighborhood, 
there  were  no  particular  steps  taken  on 
the  present  occasion  to  guard  against 
surprise.  The  omission  was  the  more 
important  as  the  road  at  the  immediate 
approach  to  Yienna  passed  through  a 
deep  cut  succeeded  by  a  curve.  It  was 
about  6  o'clock  when  the  train  was 
driven  slowly  forward  at  this  point  by 
the  engine  in  the  rear,  the  forward  cars 
in  which  the  troops  were  sitting  being 
open  and  without  protection.  As  the 
curve  was  turned  a  raking  fire  of  shells, ' 
round  shot  and  grape  from  an  unsus- 
pected "battery  was  directed  upon  the 
foremost  cars,  killing  and  wounding  a 
number  of  the  men.  The  train  was 
instantly  stopped,  and  the  engineer  was 
ordered  to  carry  it  out  of  range.  There 


was  some  difficulty  about  this,  in  conse- 
quence, as  he  alleged,  of  the  brakes 
being  down,  and  when  that  was  reme- 
died the  engine  with  the  rear  car  was 
found  to  be  detached  from  the  rest. 
The  engineer  was  then  directed  to  take 
his  station  a  little  below  and  await 
further  orders.  The  troops  had  mean- 
while left  the  remaining  cars,  and  retired 
for  safety  to  the  adjoining  woods.  When 
the  services  of  the  engine  and  single  car 
were  required  to  carry  back  the  wound- 
ed, it  was  found  that  the  terrified  en- 
gineer had  deserted  the  command,  and 
had  gone  off  in  full  speed  for  Alexan- 
dria. The  wounded  had  in  consequence 
to  be  carried  on  litters  and  in  blankets, 
and,  what  added  to  their  misfortune,  the 
surgeon  who  was  with  them  was  with- 
out the  use  of  his  instruments,  which 
had  been  taken  away  by  the  absconding 
engineer.  Six  maimed  and  mutilated 
men  were  thus  without  relief  till  the 
next  morning.  Five  were  known  to  be 
killed  by  the  enemy's  fire,  and  nine  were 
missing.  The  remainder  were  brought 
off  in  safety  along  the  line  of  the  road. 
The  enemy's  force  in  this  affair,  accord- 
ing to  a  statement  in  the  Louisville 
Courier,  was  composed  chiefly  of  a  body 
of  600  South  Carolinians,  with  an  artil- 
lery company  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Gregg,  who  was  out  on  a  recon- 
noitering  expedition  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, when  the  distant  sound  of  the 
slowly  advancing  locomotive  led  him  to 
plant  his  battery  on  the  spot.  He  had 
also,  it  is  said,  two  companies  of  cavalry 
with  him.  Notwithstanding  these  ad- 
vantages, however,  he  made  no  pursuit. 
Had  our  men  been  followed  up  their 
loss  probably  would  have  been  very 
great,  That  they  were  not  pursued 
was  the  only  item  of  consolation  in  this 


NAVIGATION   OF   THE  POTOMAC. 


207 


unhappy  affair.  It  was  said  that  the 
enemy  were  confident  only  when  they 
had  every  advantage  of  position,  and 
would  risk  nothing  in  the  open  field. 
Much  WAS  also  talked  about  "masked 
batteries,"  but  the  public,  tiring  of  the 
phrase,  began  to  think  that  all  batteries 
are  masked  to  the  inexperienced.* 

The  condition  of  the  navigation  of  the 
Potomac,  from  which  quarter  there  had 
been  reports  for  some  time  past  of  the 
enemy's  occupation  and  the  erection  of 
hostile  batteries  on  the  banks,  now  began 
to  attract  serious  attention.  The  public 
was,  as  usual,  impatient  at  the  apparent 
inaction  of  the  Government,  which  gave 
confidence  to  the  rebels  to  carry  out  their 
plans  of  annoyance  and  threaten  perma- 
nently to  arrest  the  navigation,  though 
there  was  little  fear  but  that,  when  the 
navy  was  called  to  put  forth  its  strength, 
it  would  speedily  remove  all  obstacles  of 
this  kind  in  its  path.  The  earliest  at- 
tempt of  consequence  to  clear  these  im- 
pediments was  made  by  Captain  James 
Harman  Ward,  of  the  navy,  an  officer 
of  great  activity  and  intelligence,  whose 
fate,  as  the  first  martyr  of  note  in  this 
branch  of  the  service,  renders  some  ac- 
count of  his  previous  career  of  interest. 
Born  in  the  city  of  Hartford,  Connecti- 
cut, in  the  year  1806,  he  was  now  at  the 
height  of  his  powers  in  his  fifty-fifth 
year.  Entering  the  navy  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  he  had  made  his  first  cruise 
under  Commodore  Macdonough  in  the 
Constitution,  and,  rising  in  rank,  had 
been  employed  in  various  service,  parti- 
cularly on  the  coast  of  Africa,  where  he 
suffered  a  severe  attack  of  fever  which 
threatened  to  put  an  end  to  his  career. 

*  Report  of  Brigadier-General  Robert  C.  Schenck  to 
Lieutenant-General  Scott.  Lieutenant  Raynor's  Defence 
of  General  Schenck. 


He  subsequently  returned  to  the  sickly 
station  as  a  commander  in  the  squadron, 
to  render  good  service  in  repressing  the 
slave  trade,  and  was  afterward  in  com- 
mand of  the  Yixen  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexi- 
co. Besides  this  active  employment  at 
sea,  which  occupied  the  greater  portion 
of  his  career,  he  had  discharged  an  im- 
portant duty  on  shore  as  Professor  in  the 
Naval  School  at  Annapolis  ;  and,  having 
also  paid  particular  attention  to  the  sci- 
entific part  of  his  profession,  had  written 
several  books  on  naval  tactics,  the  appli- 
cation of  steam  to  naval  purposes,  and 
an  elementary  treatise  on  ordnance  and 
gunnery.  For  the  last  few  years  he  had 
been  in  command  of  the  receiving  ship 
North  Carolina  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy 
Yard.  Longing  for  active  duty,  and  anx- 
ious to  be  employed  in  support  of  the 
Government  when  the  impending  strug- 
gle became  imminent,  he  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  his  fellow-townsman,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Welles,  in  a  plan 
for  fitting  out  a  steam  flotilla  of  light 
draught,  suitable  for  service  in  the  river 
navigation  in  and  about  the  Potomac. 
Four  small  propellers  were  accordingly 
purchased  and  equipped  as  gunboats. 
The  flotilla  was  commissioned  and  Cap- 
tain Ward  placed  in  command  in  the 
middle  of  May.  Sailing  immediately  to 
join  the  squadron  in  the  Chesapeake,  on 
his  arrival  on  the  18th,  before  reporting 
himself  to  Commodore  Stringham,  he  was 
in  action  exchanging  shots  with  the  rebel 
batteries  at  Sewall's  Point  in  Hampton 
Eoads.  He  was  then  sent  to  Washing- 
ton, and  on  his  way  captured  two  prizes, 
with  fifty  prisoners,  whom  he  carried 
with  him. 

His  first  action  of  note  on  the  Poto- 
mac was  in  an  attack  upon  the  batteries 
placed  by  the  enemy  at  the  mouth  of 


208 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


Acquia  Creek,  about  forty  miles  below 
Washington,  commanding  the  terminus 
at  this  point  of  the  railway  extending 
from  Richmond  through  Fredericksburg. 
Captain  Ward,  supported  by  the  gun- 
boat propellers  Anacostia  and  Resolute, 
opened  the  bombardment  with  vigor  from 
his  two  32 -pounders,  on  the  Thomas 
Freeborn,  the  flag-ship  of  his  little  flo- 
tilla.- "After  an  incessant  discharge," 
says  he  in  his  dispaeh,  "  kept  up  for  two 
hours,  and  the  expenditure  of  all  the  am- 
munition suitable  for  distant  firing,  and 
silencing  completely  the  three  batteries 
at  the  railroad  terminus,  the  firing  hav- 
ing been  rapidly  kept  up  by  them  until  so 
silenced,  and  having  been  recommenced 
from  the  new  batteries  from  the  heights 
back,  which  reached  us  in  volleys,  drop- 
ping the  shot  on  board  and  about  us  like 
hail  for  nearly  an  hour,  but  fortunately 
wounding  but  one  man, — I  hauled  the 
vessel  off,  as  the  heights  proved  wholly 
above  the  reach  of  our  elevation."*  It 
was  an  especial  cause  of  congratulation 
to  Captain  Ward  that  the  gun  carriages 
emplo3red  on  the  Freeborn,  being  of  a 
new  construction  devised  by  himself, 
worked  with  such  ease  that  the  crews 
came  out  of  action  wholly  unfatigued." 

The  value  of  this  practice  was  not  in 
its  results  upon  the  enemy  so  much  as  in 
the  early  proof  it  afforded  of  the  courage 
of  the  men  taken  to  man  the  national 
ships.  Of  the  officers  and  men  thus 
freely  exposed  to  fire,  Captain  Ward 
was  the  only  one  belonging  to  the  regu- 
lar navy.  All  the  rest  had  volunteered 
from  civil  life.  The  enemy  in  the  mean- 
time having  reversed  their  works  on  the 
shore,  the  bombardment  was  resumed  by 
Captain  Ward  the  following  day,  in  com- 

*  Commander  J.  H.  Ward  to  the  Hon.  Gideon  Welles, 
May  31,  Is61. 


pany  with  the  screw  sloop-of-war  Paw- 
nee, of  8  guns,  S.  C.  Rowan,  commander. 
For  five  hours  a  storm  of  shot  and  shell 
was  poured  upon  the  works  from  the  two 
vessels.  "  More  than  one  hundred  shots  " 
writes  Captain  Ward,  "  have  fallen 
aboard  and  around  us,  any  one  of  which 
would  have  struck  a  frigate.  We  had 
more  than  a  thousand  shots  discharged 
at  us  within  range,  and  we  have  ourselves 
fired  upwards  of  three  hundred  shots 
and  shells,  with  seventeen  hundred 
pounds  of  powder."  Yet  there  were 
neither  killed  nor  wounded  to  report. 
The  Pawnee  being  more  heavily  armed 
and  the  larger  vessel  was  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  the  fire  of  the  batteries,  which 
were  well  and  effectively  mounted.  But 
though  the  ship  was  under  a  very  heavy 
fire  of  rifled  shot  and  was  struck  nine 
times,  four  times  in  the  hull,  one  of  the 
shots  passing  through  the  bulwarks,  tear- 
ing up  the  deck  and  glancing  overboard, 
the  men  were  uninjured.  As  the  bom- 
barding vessels  came  up  "  the  enemy  set 
fire  to  the  large  passenger  and  freight 
depot  on  the  end  of  the  long  pier,  pro- 
bably to  remove  it  as  an  obstruction  to 
their  aim,  but  were  not  permitted  to 
extinguish  the  flames  during  the  whole 
cannonade ;  consequently,  nearly  the 
whole  pier  was  destroyed,  only  the  char- 
red piles  remaining  above  the  water  to 
mark  its  former  position."* 

The  part  borne  in  the  action  by  the 
Pawnee  is  well  described  by  Commander 
Rowan.  "Finding,"  says  he,  "  my  15- 
second  shell  fell  short,  with  all  the  eleva- 
tion the  ports  admitted  of,  I  ranged 
ahead  of  the  Freeborn  and  edged  in  as 
near  as  I  could,  feeling  the  way  with  the 
lead,  till  I  got  within  range  of  the  forts 


*  Commander  Ward  to  Hon.  Gideon  Welles.    June  1, 
1861. 


ENGAGEMENT   AT   MATTHIAS  POINT. 


209 


with  the  15-second  shell,  when  we  opened 
a  heavy  fire.  I  held  this  position  as  long 
as  possible,  when  the  ship  fell  off  against 
our  exertions  to  keep  her  steady  and 
became  necessary  to  round  out  into  the 
river  and  approach  a  second  time  on  the 
same  tack.  Having  got  the  ship  nearer 
than  the  first  position,  and  as  near  as  was 
safe,  with  but  two  feet  of  water  to  spare, 
and  to  the  northward  and  westward  of 
the  Freeborn,  we  opened  a  terrible  fire 
frqjn  five  9 -inch  guns.  The  batteries 
were  twice  silenced  under  the  weight  of 
our  fire,  but  resumed  again  when  our  fire 
had  ceased."* 

The  result  of  this  engagement,  while 
it  fully  proved  the  courage  of  the  assail- 
ants, showed  also  the  resources  of  the 
rebel  defences  on  the  shore.  They  were 
in  fact  amply  supplied  with  the  best  mili- 
tary material,  and  if  their  gunnery  was 
not  perfect,  there  was  certainly  no  lack 
of  men  to  continue  the  fight.  The  advan- 
tage of  course,  according  to  the  old  mili- 
tary maxims,  was  largely  with  the  party 
on  shore.  If  but  little,  however,  was 
gained  by  the  assault,  nothing  more  was 
effected  by  the  enemy  in  injury  to  the 
assailants.  It.  was  perhaps  owing  to  this 
immunity  that  on  the  next  occasion  the 
attack  was  conducted  with  greater  temer- 
ity, and  cost  the  gallant  commander  his 
life. 

The  action  to  which  we  allude  took 
place  on  the  27th  June,  some  ten  miles 
lower  down  the  river,  off  Matthias  Point, 
a  promontory  of  King  George  County, 
Ya.,  boldly  projecting  into  the  stream, 
which  here  pursues  a  northerly  course 
previous  to  making  its  final  descent  into 
the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake.  The 
point,  well  shielded  by  a  forest,  was  a 


*  Commander  Rowan  to  the  Hon.  Gideon  1Telles. 
Steamer  Pawnee,  June  2,  1861. 

27 


U.S. 


formidable  position  for  the  enemy,  as  it 
readily  commanded  the  channel,  and  its 
hostile  occupation  then  and  long  after  was 
the  occasion  of  serious  uneasiness  to  the 
numerous  merchant  vessels  traversing 
the  river.  Captain  Ward  was  not  the 
man  patiently  to  witness  the  standing 
menace  without  seeking  to  destroy  it. 
Accordingly,  having  ascertained  that  the 
enemy  were  about  erecting  a  battery  on 
the  point,  he  resolved  to  make  a  landing 
and  destroy  the  woods  which  afforded  a 
covert  to  their  sharp-shooters.  In  pur- 
suance of  this  intention,  on  the  evening 
of  the  26th,  while  below  the  Point,  he 
dispatched  from  his  flag-ship,  the  Free- 
born,  an  order  to  Commander  Rowan,  on 
board  the  Pawnee,  lying  above  Acquia 
Creek,  to  send  him  two  boats  armed 
and  equipped,  in  command  of  Lieutenant 
J.  C.  Chaplin,  attached  to  that  vessel— 
an  officer  upon  whom,  as  the  event 
proved,  he  might  rely  in  any  emergency. 
He  also  sent  for  such  equipments  as  were 
necessary  to  cut  down  the  trees  on  the 
point  and  burn  them.  The  order  was 
promptly  executed,  and  the  party  left  the 
ship  in  tow  of  one  of  the  gunboat  pro- 
pellers of  the  flotilla  early  the  next 
morning.  Immediately  on  receiving  the 
force  the  Freeborn  weighed  anchor  and, 
accompanied  by  the  cutters,  ran  up  the 
river.  As  the  main  part  of  the  action 
which  ensued  was  conducted  by  Lieute- 
nant Chaplin,  we  may  here  take  up  his 
narrative  of  the  transactions  of  the  day. 
"  On  arriving,"  says  he  at  Matthias 
Point,  "the  Freeborn  threw  shot,  shell, 
and  grape. into  the  woods  near  where  we 
were  to  land.  About  10  the  landing  was 
effected,  my  party  under  the  charge  of 
Commander  Ward,  who  landed  with  me. 
I  threw  my  men  out  as  skirmishers,  and, 
on  getting  about  three  hundred  yards  from 


210 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


the  boats,  discovered  the  enemy's  pickets, 
who  fired  and  retreated.  My  men  fol- 
lowed them  for  a  short  distance  and  fired 
on  them.  I  then  discovered  the  enemy 
coming  towards  me  over  the  brow  of  a 
hill,  and  judged  there  were  some  four  or 
five  hundred  men.  I  went  back  to  Com- 
mander Ward  and  reported,  when  he 
ordered  me  to  take  to  the  boats  and  lay 
off  while  he  went  on  board  of  his  vessel 
and  fired  into  the  brush  again.  After 
some  fifteen  minutes  firing,  I  was  ordered 
to  land  again  and  throw  up  a  breastwork 
of  sand-bags.  I  sent  out  four  men  as 
pickets  and  commenced  the  work,  and  at 
5  had  nearly  completed  it,  when  the  sig- 
nal was  made  for  me  to  return.  I  sent 
everything  to  the  boats,  and  with  seven 
or  eight  men  covered  the  bags  with 
limbs,  that  the  enemy  might  not  distin- 
guish it  from  the  dense  thicket  near,  and 
was  about  leaving,  when  the  enemy 
opened  on  us  with  muskets  at  a  distance 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  and  for 
some  reason  the  Freeborn  did  not  open 
on  the  place  with  her  heavy  guns  to  cover 
my  retreat.  I  sent  all  my  men  in  the 
boats,  and  stayed  until  I  had  counted  and 
found  they  were  all  safe.  Bjr  this  time 
the  boats  had  drifted  some  distance  out, 
and  rather  than  bring  the  men  any  nearer, 
swam  to  the  3d  cutter,  and  pulled  off  to 
the  Freeborn.  My  boat  was  riddled 
with  shot,  the  flag-staff  shot  away,  and 
nineteen  holes  through  the  flag."* 

The  conduct  of  Lieutenant  Chaplin  in 
this  affair  was  truly  heroic,  and  was 
worthily  commended  by  his  superior 
officer,  Commander  Eowan,  who  called 
the  attention  of  the  Department  to  his 
gallantry,  coolness  and  presence  of  mind. 
"  He  remained  steady  and  cool  amongst 

*  Lieutenant  J.  C.  Chaplin  to  Commander  Rowan.  "  June 
28,  1861 


a  perfect  hail  of  musketry  from  hundreds 
of  men,  while  he  collected  his  own  peo- 
ple and  made  good  his  retreat  without 
leaving  the  enemy  a  trophy  beyond  a 
few  sand-bags  and  some  axes,  and,  so 
far  as  I  can  ascertain,  the  muskets  of  the 
wounded  men.  The  last  man  left  the 
shore  with  him,  and,  not  being  able  to 
swim  to  the  boat  with  his  musket,  Lieu- 
tenant Chaplin  took  him  on  his  shoulders, 
musket  and  all,  and  safely  reached  the 
boat  without  a  scratch,  save  a  musket 
hole  through  the  top  of  his  cap."  Com- 
mander Eowari  also  appropriately  com- 
memorated "the  bravery  of  John  Wil- 
liams, captain  maintop,  of  the  Pawnee, 
who  told  his  men,  while  lying  off  in  the 
boat,  that  every  man  must  die  on  his 
thwart  sooner  than  leave  a  man  behind  ; 
and  when  the  flag-staff  of  his  boal  was 
shot  away,  and  the  ensign  fell,  he  (al- 
though suffering  from  a  gunshot  wound 
in  the  thigh)  seized  it  in  his  hand  and 
bravely  waved  it  over  his  head."*  The 
only  other  casualty  to  the  party,  23 
in  number,  from  the  boats,  was  in  the 
case  of  an  ordinary  seaman  of  the  Paw- 
nee, William  J.  Best,  who  was  wounded 
in  four  places — the  hand,  the  arm,  the 
leg  and  body. 

While  Lieutenant  Chaplin  and  his 
party  were  thus  gallantly  retreating  un- 
der the  sharp  firing  of  the  enemy,  a  well- 
aimed  shot  from  the  shore  struck  down 
Captain  Ward  on  the  deck  of  the  Free- 
born. The  scene  on  board  the  vessel  is 
thus  described  by  an  eye-witness,  a  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  Herald, 
who  accompanied  the  expedition :  "  On 
board  the  Freeborn,  when  the  enemy 
opened  fire,  Captain  Ward  came  down 
from  the  gallows  frame  and  seized  a  rifle, 

*  Commander  Rowan  to  the  Hon.  Gideon  Welles,  June 
27.  1861. 


DEATH   OF   CAPTAIN   WARD. 


2H 


which  he  fired  at  the  enemy,  as  did  pilot 
Pierson  and  myself.  We  fired  several 
shots,  when  the  captain  ran  down  to  the 
forecastle  deck  and  began  to  sight  the 
gun,  first  ordering  it  to  be  loaded  with  a 
round  shot.  He  had  got  the  sight  and 
was  about  to  withdraw  and  give  the 
word  to  fire,  when  he  was  struck  by  a 
bullet,  saying  to  Harry  Churchill,  the 
boatswain's  mate,  '  Churchill,  I  am  kill- 
ed.' He  fell  into  one  of  his  arms,  while 
Churchill  pulled  the  string  with  the  other, 
throwing  the  shot  clear  among  the  ene- 
my. A  5 -second  shell  and  two  rounds  of 
grape  were  then  fired  from  the  bow-gun, 
while  the  after-gun  fired  about  the  same 
quantity.  '  Slip  the  cable  and  start  her,' 
was  now  Lieutenant  Lee's  order  on  as- 
suming the  command.  It  was  done,  and 
soon  the  Freeborn  and  all  the  boats  were 
out  of  range  of  the  deadly  rifles  and 
muskets.  Dr.  Moore,  on  examination, 
pronounced  Captain  Ward's  wound  mor- 
tal. The  ball  had  entered  the  abdomen 
and  come  out  on  the  right  side  near  the 
back,  passing  through  the  liver  and  other 
vitals.  The  captain  was  first  laid  on  the 
quarter-deck,  but  subsequently  removed 
to  a  more  convenient  position.  In  re- 
moving him  he  said,  '  Why  remove  me  ? 
I  am  quite  comfortable.'  Lieutenant  Lee 
asked  if  he  could  do  anything  for  him. 
He  only  said,  '  Raise  my  head  a  little 
higher.'  To  Dr.  Moore  he  once  said, 
'Doctor,  the  wound  is  here,'  pointing  to 
the  pit  of  his  stomach.  The  captain  lin- 
gered for  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour, 
when  he  expired  after  a  few  gasps.  When 
it  was  known  that  the  captain  was  mor- 
tally wounded,  G-eorge  Conch,  captain  of 
the  after-gun,  exclaimed — '  Boys,  let  us 
have  our  revenge  ! '  The  gun  was  then 
pointed  true,  and  the  5-seconds  burst 
right  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy.  He 


was  about  to  fire  again,  when  the  doctor 
forbade  the  disturbance  of  the  captain's 
last  moments,  and  Conch  desisted."* 
Two  of  the  men  on  board  the  Freeborn 
also  suffered  gunshot  wounds.  Captain 
Ward  was  the  only  one  on  the  Union 
side  killed  during  the  action.  The  loss 
experienced  by  the  enemy  is  unknown. 

The  remains  of  Captain  Ward  were 
brought  to  the  Navy  Yard  at  Washing- 
ton, and  thence  to  New  York,  where  they 
lay  in  solemn  state  at  the  Navy  Yard  at 
Brooklyn,  on  the  deck  of  the  North  Car- 
olina, which  was  fitted  up  to  receive  them 
according  to  the  rites  of  the  Roma'n  Cath- 
olic Church,  of  which  the  deceased  was 
a  member.  An  imposing  procession  of 
the  officers  and  men  at  the  Yard,  Captain 
Ward's  recent  comrades — among  others, 
his  successor  in  command  of  the  North 
Carolina,  Captain  Meade,  the  commander 
of  the  Yard,  Captain  Foote,  shortly  to 
be  famed  by  his  eminent  successes  on  the 
Mississippi — and  a  few  personal  friends 
from  the  city,  and,  not  least  noticeable  in 
the  company,  a  band  of  seven  sailors,  a 
portion  of  the  crew  of  the  Freeborn,  ac- 
companied the  remains  to  a  steamer  on 
the  Sound,  on  the  way  to  a  final  resting- 
place  at  the  family  cemetery  at  Hartford. 

The  result  of  those  attacks  on  the 
rebel  batteries  on  the  Potomac  showed 
that  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
they  could  be  permanently  silenced  with- 
out a  cooperating  land  Lrce,  and  the 
naval  operations  on  the  river  were  con- 
sequently thereafter  mostly  confined  to 
holding  them  in  check.  For  months, 
however,  the  river  was  kept  clear  for 
commercial  purposes,  and  the  communi- 
cation between  the  insurgents  on  the 
opposite  shores  to  a  great  extent  prevent- 
ed only  by  the  frequent  passage  of  vessels 

*  Correspondence  of  the  New  York  Herald,  June  29,  1861 


212 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


of  the  navy.  It  was  not  till  the  military 
movements  attending  the  evacuation  of 
Manassas  occurred,  nearly  a  year  after 
the  events  we  have  just  related,  that  the 
rebel  batteries  on  the  banks  were  desert- 
ed by  the  enemy  or  taken  possession  of 
by  the  Union  forces,  and  the  navigation 
of  the  river  was  once  more  entirely 
without  impediment. 

With  these  notices  of  affairs  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Washington  we 
may  conveniently  associate  the  move- 
ments going  on  at  the  right  extremity 
of  the  line  of  defence  at  Harper's  Ferry. 
An  important  division  of  the  national 
army,  chiefly  composed  of  regiments  from 
Pennsylvania,  early  assembled  at  Cham- 
bersburg,  in  that  State,  a  position  from 
which  there  was  an  easy  approach 
through  Maryland,  by  way  of  Hagers- 
town,  to  the  Potomac.  They  were  under 
the  command  of  Major-General  Patter- 
son, to  whom  the  Department  of  Penn- 
sylvania had  been  assigned  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

This  officer,  born  in  Ireland,  had  been 
brought  in  his  boyhood  to  America  by 
his  father,  who  came  with  his  family  to 
Pennsylvania  in  consequence  of  his 
implication  in  the  rebellion  of  1798.  In 
1811  the  parent  further  emigrated  to 
Tennessee,  leaving  his  son  in  the  count- 
ing-house of  a  wealthy  East  India  mer- 
chant at  Philadelphia.  The  war  with 
England  breaking  out  the  following  year, 
young  Patterson  entered  the  army  as  a 
lieutenant  of  the  22d  Infantry,  and  re- 
tiring on  its  close  with  the  rank  of  cap- 
tain, resumed  his  occupation  in  the  count- 
ing house.  He  did  not  abandon,  how- 
ever, his  military  pursuits,  but  devoting 
himself  to  the  volunteer  service  rose  to 
the  rank  of  a  major-general  of  militia. 
On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Mexican  war 


he  was  appointed  a  major-general  of 
volunteers  by  President  Polk,  and  served 
with  General  Taylor  in  his  advance  on 
the  Rio  Grande,  and  led  an  important 
expedition  against  Tampico.  He  then 
joined  the  line  of  General  Scott  and 
landed  with  that  officer  at  Vera  Cruz, 
when  he  rendered  material  service  at  the 
head  of  his  volunteer  division  in  the  re- 
duction of  the  city.  The  term  of  enlist- 
ment of  his  men  having  expired,  he 
accompanied  them  home,  but  soon  re- 
turned to  Mexico,  taking  command  of  the 
volunteer  division  at  the  capital,  where 
he  remained  till  the  establishment  of 
peace.  After  the  war  he  again  resumed 
his  mercantile  pursuits.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  rebellion  he  was  summoned 
by  Governor  Curtin  to  the  service  of  the 
Government,  and  in  a  patriotic  spirit 
immediately  entered  upon  his  new  duties. 
On  the  3d  of  June  we  find  General 
Patterson  in  command  of  the  Departmenl 
of  Pennsylvania  issuing  the  following 
order  to  his  troops  from  his  head-quar- 
ters at  Chambersburg,  on  the  eve  of  his 
advance  into  Maryland  : — "  The  restraint 
which  has  necessarily  been  imposed  upon 
you,  impatient  to  overcome  those  who 
have  raised  their  parricidal  hands  against 
our  country,  is  about  to  be  removed. 
You  will  soon  meet  the  insurgents.  You 
are  not  the  aggressors.  A  turbulent 
faction,  misled  by  ambitious  rulers,  in 
a  time  of  profound  peace  and  national 
prosperity,  have  occupied  your  forts,  and 
turned  the  guns  against  you  ;  have  seized 
your  arsenals  and  armories  and  appro- 
priated to  themselves  government  sup- 
plies ;  have  arrested  and  held  prisoners 
your  companions  marching  to  their  homes 
under  State  pledge  of  security ;  have 
captured  vessels  and  provisions  volun- 
tarily assured  by  State  legislation  from 


GENERAL  PATTERSON'S  ADVANCE. 


213 


molestation,  and  now  seek  to  perpetuate 
a  reign  of  terror  over  loyal  citizens. 
They  have  invaded  a  loyal  State  and 
entrenched  themselves  within  its  bound- 
aries in  defiance  of  its  constituted  author- 
ities. You  are  going  on  American  soil 
to  sustain  the  civil  power,  to  relieve  the 
oppressed,  and  to  retake  that  which  is 
unlawfully  held.  You  must  bear  in  mind 
you  are  going  for  the  good  of  the  whole 
country,  and  that,  while  it  is  your  duty 
to  punish  sedition,  you  must  protect  the 
lo}Tal,  and,  should  occasion  offer,  at  once 
suppress  servile  insurrection.  Success 
will  crown  your  efforts  ;  a  grateful  coun- 
try and  a  happy  people  will  reward 
you." 

The  advance  of  the  Union  army  into 
Virginia,  at  the  end  of  May,  found  the 
rebels  in  possession  of  the  important 
position  of  Harper's  Ferry,  which  they 
had  held  since  its  evacuation  and  the 
partial  destruction  of  the  government 
building  by  Lieutenant  Jones.  Various 
defensive  works  were  erected  by  them  on 
the  hills  adjoining  the  town,  and  the 
opposite  heights  in  Maryland  were  occu- 
pied by  a  camp  of  Kentuckians.  The 
line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
which  crosses  the  river  at  this  point  and 
traverses  a  portion  of  Virginia,  was  thus 
under  their  control  and  communication 
between  its  eastern  and  western  portions 
cut  off.  Affairs  remained  in  this  situa- 
tion till  the  middle  of  June  when,  in  view 
of  the  armies  gathering  on  all  sides,  the 
rapid  accumulation  of  troops  in  Western 
Virginia,  the  advance  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania division,  under  General  Patterson, 
in  front  and  a  movement  from  the  camps 
at  Washington,  under  Colonel  Stone,  on 
his  flank,  threatening  the  safety  of  the 
force  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  its  commun- 
ication with  the  main  army  at  Manassas, 


General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  the  Con- 
federate commander,  prudently  resolved 
to  abandon  the  position.  On  the  14th 
accordingly  he  withdrew  his  troops  in 
the  direction  of  Winchester,  after  a  com- 
plete destruction  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  railway  bridge  over  the  Potomac, 
a  portion  of  the  track  and  other  property 
belonging  to  the  company.  The  piers 
only  were  left  standing — a  ghastly  me- 
morial of  the  fine  and  costly  work.  Two 
other  bridges  at  Martinsburg  and  Shep- 
herdstown,  commanding  the  approaches 
from  the  west,  were  likewise  destroyed. 
What  had  been  left  of  the  machinery  at 
the  national  manufactories  which  could 
be  transported  was  removed,  and  the 
arsenal  buildings,  which  had  hitherto 
escaped,  were  burnt.  Not  content  with 
this  work  of  devastation,  a  few  days  after 
a  party  of  the  insurgent  army  returned 
and  set  fire  to  the  bridge  crossing  the 
Shenandoah  and  continued  the  injuries  to 
the  railway  company,  throwing  into  the 
river  a  valuable  locomotive  engine  which 
had  been  left  on  the  iron  span  of  the 
Potomac  bridge  nearest  the  town. 

General  Patterson  meanwhile  having 
advanced  his  forces  above  to  Williams- 
port,  remained  in  that  vicinity  till  the 
2d  of  July,  when  he  crossed  the  river 
with  his  command,  numbering  some 
15,000  men,  mostly  Pennsylvanians, 
with  one  Wisconsin  regiment,  Colonel 
Thomas7  United  States  cavalry,  and  twc 
batteries  of  artillery.  The  advance  of 
this  army,  consisting  of-  the  Wisconsin 
and  two  Pennsylvania  regiments,  with 
McMullen's  Rangers,  the  Philadelphia 
City  Troop,  and  Perkins7  Battery,  im- 
mediately fell  in  with  a  considerable 
body  of  the  enemy  under  Colonel  Jack- 
son, estimated  at  four  regiments  of  in- 
fantry and  one  of  horse,  with  four  guns, 


214 


WAE  FOE  THE    CTN10N. 


when  the  Union  artillery  opened  fire 
and  a  skirmishing  fight  ensued,  ending 
in  the  retreat  of  the  rebels.  This  en- 
counter was  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fall- 
ing Waters,  near  the  Potomac,  on  the 
road  to  Martinsburg.  The  union  loss 
was  reported  by  General  Patterson  at 
three  killed  and  ten  wounded.  On  the 
9th  he  was  joined  by  General  Sandford 
with  the  New  York  5th  and  12th  regi- 
ments. 

The  main  force  of  General  Johnston 
was  now  established  at  Winchester,  with 
their  outposts  towards  Martinsburg, 
whither  they  were  followed  by  General 
Patterson  on  the  16th,  a  fortnight  after 
he  had  crossed  the  Potomac,  as  far  as 


Bunker  Hill,  where  there  was  some  slight 
skirmishing  within  twelve  miles  of  their 
position.  Unhappily  they  were  pressed 
no  further.  Had  they  been  vigorously 
pushed  and  brought  to  action,  we  might 
perhaps  have  been  spared  the  recital  of 
the  disastrous  event  which  immediately 
ensued  in  front  of  Washington.  As  it 
was,  General  Patterson,  turning  from 
Winchester,  withdrew  his  forces  the  next 
day,  the  17th,  to  Charlestown,  in  commu- 
nication with  Harper's  Ferry,  while  Gen- 
eral Johnston  rapidly  conducted  a  large 
portion  of  his  army  to  the  line  of  the  rail- 
way communicating  by  way  of  Manassas 
Gap  with  the  camp  at  Manassas  Junc- 
tion. 


CHAPTER    XY. 


MOVEMENTS     OF    THE     CONFEDERATES. 


FROM  these  scenes  before  Washington 
we  turn  to  the  movements  of  the  Confed- 
erate Government,  which,  a  few  days 
before  the  advance  of  the  Union  troops 
across  the  Potomac,  by  a  resolution  of 
the  Congress  at  Montgomery,  was  trans- 
ferred to  Richmond,  Yirginia.  Of  the 
proceedings  of  that  second  session,  con- 
ducted as  they  were,  for  the  most  part, 
in  secrecy,  we  have  but  imperfect  ac- 
counts. It  was  called  by  President  Davis 
t,o  meet  on  the  29th  of  April,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  events  growing  out  of  the 
attack  upon  Sumter,  in  advance  of  the 
day  to  which  it  had  been  adjourned,  and 
its  deliberations  were  doubtless  mainly, 
if  not  altogether,  confined  to  devising 
the  means  of  carrying  on  the  long  and 
serious  war  with  the  North  in  prospect. 
In  the  Message  which  he  delivered  at  the 


opening  of  the  session,  President  Davi? 
began  by  presenting  a  formal  declaration 
of  the  political  circumstances  and  princi- 
ples which  constituted,  in  his  mind,  a  jus- 
tification of  the  course  pursued  in  the 
formation  of  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment. As  a  manifesto  to  the  world,  this 
portion  of  the  document  became  of  con- 
siderable importance.  It  was  undoubt- 
edly greatly  influential  in  creating  in 
many  quarters  in  Europe  opinions  in 
favor  of  the  pretensions  of  the  new  gov- 
ernment. 

"  The  occasion,"  said  he,  "  is  indeed  an 
extraordinary  one.  It  justifies  me  in  giv- 
ing a  brief  review  of  the  relations  here- 
tofore existing  between  us  and  the  States 
which  now  unite  in  warfare  against  us, 
and  a  succinct  statement  of  the  events 
which  have  resulted  to  the  end,  thai 


MESSAGE   OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


215 


mankind  may  pass  intelligent  and  impar- 
tial judgment  on  our  motives  and  objects. 
During  the  war  waged  against  Great  Bri- 
tain by  her  colonies  on  this  continent,  a 
common  danger  impelled  them  to  a  close 
alliance,  and  to  the  formation  of  a  Con- 
federation by  the  terms  of  which  the  col- 
onies, styling  themselves  States,  entered 
severally  into  a  firm  league  of  friend- 
ship with  each  other  for  their  common 
defence,  the  security  of  their  liberties, 
and  their  mutual  and  general  welfare, 
binding  themselves  to  assist  each  other 
against  all  force  offered  to,  or  attacks 
made  upon  them,  or  any  of  them,  on  ac- 
count of  religion,  sovereignty,  trade,  or 
any  other  pretence  whatever.  In  order 
to  guard  against  any  misconstruction  of 
their  compact,  the  several  States  made 
an  explicit  declaration  in  a  distinct  arti- 
cle— that  each  State  retain  its  sovereign- 
ty, freedom  and  independence,  and  every 
power  of  jurisdiction  and  right  which  is 
not  by  this  said  Confederation  expressly 
delegated  to  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled  under  this  contract  of 
alliance.  The  war  of  the  Revolution  was 
successfully  waged,  and  resulted  in  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  in 
1783,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  several 
States  were  each  by  name  recognized  to 
be  independent.  The  articles  of  confed- 
eration contained  a  clause  whereby  all 
alterations  were  prohibited,  unless  con- 
firmed by  the  Legislatures  of  every  State 
after  being  agreed  to  by  the  Congress  ; 
and  in  obedience  to  this  provision,  under 
the  resolution  of  Congress  of  the  21st  of 
February,  1787,  the  several  States  ap- 
pointed delegates  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
vising the  articles  of  confederation,  and 
reporting  to  Congress  and  the  several 
Legislatures  such  alterations  and  provi- 
sions therein  as  shall,  when  agreed  to  in 


Congress,  and  confirmed  by  the  States, 
render  the  Federal  Constitution  adequate 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  Government  and 
the  preservation  of  the  Union.  It  was 
by  the  delegates  chosen  by  the  several 
States  under  the  resolution  just  quoted, 
that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
was  formed  in  1787,  and  submitted  to  the 
several  States  for  ratification,  as  shown 
by  the  seventh  article,  which  is  in  these 
words  :  '  The  ratification  of  the  conven- 
tions of  nine  States  shall  be  sufficient  for 
the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  be- 
tween the  States  so  ratifying  the  same.' 
I  have  italicised  certain  words  in  the  re- 
solutions just  made  for  the  purpose  of  at- 
tracting attention  to  the  singular  and 
marked  caution  with  which  the  States  en- 
deavored in  every  possible  form  to  ex- 
clude the  idea  that  the  separate  and  in- 
dependent sovereignty  of  each  State  was 
merged  into  one  common  government  or 
nation ;  and  the  earnest  desire  they 
evinced  to  impress  on  the  Constitution 
its  true  character  —  that  of  a  compact 
between  independent  States — the  Consti- 
tution of  1787,  however,  admitting  the 
clause  already  recited  from  the  articles 
of  confederation,  which  provided  in  ex- 
plicit terms  that  each  State  reclaimed  its 
sovereignty  and  independence.  Some 
alarm  \vas  felt  in  the  States,  when  invited 
to  ratify  the  Constitution,  lest  this  omis- 
sion should  be  construed  into  an  aban- 
donment of  their  cherished  principles, 
and  they  refused  to  be  satisfied  until 
amendments  were  added  to  the  Consti- 
tution placing  beyond  any  pretence  of 
doubt  the  reservation  by  the  States  of 
their  sovereign  rights  and  powers  not 
expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States 
by  the  Constitution. 

"  Strange,  indeed,  must  it  appear  lo 
the  impartial  observer,  but  it  is  none  the 


216 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


less  true  that  all  these  carefully  worded 
clauses  proved  unavailing  to  prevent  the 
rise  and  growth  in  the  Northern  States 
of  a  political  school  which  has  persist- 
ently claimed  that  the  Government  set 
above  and  over  the  States,  an  organiza- 
tion created  by  the  States,  to  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  and  independence 
against  foreign  aggression,  has  been  gra- 
dually perverted  into  a  machine  for  their 
control  in  their  domestic  affairs.  The 
creature  has  been  exalted  above  its  Cre- 
ator-—  the  principals  have  been  made 
subordinate  to  the  agent  appointed  by 
themselves.  The  people  of  the  Southern 
States,  whose  almost  exclusive  occupa- 
tion was  agriculture,  early  perceived  a 
tendency  in  the  Northern  States  to  ren- 
der a  common  government  subservient 
to  their  own  purposes  by  imposing  bur- 
dens on  commerce  as  protection  to  their 
manufacturing  and  shipping  interests. 
Long  and  angry  controversies  grew  out 
of  these  attempts,  often  successful,  to 
benefit  one  section  of  the  country  at  the 
expense  of  the  other,  and  the  danger  of 
disruption  arising  from  this  cause  was 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  the  Northern 
population  was  increasing,  by  emigration 
and  other  causes,  more  than  the  popula- 
tion of  the  South.  By  degrees,  as  the 
Northern  States  gained  preponderance 
in  the  National  Congress,  self-interest 
taught  their  people  to  yield  ready  assent 
to  any  plausible  advocacy  of  their  right 
as  majority  to  govern  the  minority. 
Without  control,  they  learn  to  listen  with 
impatience  to  the  suggestion  of  any  con- 
stitutional impediment  to  the  exercise  of 
their  will,  and  so  utterly  have  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Constitution  been  corrupted 
in  the  Northern  mind  that,  in  the  inau- 
gural address  delivered  by  President 
Lincoln  in  March  last,  he  asserts  a  max- 


im which  he  plainly  deems  to  be  undeni- 
able, that  the  theory  of  the  Constitution 
requires,  in  all  cases,  that  the  majority 
shall  govern.  And  in  another  memora- 
ble instance  the  same  Chief  Magistrate 
did  not  hesitate  to  liken  the  relations  be- 
tween States  and  the  United  States  to 
those  which  exist  between  the  county 
and  the  State  in  wbich  it  is  situated,  and 
by  which  it  was  created.  This  is  the  la- 
mentable and  fundamental  error  in  which 
rests  the  policy  that  has  culminated  in 
his  declaration  of  war  against  these  Con- 
federate States. 

"In  addition  to  the  long-continued 
and  deep-seated  resentment  felt  by  the 
Southern  States  at  the  persistent  abuse 
of  the  powers  they  had  delegated  to  the 
Congress  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  the 
manufacturing  and  shipping  classes  of  the 
North  at  the  expense  of  the  South,  there 
has  existed  for  nearly  half  a  century  an- 
other subject  of  discord,  involving  inter- 
ests of  such  transcendent  magnitude  as 
at  all  times  to  create  apprehension  in  the 
minds  of  many  devoted  lovers  of  the 
Union  that  its  permanence  was  impossi- 
ble. When  the  several  States  delegated 
certain  powers  to  the  United  States  Con- 
gress, a  large  portion  of  the  laboring 
population  were  imported  into  the  colo- 
nies by  the  mother  country.  In  twelve 
out  of  the  fifteen  States,  negro  slavery 
existed,  and  the  right  of  property  exist- 
ing in  slaves  was  protected  by  law  ;  this 
property  was  recognized  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  provision  was  made  against  its 
loss  by  the  escape  of  the  slave.  The  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  slaves  by  foreign 
importation  from  Africa  was  also  secured 
by  a  clause  forbidding  Congress  to  pro- 
hibit the  slave  trade  anterior  to  a  certain 
date,  and  in  no  clause  can  there  be  found 
any  delegation  of  power  to  the  Congress 


SOUTHERN   REPRESENTATIONS. 


217 


to  authorize  it  in  any  manner  to  legislate 
to  the  prejudice,  detriment  or  discourage- 
ment of  the  owners  of  that  species  of 
property,  or  excluding  it  from  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Government.  The  climate 
arid  soil  of  the  Northern  States  soon 
proved  uupropitious  to  the  continuance 
of  slave  labor,  while  the  reverse  being 
the  case  at  the  South,  made  unrestricted 
free  intercourse  between  the  two  sections 
unfriendly.  The  Northern  States  con- 
sulted their  own  interests  by  selling  their 
slaves  to  the  South  and  prohibiting  slav- 
ery between  their  limits.  The  South 
were  willing  purchasers  of  property  suit- 
able to  their  wants,  and  paid  the  price 
of  the  acquisition,  without  harboring  a 
suspicion  that  their  quiet  possession  was 
to  be  disturbed  by  those  who  were  not 
only  in  want  of  constitutional  authority, 
but  by  good  faith  as  vendors,  from  dis- 
quieting a  title  emanating  from  them- 
selves. 

''As  soon,  however,  as  the  Northern 
States,  that  prohibited  African  slavery 
within  their  limits,  had  reached  a  num- 
ber sufficient  to  give  their  representation 
a  controlling  vote  in  the  Congress,  a  per- 
sistent and  organized  system  of  hostile 
measures  against  the  rights  of  the  own- 
ers of  slaves  in  the  Southern  States  was 
inaugurated  and  gradually  extended.  A 
series  of  measures  was  devised  and  pros- 
ecuted for  the  purpose  of  rendering  in- 
secure the  tenure  of  property  in  slaves. 
Fanatical  organizations,  supplied  with 
money  by  voluntary  subscriptions,  were 
assiduously  engaged  in  exciting  amongst 
the  slaves  a  spirit  of  discontent  and  re- 
volt. Means  were  furnished  for  their 
escape  from  their  o  vners,  and  agents  se- 
cretly employed  to  entice  them  to  ab- 
scond. The  constitutional  provision  for 
their  rendition  to  their  owners  was  first 
28 


evaded,  then  openly  denounced  as  a  vio- 
lation of  conscientious  obligation  and  re- 
ligious duty.  Men  were  taught  that  it 
was  ,a  merit  to  elude,  disobey,  and  vio- 
lently oppose  the  execution  of  the  laws 
enacted  to  secure  the  performance  of  the 
promise  contained  in  the  constitutional 
compact.  Often  owners  of  slaves  were 
mobbed  and  even  murdered  in  open  day 
solely  for  applying  to  a  magistrate  for  the 
arrest  of  a  fugitive  slave. 

"The  dogmas  of  the  voluntary  organi- 
zation soon  obtained  control  of  the  Leg- 
islatures of  many  of  the  Northern  States, 
and  laws  were  passed  for  the  punishment, 
by  Tuirious  fines,  and  long-continued  im- 
prisonment in  gaols  and  penitentiaries, 
of  citizens  of  the  Southern  States  who 
should  dare  ask  of  the  officers  of  the  law 
for  the  recovery  of  their  property.  Em- 
boldened by  success,  on  the  theatre  of 
agitation  and  aggression,  against  the 
clearly  expressed  constitutional  rights  of 
the  Congress,  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives were  sent  to  the  common  councils 
of  the  nation,  whose  chief  title  to  this 
distinction  consisted  in  the  display  of  a 
spirit  of  ultra  fanaticism,  and  whose  bu- 
siness was  not  to  promote  the  general 
welfare,  or  ensure  domestic  tranquility— 
but  awaken  the  bitterest  hatred  against 
the  citizens  of  sister  States  by  violent 
denunciations  of  their  institutions.  The 
transaction  of  public  affairs  was  impeded 
by  repeated  efforts  to  usurp  powers  not 
delegated  by  the  Constitution,  for  the 
purpose  of  impairing  the  security  of 
property  in  slaves,  and  reducing  those 
States  which  held  slaves  to  a  condition 
of  inferiority.  Finally,  a  great  party 
was  organized  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing the  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment, with  the  avowed  object  of  using  its 
power  for  the  total  exclusion  of  the  slave 


218 


WAR  FOR,  THE   UNION. 


States  fron  all  participation  in  the  bene- 
fits of  the  public  domain  acquired  by  all 
the  States  in  common,  whether  by  con- 
quest or  purchase,  surrounded  them  en- 
tirely by  States  in  which  slavery  should 
be  prohibited,  thus  rendering  the  prop- 
erty in  slaves  so  insecure  as  to  be  com- 
paratively worthless,  and  thereby  anni- 
hilating in  effect  property  worth  thou- 
sands of  millions  of  dollars.  This  party, 
thus  organized,  succeeded  in  the  month 
of  November  last  in  the  election  of  its 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States. 

"  In  the  meantime,  under  the  mild  and 
genial  climate  of  the  Southern  States, 
and  the  increasing  care  for  the  well-being 
and  comfort  of  the  laboring  classes,  dic- 
tated alike  by  interest  and  humanity,  the 
African  slaves  had  augmented  in  number 
from  about  six  hundred  thousand,  at  the 
date  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitutional 
compact,  to  upwards  of  four  millions.  In 
a  moral  and  social  condition  they  had 
been  elevated  from  brutal  savages  into 
docile,  intelligent,  and  civilized  agricul- 
tural laborers,  and  supplied  not  only  with 
bodily  comforts,  but  with  careful  reli- 
gious instruction,  under  the  supervision 
of  a  superior  race.  Their  labor  had  been 
so  directed  as  not  only  to  allow  a  grad- 
ual and  marked  amelioration  of  their  own 
condition,  but  to  convert  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  square  miles  of  the  wilder- 
ness into  cultivated  lands  covered  with  a 
prosperous  people.  Towns  and  cities 
had  sprung  into  existence,  and  it  rapidly 
increased!,  in  wealth  and  population  under 
the  social  system  of  the  South.  The 
white  population  of  the  Southern  slave- 
holding  States  had  augmented  from  about 
1,250,000,  at  the  date  of  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  to  more  than  8,500,000 
in  1860,  and  the  productions  of  the  South 


in  cotton,  rice,  sugar  and  tobacco,  for  the 
full  development  and  continuance  of 
which  the  labor  of  African  slaves  was 
and  is  indispensable,  had  swollen  to  an 
amount  which  formed  nearly  three-fourths 
of  the  export  of  the  whole  United  States, 
and  had  become  absolutely  necessary  to 
the  wants  of  civilized  man.  With  inter- 
ests of  such  overwhelming  magnitude 
imperiled,  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States  were  driven  by  the  conduct  of  the 
North  to  the  adoption  of  some  course  of 
action  to  avoid  the  dangers  with  which 
they  were  openly  menaced.  With  this 
view,  the  Legislatures  of  the  several 
States  invited  the  people  to  select  dele- 
gates to  conventions  to  be  held  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  for  themselves 
what  measures  were  best  to  be  adopted 
to  meet  so  alarming  a  crisis  in  their  his- 
tory. 

"  Here  it  may  be  proper  to  observe 
that,  from  a  period  as  early  as  1798, 
there  had  existed  in  all  the  States  of  the 
Union  a  party  almost  uninterruptedly  in 
the  majority,  based  upon  the  creed  that 
each  State  was,  in  the  last  resort,  the  sole 
judge  as  well  of  its  wrongs  as  of  the 
mode  and  measures  of  redress.  Indeed 
it  is  obvious  that  under  the  law  of  na- 
tions this  principle  is  an  axiom  as  applied 
to  the  relations  of  independent  sovereign 
States,  such  as  those  which  had  united 
themselves  under  the  constitutional  com- 
pact. The  Democratic  party  of  the 
United  States  repeated,  in  its  successful 
canvass  in  1836,  the  deduction  made  in 
numerous  previous  political  contests,  that 
it  would  faithfully  abide  by,  and  uphold 
the  principles  laid  down  in  the  Kentucky 
and  Virginia  Legislatures  of  1799,  and 
that  it  adopts  those  principles  as  consti- 
tuting one  of  the  main  foundations  of  its 
political  creed.  The  principles  thus  em- 


THE   CONFEDERATE    CONGRESS. 


219 


phatically  announced  embrace  that  to 
which  I  have  already  adverted — the 
right  of  each  State  to  judge  of  and  re- 
dress the  wrongs  of  which  it  complains. 
Their  principles  were  maintained  by 
overwhelming  majorities  of  the  people  of 
all  the  States  of  the  Union  at  different 
elections,  especially  in  the  election  of 
Mr.  Jefferson  in  1805,  Mr.  Madison  in 
1809,  and  Mr.  Pierce  in  1852.  In  the 
exercise  of  a  right  so  ancient,  so  well  es- 
tablished, and  so  necessary  for  self-pres- 
ervation, the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States  in  their  conventions  determined 
that  the  wrongs  which  they  had  suffered, 
and  the  evils  with  which  they  were  men- 
aced, required  that  they  should  revoke 
the  delegation  of  powers  to  the  Federal 
Government  which  they  had  ratified  in 
their  several  conventions.  They  conse- 
quently passed  ordinances  resuming  all 
their  rights  as  sovereign  and  independ- 
ent States,  and  dissolved  their  connection 
with  the  other  States  of  the  Union.  Hav- 
ing done  this,  they  proceeded  to  form  a 
new  compact  among  themselves  by  new 
articles  of  confederation,  which  have 
been  also  ratified  by  conventions  of  the 
several  States,  with  an  approach  to  unan- 
imity far  exceeding  that  of  the  conven- 
tions which  adopted  the  Constitutions  of 
1787.  They  have  organized  their  new 
government  in  all  its  departments.  The 
functions  of  the  executive,  legislative  and 
judicial  magistrates  are  performed  in.  ac- 
cordance with  the  will  of  the  people,  as 
displayed  not  merely  in  a  cheerful  acqui- 
escence, but  in  the  enthusiastic  support 
of  the  government  thus  established  by 
themselves  ;  and  but  for  the  interference 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
this  legitimate  exercise  of  a  people  to 
self-government  has  been  manifested  in 
every  possible  form." 


We  have  seen  President  Davis,  in  ad- 
vance of  the  meeting  of  the  Confederate 
Congress,  issuing  a  proclamation  calling 
for  privateers,  as  an  effectual  means  of 
resistance  to  the  warlike  measures  of  the 
North,  taken  after  the  fall  of  Sumter. 
The  Congress  at  Montgomery  now  gave 
its  sanction  to  the  proceedings  by  one  of 
its  earliest  acts,  published  on  the  6th 
of  May,  formally  declaring  war  against 
the  United.  States  as  a  foreign  power. 
The  preamble  recited  that  the  efforts 
which  had  been  made  "  to  settle  all  ques- 
tions of  disagreement  between  the  two 
governments  upon  principles  of  right, 
justice,  equity  and  good  faith,  having 
proved  unavailing  by  reason  of  the  re- 
fusal of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  the 
commissioners  appointed  by  this  govern- 
ment for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  or  to 
listen  to  any  proposal  they  had  to  make 
for  the  peaceful  solution  of  all  causes  of 
difficulties  between  the  two  governments," 
that  "  the  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America  has  issued  his  proclamation, 
making  requisition  upon  the  States  of  the 
American  Union  for  75,000  men,  for  the 
purpose,  as  therein  indicated,  of  capturing 
forts  and  other  strongholds  within  the 
jurisdiction  of,  and  belonging  to,  the  Con- 
federate States  of  America,  and  has  de- 
tailed naval  armaments  upon  the  coasts 
of  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 
and  raised,  organized  and  equipped  a 
large  military  force  to  execute  the  pur- 
pose aforesaid,  and  has  issued  his  other 
proclamation,  announcing  his  purpose  to 
set  on  foot  a  blockade  of  the  ports  of  the 
Confederate  States," — that  "  the  State 
of  Virginia  has  seceded  from  the  Federal 
Union  and  entered  into  a  convention  of 
alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  the 
Confederate  States,  and  has  adopted 


220 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNIO^. 


the  Provisional  Constitution  of  the  said 
States,  and  the  States  of  Maryland,  North 
Carolina,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Arkan- 
sas and  Missouri  have  refused,  and  it  is 
believed  that  the  State  of  Delaware  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Territories  of  Ari- 
zona and  New  Mexico  and  the  Indian 
Territory  south  of  Kansas,  will  refuse  to 
cooperate  with  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  in  these  acts  of  hostilities 
and  wanton  aggression,  which  are  plainly 
intended  to  overawe,  oppress  and  finally 
subjugate  the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States,"  and  "  that  by  the  acts  and  means 
aforesaid  war  exists  between  the  Con- 
federate States  and  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  and  the  States  and 
Territories  thereof,  excepting  the  States 
of  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
Kentucky,  Arkansas,  Missouri  and  Dela- 
ware and  the  Territories  of  Arizona  and 
New  Mexico  and  the  Indian  Territory 
south  of  Kansas."  The  first  provision  of 
the  act,  which  followed  this  declaration, 
authorized  President  Davis  "  to  use  the 
whole  land  and  naval  force  of  the  Con- 
federate States  to  meet  the  war  thus 
commenced,  and  to  issue  to  private  armed 
vessels  commissions  or  letters  of  marque 
and  general  reprisal  in  such  form  as  he 
shall  think  proper  under  the  seal  of  the 
Confederate  States,  against  the  vessels, 
goods  and  effects  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  citizens  or 
inhabitants  of  the  States  and  Territories 
thereof,  except  the  States  and  Territor- 
ies hereinbefore  named."  Among  other 
provisions,  a  bounty  was  offered  of  $20 
"for  each  person  on  board  any  armed 
ship  or  vessel  belonging  to  the  United 
States  at  the  commencement  of  an  en- 
gagement, which  shall  be  burnt,  sunk  or 
destroyed  by  any  vessel  commissioned 
as  aforesaid,  which  shall  be  of  equal  or 


inferior  force,  and  a  bounty  of  $25  to  the 
owners,  officers  and  crew  of  the  private 
armed  vessels,  commissioned  as  aforesaid. 
for  each  and  every  prisoner  by  then: 
captured  and  brought  into  port  and  de- 
livered to  an  agent  authorized  to  receive 
them,  in  any  port  of  the  Confederate 
States." 

A  few  days  after,  the  Congress  passed 
an  unlimited  enlistment  act,  authorizing 
the  President  "  to  accept  the  services  of 
volunteers  who  may  offer,  without  re- 
gard to  the  place  of  enlistment,  either  as 
cavalry,  mounted  riflemen,  artillery  or 
infantry,  in  such  proportion  of  these  sev- 
eral arms  as  he  may  deem  expedient,  to 
serve  for  and  during  the  existing  war, 
unless  sooner  discharged."  A  subse- 
quent act  authorized  the  issue  of  a  paper 
currency  of  $50,000,000  treasury  notes. 
Supplementary  to  this,  in  some  measure, 
was  an  act  passed  May  21st,  prohibiting 
debtors  to  individuals  or  corporations  in 
what  were  termed  the  United  States  of 
America,  excepting  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Kentucky,  Missouri  and  the  District  of 
Columbia,  from  making  payments  to 
their  creditors,  their  agents  or  assignees, 
"pending  the  existing  war  waged  by 
that  Government  against  the  Confederate 
States,  or  any  of  the  slaveholding  States 
before  named."  Any  person  thus  in- 
debted was  authorized  to  pay  the  amount 
of  his  indebtedness  into  the  Treasury  of 
the  Confederate  States,  and  receive  in 
return  a  certificate  "  bearing  like  interest 
with  the  original  contract,  redeemable 
at  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  restora- 
tion of  peace,  in  specie  or  its  equivalent." 
By  an  act  of  the  same  date  the  exporta- 
tion of  raw  cotton  or  cotton  yarn  was 
prohibited,  under  heavy  penalties  of  fine, 
imprisonment  and  confiscation,  except 
through  the  seaports  of  the  Confederate 


FAST  DAY  PROCLAMATION. 


221 


States.  This  deprived  the  North  of  the 
trade  which,  checked  on  the  seaboard, 
was  seeking  a  new  channel  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  was  retaliatory  to  the  order 
issued  by  Secretary  Chase  on  the  2d  of 
May  from  the  Treasury  Department,  ad- 
dressed to  collectors,  surveyors,  and 
other  officers  of  the  customs  on  the 
northern  and  northwestern  waters  of 
the  United  States,  enjoining  them  to 
seize  and  detain  all  arms,  munitions  of 
war,  provisions,  or  other  supplies  on 
their  way  to  any  port  or  place  under 
the  control  of  insurrectionary  parties. 
This  order  established  a  blockade  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  of  the  railway  communi- 
cations from  Kentucky  southward.  The 
arrest  of  the  United  States  postal  service 
in  the  seceded  States  was  delayed  by 
Postmaster-General  Blair  till  the  31st 
of  May,  when  in  fact  it  was  formally 
suspended  b}^  the  action  of  the  Confed- 
erates. By  an  order  issued  by  Post- 
master-General John  H.  Eeagan,  on  the 
part  of  the  rebel  government,  announcing 
the  suspension,  the  southern  postmasters 
acting  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  were  directed,  on  and  after  the 
1st  day  of  June,  to  retain  in  their  pos- 
session, subject  to  the  further  orders  of 
his  department,  "for  the  benefit  of  the 
Confederate  States,  all  mail  bags,  locks 
and  keys,  marking  and  other  stamps, 
blanks  for  quarterly  returns,  and  all 
other  property  belonging  to  or  connected 
with  the  postal  service." 

In  addition  to  the  measures  of  the 
Confederate  Congress  bearing  upon  the 
material  prosecution  of  the  war,  a  reso- 
lution was  introduced  requesting  Presi- 
dent Davis  to  appoint  "a  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer,  in  the  observance  of  which 
all  shall  be  invited  to  join  who  recognize 
our  dependence  upon  God,  and  who  de- 


sire the  happiness  and  security  of  that 
people  '  whose  God  is  the  Lord.'  "  In 
compliance  with  this  recommendation, 
President  Davis  issued  the  following  pro- 
clamation to  the  people  of  the  Confeder- 
ate States : — 

"When  a  people  who  recognize  their 
dependence  upon  God,  feel  themselves 
surrounded  by  peril  and  difficulty,  it 
becomes  them  to  humble  themselves 
under  the  dispensation  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, to  recognize  His  righteous  govern- 
ment, to  acknowledge  His  goodness  in 
times  past,  and  supplicate  His  merciful 
protection  for  the  future.  The  manifest 
proofs  of  the  Divine  blessing  hitherto 
extended  to  the  efforts  of  the  people  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America,  to 
maintain  and  perpetuate  public  liberty, 
individual  rights,  and  national  independ- 
ence, demand  their  devout  and  heartfelt 
gratitude.  It  becomes  them  to  give  pub- 
lic manifestation  of  this  gratitude,  and  of 
their  dependence  upon  the  Judge  of  all 
the  earth,  and  to  invoke  the  continuance 
of  his  favor.  Knowing  that  none  but  a 
just  and  righteous  cause  can  gain  the 
Divine  favor,  we  would  implore  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  to  guide  and  direct  our  polic}^ 
in  the  paths  of  right,  duty,  justice  and 
mercy,  to  unite  our  heart  and  our  efforts 
for  the  defence  of  our  dearest  rights  ;  to 
strengthen  our  weakness,  crown  our  arms 
with  success,  and  enable  us  to  secure  a 
speedy,  just,  and  honorable  peace.  To 
these  ends,  and  in  conformity  with  the 
request  of  Congress,  I  invite  the  people 
of  the  Confederate  States  to  the  observ- 
ance of  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  by 
such  religious  services  as  may  be  suitable 
for  the  occasion,  and  I  recommend  Thurs- 
day, the  13th  day  of  June  next,  for  that 
purpose,  and  that  we  may  all,  on  that 
day,  with  on  e  accord,  join  m  humble  and 


222 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


reverential  approach  to  Him  in  whose 
hands  we  are,  invoking  Him  to  inspire 
us  with  a  proper  spirit  and  temper  of 
heart  and  mind  to  bear  our  evils,  to  bless 
us  with  His  favor  and  protection,  and  to 
bestow  His  gracious  benediction  upon 
our  government  and  country." 

Having  thus  invoked  a  religious  sanc- 
tion upon  its  proceedings,  the  Congress 
ended  its  second  session  at  Montgomery 
on  the  21st  May,  by  an  act  of  adjourn- 
ment to  meet  on  the  20th  of  July  at 
Eichmond,  which  was  henceforth  to  be 
the  capital  of  the  Confederacy. 

A  few  days  after  the  adjournment  we 
find  President  Davis  inditing  a  notable 
epistle  to  a  certain  committee  of  the 
Maryland  Legislature  who  had  addressed 
a  communication  to  the  rebel  government 
in  a  "  sympathizing"  spirit.  To  this 
friendly  overture  Davis  made  the  follow- 
ing smooth  reply,  asserting  his  disposi- 
tion for  peace,  but  abating  nothing  of  the 
pretensions  of  the  Confederate  States  to 
independence  as  a  foreign  nation.  "  I 
receive,"  says  he,  "with  pleasure  the 
assurance  that  the  State  of  Maryland 
sympathizes  with  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federate States  in  their  determined  vin- 
dication of  the  right  of  self-government, 
and  that  the  people  of  Maryland  are  en- 
listed with  their  whole  hearts  on  the  side 
of  reconciliation  and  peace.  The  people 
of  these  Confederate  States,  notwith- 
standing their  separation  from  their  late 
sister,  have  not  ceased  to  feel  deep  solici- 
tude in  her  welfare,  and  to  hope  that  at 
no  distant  day  that  State,  whose  people, 
habits,  and  institutions  are  so  closely  re- 
lated and  assimilated  with  theirs,  will 
seek  to  unite  her  fate  and  fortunes  with 
those  of  this  Confederacy.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  Confederate  States  receives 
with  respect  the  suggestion  of  the  State 


of  Maryland,  that  there  should  be  a  ces- 
sation of  the  hostilities  now  impending 
until  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  July 
next,  in  order  that  said  body  may,  if  pos- 
sible, arrange  for  an  adjustment  of  the 
existing  troubles  by  means  of  negotia- 
tions rather  than  the  sword.  But  it  is  at 
a  loss  how  to  reply  without  a  repetition 
of  the  language  it  has  used  on  every 
possible  occasion  that  has  presented  itself, 
since  the  establishment  of  its  independ- 
ence. In  deference  to  the  State  of  Mary- 
land, however,  it  again  asserts  in  the 
most  emphatic  terms,  that  its  sincere  and 
earnest  desire  is  for  peace,  and  that  while 
the  government  would  readily  entertain 
any  proposition  from  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  tending  to  a  peaceful 
solution  of  the  present  difficulties^  the 
recent  attempts  of  this  government  to 
enter  into  negotiations  with  that  of  the 
United  States  were  attended  with  results 
which  forbid  any  renewal  of  the  pro- 
posals from  it  to  that  government.  If  any 
further  assurance  of  the  desire  of  this 
government  for  peace  were  necessary,  it 
would  be  sufficient  to  observe  that  being 
formed  of  a  confederation  of  sovereign 
States,  each  acting  and  deciding  for  itself, 
the  right  of  every  other  sovereign  State 
to  assume  self-action  and  self-government 
is  necessarily  acknowledged.  Hence  con- 
quests of  other  States  are  wholly  incon- 
sistent with  the  fundamental  principles 
and  subversive  of  the  very  organization 
of  this  government.  Its  policy  cannot 
but  be  peace — peace  with  all  nations  and 
people."* 

Sunday,  the  26th  of  Ma}^,  the  day  fol- 
lowing the  date  of  this  epistle,  President 
Davis,  accompanied  by  his  aid,  Colonel 

*  Jefferson  Davis  to  Messrs.  McKaig,  Yellott  and  Hard 
ing,  Committee  of  the  Maryland  Legislature.  Montgomery 
Ala.,  May  25,  1861. 


PRESIDENT  DAVIS'S  JOURNEY   TO   RICHMOND. 


223 


Wigfall,  and  by  Robert  Toombs,  the 
Secretary  of  State,  set  out  by  railway 
for  the  new  seat  of  the  rebel  govern- 
ment at  Richmond.  Having  recently 
suffered  from  a  severe  illness,  it  was  de- 
sirable that  his  trip  should  be  private, 
but  the  President  was  quite  too  distin- 
guished a  person  at  this  season  of  popu- 
lar anxiety  and  enthusiasm  to  be  al- 
lowed to  travel  in  quiet.  "  At  each  sta- 
tion," as  we  are  informed  by  an  enthusi- 
astic chronicler  who  presents  us  with 
many  curious  particulars  of  the  journey, 
"his  friends  endeavored  to  convey  this 
information  of  the  desire  for  privacy  to 
the  citizens,  but  it  was  really  to  no  pur- 
pose. No  matter  where  the  cars  stopped, 
even  though  it  was  only  for  wood  or  for 
water,  throngs  of  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren would  gather  around  the  cars,  ask- 
ing, in  loud  shouts,  l  Where  is  President 
Davis?'  'Jeff.  Davis,  the  old  hero!'  and 
he  was  forced  to  make  his  appearance, 
and  frequently  to  address  them.  Then 
we  could  see  handkerchiefs  waving,  and 
gay  flags  and  bouquets.  When  the  flute- 
like  voice  of  Davis  arose  upon  the  air, 
hushed  to  stillness  by  the  profound  re- 
spect of  his  auditors,  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore there  was  an  outburst  of  feeling 
which  gave  vent  to  a  tornado  of  voices  ; 
these  would  break  forth  in  constant  suc- 
cession to  the  end  of  his  address.  Every 
sentiment  he  uttered  seemed  to  well  up 
from  his  heart,  and  was  received  with 
the  wildest  enthusiasm.  When  he  con- 
cluded, three  hearty  cheers  went  up 
from  the  multitude.  The  crowd  then 
shouted  for  Wigfall,  and  no  excuse  was 
tolerated.  In  vain  he  would  seek  some 
remote  part  of  the  cars ;  the  crowd 
hunted  him  up,  and  the  welkin  rang 
with  rejoicings,  as  he  addressed  them  in 
his  emphatic  and  fervent  style  of  ora- 


tory. Next  would  be  heard  a  cry  for 
'Toombs!'  He,  too,  sought  to  avoid 
the  call,  but  the  echo  would  ring  with 
the  name  of  '  Toombs !'  '  Toombs  !'  and 
the  sturdy  Georgian  statesman  had  to 
respond.  His  frank  and  open  manner 
came  home  to  the  hearts  of  all.  Whether 
in  his  own  State,  in  South  Carolina,  in 
Alabama,  or  North  Carolina,  '  Bob 
Toombs,'  as  they  familiarly  called  him 
in  Georgia,  was  always  welcome  when 
he  addressed  the  people. 

"  In  Atlanta,  Augusta,  Wilmington 
and  Goldsborough,  the  crowds  assembled 
were  very  large,  and  the  enthusiasm 
unbounded.  At  Goldsborough,  while 
President  Davis  was  partaking  of  his 
supper  in  the  hall  of  the  hotel,  the  table 
was  thronged  with  beautiful  girls,  and 
many  were  bedecking  him  with  garlands 
of  flowers,  while  others  fanned  him.  It 
was  a  most  interesting  occasion.  The 
military  had  formed  into  squares  to  re- 
ceive him  from  the  cars  ;  guns  were 
fired,  and  the  band  struck  up  inspiriting 
martial  airs  during  the  interval  of  supper. 

"  The  whole  country  is  a  camp.  On 
every  hand  we  see  soldiers,  and  every 
day  the  cars  were  crowded  with  them. 
From  appearances,  they  are  the  flower 
of  the  South.  The  journey  of  President 
Davis  from  Montgomery  to  the  capital 
was  one  continuous  ovation.  The  whole 
soul  of  the  South  is  in  this  war  ;  and  the 
confidence  manifested  in  '»ur  President, 
in  the  many  scenes  which  transpired  on 
the  trip,  shows  that  the  mantle  of  Wash- 
ington falls  gracefully  upon  his  shoul- 
ders. Never  were  a  people  more  en- 
raptured with  their  Chief  Magistrate 
than  ours  are  with  President  Davis,  and 
the  trip  from  Montgomery  to  Richmond 
will  ever  be  remembered  with  delight 
by  all  who  witnessed  it.  The  eagerness 


224 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


of  young  and  old  and  of  all  classes  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  him,  or  take  him  by 
the  hand,  is  beyond  description.  This 
trip  has  infused  a  martial  feeling  in  our 
people  that  knows  no  bounds.  While, 
however,  there  is  a  rush  to  the  battle- 
field in  our  older  States,  which  threatens 
to  fill  up  all  the  ranks  in  our  army,  we 
must  have  a  thought  for  the  far  distant 
West,  and  give  our  young  sister  States 
an  opportunity  to  unite  their  names  in 
the  history  of  our  war  on  the  borders  of 
Virginia.  The  President  and  suite  were 
welcomed  to  Virginia  by  a  deputation 
of  the  Governor  of  the  State  and  the 
Mayor  of  Richmond.  These  gentlemen 
reached  the  party  at  Petersburg,  and 
accompanied  them  to  the  city."* 

Upon  his  arrival  at  Richmond,  on  the 
28th,  President  Davis,  accompanied  by 
an  eager  crowd  of  soldiers  and  civilians, 
was  attended  to  the  new  Fair  Grounds, 
where,  addressing  the  multitude,  he 
pledged  himself  to  their  service  to  the 
end.  "My  friends  and  fellow-citizens," 
said  he,  "I  am  deeply  impressed  with 
the  kindness  of  your  manifestation.  I 
look  upon  you  as  the  last  best  hope  of 
liberty  ;  and  in  our  liberty  alone  is  our 
constitutional  government  to  be  pre- 
served. Upon  your  strong  right  arm 
depends  the  success  of  our  country,  and 
in  asserting  the  birthright  to  which  you 
were  born,  you  are  to  remember  that  life 
and  blood  are  nothing  as  compared  with 
the  immense  interests  you  have  at  stake. 
It  may  be  that  you  have  not  long  been 
trained,  and  that  you  have  much  to  learn 
of  the  art  of  war,  but  I  know  that  there 
beats  in  the  breasts  of  Southern  sons  a 
determination  never  to  surrender — a  de- 
termination never  to  go  home  but  to  tell 
a  tale  of  honor.  Though  great  may  be 

*  Richmond  Enquirer,  May  28,  1861. 


the  disparity  of  numbers,  give  us  a  fair 
field  and  a  free  fight,  and  the  Southern 
banner  will  float  in  triumph  everywhere. 
The  country  relies  upon  you.  Upon  you 
rests  the  hope  of  our  people  ;  and  I  have 
only  to  say,  my  friends,  that  to  the  last 
breath  of  my  life  I  am  wholly  your  own." 
A  day  or  two  after  he  was  serenaded, 
and  again  addressed  the  assembled  crowd. 
Several  of  his  remarks  were  strikingly 
significant  of  the  situation  of  affairs,  for 
even  on  a  chance  occasion,  he  was  not 
the  man  to  content  himself  with  plati- 
tudes. Contempt  and  revenge  animated 
his  thoughts  with  a  remarkable  degree  of 
self-complacency  as  he  uttered  sentences 
like  the  following  : — "  Upon  us  is  de- 
volved the  high  and  holy  responsibility 
of  preserving  the  constitutional  liberty 
of  a  free  government.  Those  with  whom 
we  have  lately  associated  have  shown 
themselves  so  incapable  of  appreciating 
the  blessings  of  the  glorious  institutions 
they  inherited,  that  they  are  to-day 
stripped  of  the  liberty  to  which  they  were 
born.  They  have  allowed  an  ignorant 
usurper  to  trample  upon  all  the  preroga- 
tives of  citizenship,  and  to  exercise 
powers  never  delegated  to  him  ;  and  it 
has  been  reserved  to  your  own  State,  so 
lately  one  of  the  original  thirteen,  but 
now,  thank  God,  fully  separated  from 
them,  to  become  the  theatre  of  a  great 
central  camp,  from  which  will  pour  forth 
thousands  of  brave  hearts  to  roll  back 
the  tide  of  this  despotism.  Apart  from 
that  gratification  we  may  well  feel  at 
being  separated  from  such  a  connection, 
is  the  pride  that  upon  you  devolves  the 
task  of  maintaining  and  defending  our 
new  government.  I  believe  that  we 
shall  be  able  to  achieve  this  noble  work, 
and  that  the  institutions  of  our  fathers 
will  go  to  our  children  is  safely  as  they 


GENERAL   BEAUREGARD. 


225 


have  descended  to  us.  In  these  Confed- 
erate States  we  observe  those  relations 
which  have  been  poetically  ascribed  to 
the  United  States,  but  which  never  there 
had  the  same  reality — States  so  distinct 
that  each  existed  as  a  Sovereign,  yet  so 
united  that  each  was  bound  with  the 
other  to  constitute  a  whole  ;  or,  as  more 
beautifully  expressed,  "Distinct  as  the 
billows,  yet  one  as  the  sea."  Upon  every 
hill  which  now  overlooks  Richmond  you 
have  had,  and  will  continue  to  have 
camps  containing  soldiers  from  every 
State  in  the  Confederacy  ;  and  to  its  re- 
motest limits  every  proud  heart  beats 
high  with  indignation  at  the  thought  that 
the  foot  of  the  invader  has  been  set  upon 
the  soil  of  old  Virginia.  There  is  not 
one  true  son  of  the  South  who  is  not 
ready  to  shoulder  his  musket,  to  bleed, 
to  die,  or  to  conquer  in  the  cause  of  lib- 
erty here. 

"  Beginning  under  many  embarrass- 
ments, the  result  of  seventy  years  of  tax- 
ation being  in  the  hands  of  our  enemies, 
we  must  at  first  move  cautiously.  It 
may  be  that  we  shall  have  to  encounter 
sacrifices  ;  but,  my  friends,  under  the 
smiles  of  the  God  of  the  Just,  and  filled 
with  the  same  spirit  that  animated  our 
fathers,  success  shall  perch  on  our  banners. 
I  am  sure  you  do  not  expect  me  to  go 
into  any  argument  upon  those  questions 
which,  for  twenty-five  years,  have  agitated 
the  country.  We  have  now  reached  the 
points  where,  arguments  being  exhausted, 
it  only  remains  for  us  to  stand  by  our 
weapons.  When  the  time  and  occasion 
serve,  we  shall  smite  the  smiter  with 
manly  arms,  as  did  our  fathers  before  us, 
and  as  becomes  their  sons.  To  the  ene- 
my we  leave  the  base  acts  of  the  assassin 
and  incendiary,  to  them  we  leave  it  to 
insult  helpless  women ;  to  us  belongs 
29 


vengeance  upon  man.  Now,  my  friends, 
I  thank  you  again  for  this  gratifying 
manifestation.  (A  voice.  '  Tell  us  some- 
thing of  Buena  Vista.')  Well,  my  friends, 
I  can  only  say  we  will  make  the  battle- 
fields in  Virginia  another  Buena  Vista, 
and  drenched  with  blood  more  precious 
than  that  which  flowed  there.  We  will 
make  a  history  for  ourselves.  We  do 
not  ask  that  the  past  shall  shed  our 
lustre  upon  us,  bright  as  our  past  has 
been,  for  we  can  achieve  our  own  destiny. 
We  may  point  to  many  a  field,  over 
which  has  floated  the  flag  of  our  country 
when  we  were  of  the  United  States — 
upon  which  Southern  soldiers  and  South- 
ern officers  reflected  their  brave  spirits 
in  their  deeds  of  daring ;  and  without  in- 
tending to  cast  a  shadow  upon  the  cour- 
age of  any  portion  of  the  United  States, 
let  me  call  it  to  your  remembrance,  that 
no  man  who  went  from  these  Confederate 
States  has  ever  yet,  as  a  general  officer, 
surrendered  to  an  enemy." 

On  the  1st  of  June,  General  Beaure- 
gard,  having  a  few  days  previously  re- 
linquished his  command  of  the  forces 
around  Charleston,  arrived  at  Eichmond, 
on  his  way  to  command  a  division  of  the 
Confederate  army  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Potomac.  Previously  to  leaving  Charles- 
ton he  addressed  to  General  Martin,  of 
that  city,  the  following  letter,  from  which 
it  would  appear  that  some  other  disposal 
of  his  services  was  at  first  intended.  It 
is  said  that  he  was  talked  of  for  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  in  the  West,  with  its 
headquarters  then  at  Corinth,  Missis- 
sippi, his  occupation  of  which  afterwards 
became  so  celebrated.  The  epistle,  though 
unscrupulous  in  its  terms,  was  none  the 
less  on  that  account  characteristic  of  the 
writer's  military  zeal  and  determination. 
The  reference  to  General  Scott  as  the 


226 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


"octogenarian,"  did  not  pass  unnoticed 
at  the  time.  "  I  sincerely  regret,"  wrote 
General  Beauregard,  "leaving  Charles- 
ton, where  the  inhabitants  have  given  me 
such  a  welcome  that  I  now  consider  it  as 
my  second  home.  I  had  hoped  that  when 
relieved  from  here  it  would  have  been  to 
go  to  Virginia,  in  command  of  the  gal- 
lant Carolinians,  whose  courage,  patience 
and  zeal  I  had  learned  to  appreciate  and 
admire.  But  it  seems  my  services  are 
required  elsewhere,  and  thither  I  shall 
go,  not  with  joy,  but  with  the  firm  deter- 
mination to  do  more  than  my  duty,  if  I 
can,  and  to  leave  as  strong  a  mark  as 
possible  on  the  enemies  of  our  beloved 
country,  should  they  pollute  its  soil  with 
their  dastardly  feet.  But  rest  assured, 
my  dear  sir,  that  whatever  happens  at 
first,  we  are  certain  to  have  triumph  at 
last,  even  if  we  had  for  arms  only  pitch- 
forks and  flint-lock  muskets,  for  every 
bush  and  hay-stack  will  become  an  am- 
bush and  every  barn  a  fortress.  The 
history  of  nations  proves  that  a  gallant 
and  free  people,  fighting  for  their  inde- 
pendence and  firesides,  are  invincible 
against  even  disciplined  mercenaries  at  a 
few  dollars  per  month.  What,  then, 
must  be  the  result  when  its  enemies  are 
little  more  than  an  armed  rabble,  gather- 
ed together  hastily  on  a  false  pretence  and 
for  an  unholy  purpose,  with  an  octogen- 
arian at  its  head?  None  but  the  de- 
mented can  doubt  the  issue."* 

It  was  about  this  time  that  General 
Beauregard  presented  to  the  volunteer 
battalion  of  Orleans  Guard  at  New  Or- 
leans, of  which  he  was  a  member,  a  token 
of  his  first  achievement  at  Sumter,  with 
the  following  note,  addressed  to  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  battalion  : — "  I 

*  General  Beauregard  to  General  Martin,     Charleston, 
3.  C.,  May  27.  1861.     Published  in  the  Charleston  Courier, 


send  you,  through  Mr.  T.  K.  Wharton,  a 
piece  of  the  flag-staff  of  Fort  Sumter, 
which  was  struck  nine  times  by  the  balls 
and  shells  of  our  batteries,  and  finally 
came  down  with  the  flag  attached  to  it. 
The  piece  sent  you  is  intended  as  the 
staff  of  your  battalion  colors,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  that  when  thus  honored  and 
under  the  protection  of  our  gallant  com- 
rades, it  will  meet  with  better  success."* 
A  few  days  after  this  epistle  was  writ- 
ten the  following  proclamation  appeared 
from  General  Beauregard,  dated  at  his 
headquarters,  Department  of  Alexandria, 
Camp  Pickens,  June  5,  and  addressed  to 
the  people  of  the  counties  of  Loudon, 
Fairfax  and  Prince  William  : — "  A  reck- 
less and  unprincipled  tyrant  has  invaded 
your  soil.  Abraham  Lincoln,  regardless 
of  all  moral,  legal  and  constitutional  re- 
straints has  thrown  .his  Abolition  hosts 
among  you,  who  are  murdering  and  im- 
prisoning your  citizens,  confiscating  and 
destroying  your  property,  and  commit- 
ting other  acts  of  violence  and  outrage,  too 
shocking  and  revolting  to  humanity  to  be 
enumerated.  All  rules  of  civilized  war- 
fare are  abandoned,  and  they  proclaim  by 
their  acts,  if  not  on  their  banners,  that 
their  war  cry  is  'Beauty  and  Booty.' 
All  that  is  dear  to  man — your  honor  and 
that  of  your  wives  and  daughters — your 
fortunes  and  your  lives,  are  involved  in 
this  momentous  contest.  In  the  name, 
therefore,  of  the  constituted  authorities 
of  the  Confederate  States — in  the  sacred 
cause  of  constitutional  liberty  and  self- 
government,  for  which  we  are  contend- 
ing— in  behalf  of  civilization  itself.  I.  G. 
T.  Beauregard,  Brigadier-General  of  the 


*  Brigadier-General  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard  to  Major  Numa 
Augusten,  commanding  New  Orleans  Battalion,  New  Or- 
leans. Headquarters  Provisional  Army  C.  S.  A.,  Charles 
ton,  S.C.,  May  22,  1831.  itTi 


UNHANDSOME  EXPRESSIONS. 


227 


Confederate  States,  commanding  at  Camp 
Pickens,  Manassas  Junction,  do  make 
this  my  proclamation,  and  invite  and 
enjoin  you  by  every  consideration  dear 
to  the  hearts  of  freemen  and  patriots,  by 
the  name  and  memory  of  your  Eevolu- 
tionary  fathers,  and  by  the  purity  and 
sanctity  of  your  domestic  firesides,  to 
rally  to  the  standard  of  your  State  and 
country  ;  and,  by  every  means  in  your 
power,  compatible  with  honorable  war- 
fare, to  drive  back  and  expel  the  invad- 
ers from  your  land.  I  conjure  you  to  be 
true  and  loyal  to  your  country  and  her 
legal  and  constitutional  authorities,  and 
especially  to  be  vigilant  of  the  move- 
ments and  acts  of  the  enemy,  so  as  to 
enable  you  to  give  the  earliest  authentic 
information  at  these  headquarters,  or  to 
officers  under  his  command.  I  desire  to 
assure  you  that  the  utmost  protection  in 
my  power  will  be  given  to  you  all." 

The  atrocious  terms  of  this  proclama- 
tion, in  such  striking  contrast  with  the  con- 
ciliatory addresses  of  the  Union  officers, 
were  much  commented  upon  as  an  indi- 
cation of  the  manner  in  which  the  war 
was  to  be  conducted  on  the  part  of  the 
rebels.  Was  this  the  coming  man,  the 
"leader"  for  whom  the-  Virginia  seces- 
sionists were  clamorous,  and  whose  arriv- 
al for  the  capture  of  Washington  the 
Richmond  Examiner,  a  short  time  be- 
fore, had  announced  with  similar  violence 
and  indecency  as  immediately  at  hand  ? 
"  Our  people  can  take  it — they  will  take 
it,"  was  the  language  of  that  fanatical 
jourual,  "  and  Scott  the  arch-traitor,  and 
Lincoln,  the  beast,  combined,  cannot  pre- 
vent it.  The  just  indignation  of  an  out- 
raged and  deeply  injured  people  will 
teach  the  Illinois  Ape  to  repeat  his  race, 
and  retrace  his  journey  across  the  bor- 
ders of  the  free-negro  States  still  more 


rapidly  than  he  came  ;  and  Scott,  the 
traitor,  will  be  given  an  opportunity  at 
the  same  time  to  try  the  difference  be- 
tween '  Scott's  tactics '  and  the  Shanghai 
drill  for  quick  movements.  Great  cleans- 
ing-and  purification  are  needed,  and  will 
be  given,  to  that  festering  sink  of  iniqui- 
ty, that  wallow  of  Lincoln  and  Scott — 
the  desecrated  city  of  Washington  ;  and 
many  indeed  will  be  the  carcasses  of 
dogs  and  caitiffs  that  will  blacken  the  aii 
upon  the  gallows  before  the  great  work 
is  accomplished.  So  let  it  be."*  This 
was  a  characteristic  specimen  of  much  of 
the  literature  of  the  Southern  secession 
press,  particularly  in  the  early  period 
of  the  war.  A  few  months  later,  when 
hard  blows  succeeded  to  hard  words, 
such  effusions  of  Billingsgate  grew  some- 
what rare.  Even  foul-mouthed  editors 
had  less  to  say  of  Lincoln  as  an  ape 
and  Scott  as  a  traitor.  We  would  not 
sully  our  page  with  these  ridiculous  ebul- 
litions were  they  not  an  essential  portion 
of  the  history  of  the  times.  The  attempt 
to  degrade  the  person  and  character  of 
the  Chief  Magistrate  in  the  opinion  of 
the  less  informed  people  of  the  South, 
was  by  no  means  an  unimportant  part 
of  the  vile  machinery  of  the  rebellion. 
Such  puerilities  and  absurdities,  gross  as 
they  were,  undoubtedly  had  their  effect  in 
alienating  the  citizens  from  the  Govern- 
ment ;  especially  as  they  were  supported 
by  the  affected  cool  contempt  of  the  up- 
per classes. 

If  these  unhandsome  expressions  were 
to  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  vul- 
gar depreciation  common  to  all  commun- 
ities engaged  in  actual  warfare,  there 
were  other  more  serious  declarations  of 
the  motives  or  impressions  of  the  com- 
batants and  their  view  of  the  principles 


*  Richmond  Examiner,  April  23,  1861 ;  ante,  p.  150. 


228 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


at  stake,  from  which  it  might  be  antici- 
pated that  the  coming  struggle  on  the 
part  of  the  South  would  be  maintained 
with  earnestness  and  severity.  An  in- 
dication of  the  feeling  with  which  the 
Southern  troops  were  sent  from  their 
homes  for  the  North  at  this  time,  may  be 
gathered  from  the  language  of  an  address 
delivered  from  the  portico  of  the  City 
Hall  at  New  Orleans,  to  the  Washington 
Artillery,  on  their  departure  for  the  new 
seat  of  war  in  Virginia.  It  was  spoken 
by  the  Eev.  Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer,  an  emi- 
nent Presbyterian  clergyman  of  that  city, 
and  is  of  course  entitled  to  be  considered 
a  fair  expression  of  the  opinions  and  sen- 
timents of  the  citizens.  Dr.  Palmer  will 
be  remembered  as  the  preacher  of  a  dis- 
course on  President  Buchanan's  Fast-day 
in  November,  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  New  Orleans,  entitled  "Slav- 
ery a  Divine  Trust — the  Duty  of  the 
South  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  it,"  in 
which  he  not  only  enjoined  that  the  "in- 
stitution "  should  be  maintained  as  it  ex- 
isted, but  asserted  that  the  South,  "as  its 
constituted  guardian,  can  demand  nothing 
less  than  that  it  should  be  left  open  to 
expansion,  subject  to  no  limitations  save 
those  imposed  by  God  and  nature."  In 
the  same  discourse,  he  made  this  compar- 
ison of  the  social  systems  of  the  two 
portions  of  the  country,  which  he  evi- 
dently then  regarded  as  about  to  be  per- 
manently disunited.  "The  argument," 
said  he,  "  which  enforces  the  solemnity 
of  this  providential  trust  is  simple  and 
condensed.  It  is  bound  upon  us,  then, 
by  the  principle  of  -self -preservation,  that 
'  first  law '  which  is  continually  asserting 
its  supremacy  over  others.  Need  I  pause 
to  show  how  this  system  of  servitude  un- 
derlies and  supports  our  material  inter- 
ests? That  our  wealth  consists  in  our 


lands,  and  in  the  serfs  who  till  them? 
That  from  the  nature  of  our  products 
they  can  only  be  cultivated  by  labor 
which  must  be  controlled  in  order  to  be 
certain  ?  That  any  other  but  a  tropical 
race  must  faint  and  wither  beneath  a 
tropical  sun  ?  Need  I  pause  to  show  how 
this  system  is  interwoven  with  our  entire 
social  fabric  ?  That  these  slaves  form 
parts  of  our  households,  even  as  our 
children  ;  and  that,  too,  through  a  rela- 
tionship recognized  and  sanctioned  in  the 
Scriptures  of  God  even  as  the  other? 
Must  I  pause  to  show  how  it  has  fashion- 
ed our  modes  of  life,  and  determined  all 
our  habits  of  thought  and  feeling,  and 
moulded  the  very  type  of  our  civiliza- 
tion ?  How,  then,  can  the  hand  of  vio- 
lence be  laid  upon  it  without  involving 
our  existence  ?  The  so-called  free  States 
of  this  country  are  working  out  the  so- 
cial problem  under  conditions  peculiar  to 
themselves.  These  conditions  are  suffi- 
ciently hard,  and  their  success  is  too  un- 
certain, to  excite  in  us  the  least  jealousy 
of  their  lot.  With  a  teeming  population, 
which  the  soil  cannot  support — with  their 
wealth  depending  upon  arts,  created  by 
artificial  wants — '-with  an  eternal  friction 
between  the  grades  of  their  society  — 
with  their  labor  and  their  capital  grind- 
ing against  each  other  like  the  upper  and 
nether  millstones — with  labor  cheapened 
and  displaced  by  new  mechanical  inven- 
tions, bursting  more  asunder  the  bonds 
of  brotherhood ;  amid  these  intricate 
perils  we  have  ever  given  them  our  sym- 
pathy and  our  prayers,  and  have  never 
sought  to  weaken  the  foundation  of  their 
social  order.  God  grant  them  complete 
success  in  the  solution  of  all  their  per- 
plexities !  We,  too,  have  our  responsi- 
bilities and  our  trials  ;  but  they  are  all 
bound  up  in  this  one  institution,  which 


A  SOUTHERN  DIVINE. 


229 


has  been  the  object  of  such  unrighteous 
assault  through  five  and  twenty  years. 
If  we  are  true  to  ourselves  we  shall,  at 
this  critical  juncture,  stand  by  it  and 
work  out  our  destiny." 

The  conflict  which  Dr.  Palmer  in  No- 
vember regarded  as  imminent  had  in 
May  become  a  reality,  though  it  was 
not  undertaken  by  the  North  on  the 
issue  set  forth  by  the  Southern  divine. 
If  the  rebellion  grew  out  of  slavery,  and 
"was,  as  it  was  often  popularly  termed, 
"  the  slaveholder's  rebellion,"  the  war 
undertaken  by  the  North,  it  should  not 
be  forgotten,  was  not  for  the  suppression 
of  the  peculiar  institution,  but  for  the 
suppression  of  the  rebellion  and  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  a  national 
question  overriding  all  local  interests. 
With  this  reference  to  the  opinions  of 
the  speaker,  we  may  the  better  appre- 
ciate his  address  to  the  members  of  the 
Washington  Artillery.  It  was  custom- 
ary at  the  North,  at  the  beginning  and  in 
the  course  of  this  struggle,  to  place  great 
reliance  on  the  justice  and  sanctity  of  the 
cause  which  it  was  defending,  to  the  neg- 
lect at  times  of  more  practical  suggestions. 
Here,  it  may  be  observed,  the  same  ap- 
peals were  made  and  the  same  religious 
sanctions  invoked.  "  Soldiers,"  said  this 
reverend  divine,  "history  reads  to  us 
of  wars  which  have  been  baptized  as 
holy  ;  but  she  enters  upon  her  records 
none  that  is  holier  than  this  in  which 
you  have  embarked.  It  is  a  war  of  de- 
fence against  wicked  and  cruel  aggression 
— a  war  of  civilization  against  a  ruthless 
barbarism  which  would  dishonor  the 
dark  ages — a  war  of  religion  against  a 
blind  and  bloody  fanaticism.  It  is  a 
war  for  your  homes  and  firesides — for 
your  wives  and  children — for  the  land 
which  the  Lord  has  given  us  for  a  herit- 


age. It  is  a  war  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  broadest  principle  for  which  a  free 
people  can  contend — the  right  of  self- 
government.  Eighty-five  years  ago  our 
fathers  fought  in  defence  of  the  char- 
tered right  of  Englishmen,  that  taxation 
and  representation  are  correlative.  ;  We, 
their  sons,  contend  to-day  for  the  great 
American  principle  that  all  just  govern- 
ment derives  its  powers  from  the  will  of 
the  governed.  It  is  the  corner-stone  of 
the  great  temple  which,  on  this  conti- 
nent, has  been  reared  to  civil  freedom  ; 
and  its  denial  leads,  as  the  events  of  the 
past  two  months  have  clearly  shown,  to 
despotism,  the  most  absolute  and  intol- 
erable, a  despotism  more  grinding  than 
that  of  the  Turk  or  Russian,  because  it 
is  the  despotism  of  the  mob,  unregulated 
by  principle  or  precedent,  drifting  at 
the  will  of  an  unscrupulous  and  irre- 
sponsible majority.  The  alternative 
which  the  North  has  laid  before  her 
people  is  the  subjugation  of  the  South, 
or  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  abso- 
lute anarchy.  The  alternative  before 
us  is,  the  independence  of  the  South  or 
a  despotism  which  will  put  its  iron  heel 
upon  all  that  the  human  heart  can  hold 
dear.  This  mighty  issue  is  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  ordeal  of  battle,  with  the 
nations  of  the  earth  as  spectators,  and 
with  the  God  of  Heaven  as  umpire. 
The  theatre  appointed  for  the  struggle 
is  the  soil  of  Virginia,  beneath  the 
shadow  of  her  own  Alleghanies.  Com- 
prehending the  import  of  this  great  con- 
troversy from  the  first,  Virginia  sought 
to  stand  between  the  combatants,  and 
pleaded  for  such  an  adjustment  as  both 
the  civilization  and  the  religion  of  the 
age  demanded.  When  this  became  hope- 
less, obeying  the  instincts  of  that  nature 
which  has  ever  made  her  the  Mother  of 


230 


WAR  FOIl  THE    UNION. 


Statesmen  and  of  States,  she  has  opened 
her  broad  bosom  to  the  blows  of  a  ty- 
rant's hand.  Upon  such  a  theatre,  with 
such  an  issue  pending  before  such  a  tri- 
bunal, we  have  no  doubt  of  the  part 
which  will  be  assigned  you  to  play  ;  and 
when  we  hear  the  thunders  of  your  can- 


non echoing  from  the  mountain  passes  of 
Yirginia,  will  understand  that  you  mean, 
in  the  language  of  Cromwell  at  tne  cap- 
tie  of  Drogheda,  '  to  cut  this  war  to  the 
heart.'  "* 

*  Address  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer  to  the  Washington 
Artillery,  New  Orleans,  May  27,  1861. 


CHAPTEE    XYI. 


THE  DEATH  OF  SENATOR  DOUGLAS. 


IN  the  midst  of  the  anxieties  attending 
the  now  inevitable  recognition  of  the 
state  of  civil  conflict  into  which  the  na- 
tion had  been  plunged,  the  public  was 
suddenly  startled  by  intelligence  of  the 
dangerous  illness,  terminating  in  a  few 
days  in  the  death  of  one  of  the  foremost 
political  actors  in  the  great  drama. 
Stephen  Arnold  Douglas,  in  the  maturity 
of  his  mental  and  physical  powers,  died 
of  an  attack  of  fever  at  the  City  of  Chi- 
cago, June  3,  1861.  Justly  considered 
of  national  importance  at  a  critical  period 
of  affairs,  this  event  was  made  the  follow- 
ing da)7"  the  subject  of  a  special  circular 
from  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  War 
at  Washington.  "  The  death  of  a  great 
statesman  in  this  hour  of  peril,"  was  the 
language  of  Mr.  Cameron  in  this  docu- 
ment, "  cannot  be  regarded  otherwise 
than  as  a  national  calamity  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  expired  in  the  commercial  capi- 
tal of  Illinois,  yesterday  morning,  at  9 
o'clock.  A  representative  of  the  over- 
powering sentiment  enlisted  in  the  cause 
in  which  they  are  engaged  ;  a  man  who 
nobly  discarded  party  for  country  ;  a 
senator  who  forgot  all  prejudices  in  an 
earnest  desire  to  serve  the  public ;  a 
statesman  who  lately  received  for  the 


chief  magistracy  of  the  United  States  a 
vote  second  only  to  that  by  which  the  Pre- 
sident was  elected,  and  who  had  every 
reason  to  look  forward  to  a  long  career 
of  usefulness  and  honor ;  a  patriot  who 
defended  with  equal  zeal  and  ability  the 
Constitution  as  it  came  to  us  from  our 
fathers,  and  whose  last  mission  upon 
earth  was  that  of  rallying  the  people  of 
his  own  State  of  Illinois  as  one  man 
around  the  glorious  flag  of  the  Union, 
has  been  called  from  the  scenes  of  life  and 
the  field  of  his  labors.  This  department 
recognizing  in  his  decease  a  loss  in  com- 
mon with  the  whole  country,  and  pro- 
foundly sensible  of  the  grief  it  will  excite 
among  millions  of  men,  hereby  advises 
the  colonels  of  the  different  regiments  to 
have  this  order  read  to-morrow  to  their 
respective  commands,  and  suggests  that 
the  colors  of  the  republic  be  draped  in 
mourning  in  honor  of  the  illustrious 
dead." 

The  career  of  the  statesman  whose  loss 
the  country  was  thus  called  upon  to  de- 
plore would  be  pronounced  an  extra- 
ordinary one  in  any  other  country  than 
America,  where  similar  instances  of  tri- 
umph over  poverty  in  youth  and  early 
employment  with  rapid  promotion  in 


- .  ••/'• 

'/u?  kiStt','  ',  /fa^  /7V7K,  2JSF. 


STEPHEN  ARNOLD  DOUGLAS. 


231 


political  life  are  not  uncommon.  Born 
at  Brandon,  Vermont,  in  1813,  the  son 
of  a  physician  of  good  repute,  he  was 
left  in  his  infancy,  by  the  death  of  that 
parent,  to  the  care  of  his  mother,  whose 
fortunes  did  not  allow  him  any  other 
opportunities  for  education,  eager  as  the 
boy  became  for  knowledge,  beyond  the 
instruction  of  the  common  schools  of  the 
neighborhood.  Unable  to  gratify  his  de- 
sire to  prepare  for  college,  he  appren- 
ticed himself  to  a  cabinet-maker  and 
worked  at  the  trade  for  18  months.  He 
then  extricated  himself  from  this  employ- 
ment, entered  the  academy  at  Brandon, 
at  the  age  of  17,  pursued  his  studies 
there  with  diligence  for  more  than  a  year, 
when  the  family  removing  to  Canandai- 
gua,  New  York,  he  attended  the  academy 
at  that  place,  and  began  the  study  of  the 
law  in  the  office  of  a  lawyer  of  the  town. 
With  this  mental  stock  in  trade,  at  the 
age  of  20,  he  determined  to  seek  his  for- 
tunes in  the  West.  Traversing  various 
cities — Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Louisville, 
St.  Louis — he  finally  alighted  upon  the 
small  town  of  Winchester,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  where  he  opened 
a  school,  gave  the  day  to  the  pupils  and 
the  night  to  the  law,  and  in  1834  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  Of  ready  talents, 
sagacious  and  resolute,  his  success  was 
immediate.  There,  too,  was  inflamed  that 
passion  for  political  life  which  inspired 
his  whole  course  to  his  latest  moments. 
Illinois  adopted  him  at  once  as  her  repre- 
sentative. Before  he  had  completed  his 
22d  year,  he  was  chosen  attorne}r-general 
of  the  State  ;  two  years  afterward  he  re- 
signed that  office  to  become  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  the  year  following  he 
was  appointed  by  President  Van  Buren 
register  of  the  land-office  at  Springfield, 
and  in  1838,  but  a  few  months  after  at- 


taining the  requisite  age,  was  a  candidate 
of  the  democratic  party  for  the  national 
House  of  Representatives,  losing  his 
election  only  by  five  votes.  At  the  en- 
suing Presidential  election,  in  1840,  be 
threw  himself  vigorously  into  the  cam- 
paign on  the  side  of  Yan  Buren,  address- 
ing meetings  of  the  people  in  all  parts 
of  the  State.  He  was  the  same  year 
appointed  Secretary  of  State  of  Illinois, 
and  in  1841,  at  the  age  of  27,  was  elected 
by  the  legislature  a  judge  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  State.  Three  years  after- 
ward he  was  sent  to  Congress,  and  was 
twice  reflected,  being  withdrawn  from 
his  third  term  in  the  House  to  take  a 
seat  in  1847  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
In  that  position  he  remained  till  his 
death,  so  that  for  27  years,  during  18  of 
which  he  served  continuously  in  the  na- 
tional legislature,  he  was  constantly  be* 
fore  the  public  in  connection  with  political 
interests.  He  was  thrice  a  candidate  in 
the  democratic  conventions  for  the  Presi- 
dency : — in  1852,  in  opposition  to  Gen- 
eral Pierce  ;  in  1856  to  Mr.  Buchanan, 
and  in  1860,  when  his  successful  nomin- 
ation, as  we  have  seen,  was  attended  by 
that  division  of  the  party  which  se- 
cured the  election  of  President  Lincoln. 
Adopting  generally  the  principles  and 
advocating  the  policy  of  the  democratic 
party  during  his  career  in  Washington,  a 
supporter  of  the  ultra  Oregon  claim,  of  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  of  the  application 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  of  the  peaceful 
acquisition  of  Cuba  and  the  like  measures, 
Senator  Douglas  struck  out  a  path  for 
himself  in  his  advocacy  of  his  favorite 
doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  a  theory 
by  which  he  sought  V>  solve  the  pressing 
difficulties  of  slavery  m  the  Territories, 
and  for  the  practical  adoption  of  which 
he  attempted  to  prepare  the  way  by  the 


232 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


introduction  of  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
Bill.  The  passage  of  that  act  in  1854,  by 
its  abolition  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
restricting  slavery,  with  the  exception  of 
Missouri,  to  the  territory  south  of  36'  30" 
the  northern  line  of  Arkansas,  was  the 
prelude  to  the  fearful  contest  which  im- 
mediately ensued  in  Kansas,  and  un- 
doubtedly opened  the  way  for  the  adverse 
political  issues  which  preceded  the  pre- 
sent rebellion.  How  far  Mr.  Douglas 
was  responsible  for  letting  loose  upon  the 
public  this  angry  strife,  it  is  not  necessary 
here  to  inquire.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
his  theory  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  beset 
with  difficulties  of  the  most  formidable 
character,  failed  to  work  well  in  practice 
and  was  not  only  rejected  by  a  great 
body  of  his  countrymen  of  a  different 
school  of  politics,  but  embarrassed  him 
greatly  with  the  members  of  his  own 
party,  whose  ultra  pretensions  he  was 
compelled  to  oppose  in  his  resistance  to 
the  Lecompton  Pro-slavery  Constitution, 
when  an  attempt  was  made  to  force  that 
measure  upon  Congress. 

We  have  already  called  attention  to  the 
manly  support  which  Senator  Douglas, 
after  his  defeat  in  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion of  1860,  gave  to  the  administration 
of  his  successful  rival.  The  patriotic 
course  which  he  pursued  at  this  crisis 
was  the  crowning  glory  of  his  life.  Finis 
coronat  opus.  In  the  kindling  addresses 
which  he  delivered  to  the  people  of  the 
West  in  the  brief  interval  between  his 
final  departure  from  Washington  and  his 
death,  his  words  were  impressed  with  a 
warmth  and  eloquence  denied  to  his  most 
ingenious  and  elaborate  efforts  in  the 
partisan  conflicts  to  which  he  had  devot- 
ed so  much  of  his  life.  On  his  journey, 
in  April,  from  the  capital  to  Illinois,  he 
was  arrested  on  several  occasions  by  the 


enthusiasm  of  the  people,  and  summoned 
to  respond  to  their  earnest  appeals  for 
sympathy  and  counsel.  Ever  ready  for 
the  occasion,  he  spoke  to  the  citizens  of 
Ohio  and  Virginia  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Wheeling,  was  again  called  upon  at 
Columbus,  addressed  the  Legislature  of 
Illinois  at  Springfield,  and  on  his  arrival 
at  Chicago,  on  the  evening  of  the  1st  of 
May,  was  received  by  an  immense  as- 
semblage of  the  citizens,  who  had  just 
been  raised  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement 
by  the  departure  of  their  volunteer  sol- 
diery. It  was  but  a  fortnight  after 
the  fall  of  Sumter,  and  the  State  was 
straining  every  nerve  for  the  support  of 
the  Government.  The  speech  of  Senator 
Douglas  on  this  occasion,  o^  that  West- 
ern soil  whose  interests  it  was  his  pride 
to  promote  and  with  which  his  fame  is 
identified,  was  the  last  which  he  deliver- 
ed, and  is  thus  impressed  with  a  peculiar 
value,  while  its  testimony  as  to  the  origin 
and  nature  of  the  rebellion  is  of  especial 
significance,  coming  from  one  so  intimate- 
ly acquainted  with  the  authors  of  the 
evil  and  the  course  of  public  events  dur- 
ing its  development.  The  place,  it  may  be 
mentioned,  in  which  the  address  was  de- 
livered, was  the  spacious  Eepublican  wig- 
wam which,  having  performed  its  work 
in  the  election  of  President  Lincoln,  was 
now,  in  the  spirit  of  the  occasion — all 
party  distinctions  being  for  the  time  laid 
aside — named  the  National  Hall.  This 
was  happily  stated  by  the  chairman  of 
the  meeting,  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Bryan,  who 
in  a  few  eloquent  and  patriotic  remarks, 
welcomed  the  orator  of  the  evening. 

Mr.  Douglas  then  rose.  "  I  thank 
you,"  said  he,  "for  the  kind  terms  in 
which  you  have  been  pleased  to  welcome 
me.  I  thank  the  Committee  and  citizens 
of  Chicago  for  this  grand  and  imposing 


SPEECH  OF  SENATOR  DOUGLAS. 


283 


reception.  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I 
will  not  do  you  nor  myself  the  injustice 
to  believe  this  magnificent  ovation  is  per- 
sonal homage  to  myself.  I  rejoice  to 
know  that  it  expresses  your  devotion  to 
the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and  the  flag 
of  our  country.  I  will  not  conceal  grat- 
ification at  the  uncontrovertible  test  this 
vast  audience  presents — that  what  polit- 
ical differences  or  party  questions  may 
have  divided  us,  yet  you  all  had  a  con- 
viction that  when  the  country  should  be 
in  danger,  my  loyalty  could  be  relied  on. 
That  the  present  danger  is  imminent,  no 
jian  can  conceal.  If  war  must  come — 
if  the  bayonet  must  be  used  to  maintain 
the  Constitution — I  can  say  before  Glod 
iniy  conscience  is  clean.  I  have  struggled 
long  for  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culty. I  have  not  only  tendered  those 
States  what  was  theirs  of  right,  but  I 
have  gone  to  the  very  extreme  of  mag- 
nanimity. The  return  we  receive  is  war, 
armies  marched  upon  our  Capital,  ob- 
structions and  dangers  to  our  navigation, 
letters  of  marque  to  invite  pirates  to 
prey  upon  our  commerce,  a  concerted 
movement  to  blot  out  the  United  States 
of  America  from  the  map  of  the  globe. 
The  question  is,  are  we  to  maintain  the 
country  of  our  fathers,  or  allow  it  to  be 
stricken  down  by  those  who,  when  they 
can  no  longer  govern,  threaten  to  de- 
stroy ? 

"What  cause,  what  excuse  do  Dis- 
unionists  give  us  for  breaking  up  the 
best  Government  on  which  the  sun  of 
heaven  ever  shed  its  rays  ?  They  are 
dissatisfied  with  the  result  of  a  Presiden- 
tial election.  Did  they  never  get  beaten 
before;  ?  Are  we  to  resort  to  the  sword 
when  we  get  defeated  at  the  ballot-box  ? 
I  understand  it  that  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple, expressed  in  the  mode  appointed  by 
20 


the  Constitution,  must  command  the  obe- 
dience of  every  citizen.  They  assume, 
on  the  election  of  a  particular  candidate, 
that  their  rights  are  not  safe  in  the  Union. 
What  evidence  do  they  present  of  this  ? 
I  defy  any  man  to  show  any  act  on  which 
it  is  based.  What  act  has  been  omitted  to 
be  done  ?  I  appeal  to  these  assembled 
thousands  that,  so  far  as  the  constitution- 
al rights  of  the  Southern  States — I  will 
say  the  constitutional  rights  of  slavehold- 
ers—  are  concerned,  nothing  has  been 
done,  and  nothing  omitted,  of  which  they 
can  complain.  There  has  never  been  a 
time,  from  the  day  that  Washington  was 
inaugurated  first  President  of  these  Unit- 
ed States,  when  the  rights  of  the  South- 
ern States  stood  firmer  under  the  laws 
of  the  land  than  they  do  now  ;  there 
never  was  a  time  when  they  had  not  as 
good  a  cause  for  disunion  as  they  have 
to-day.  What  good  cause  have  they  now 
that  has  not  existed  under  every  admin- 
istration ?  If  they  say  the  "Territorial 
question — now,  for  the  first  time,  there 
is  no  act  of  Congress  prohibiting  slavery 
anywhere.  If  it  be  the  non-enforcement 
of  the  laws,  the  only  complaints  that  I 
have  heard  have  been  of  the  too  vigorous 
and  faithful  fulfilment  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  Then  what  reason  have 
they  ?  The  Slavery  question  is  a  mere 
excuse.  The  election  of  Lincoln  is  a 
mere  pretext.  The  present  secession 
movement  is  the  result  of  an  enormous 
conspiracy  formed  more  than  a  year  since 
-formed  by  leaders  in  the  Southern 
Confederacy  more  than  twelve  months 
ago.  They  use  the  Slavery  question  as 
a  means  to  aid  the  accomplishment  of 
their  ends.  They  desired  the  election  of 
a  Northern  candidate  by  a  sectional  vote, 
in  order  to  show  that  the  two  sections 
cannot  live  together.  When  the  history 


234 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


of  the  two  yeai«,  from  the  Lecompton 
charter  down  to  the  Presidential  election, 
shall  be  written,  it  will  be  shown  that  the 
scheme  was  deliberately  made  to  break 
up  this  Union.  They  desired  a  North- 
ern Republican  to  be  elected  by  a  purely 
Northern  vote,  and  then  assign  this  fact 
as  a  reason  why  the  sections  may  not 
longer  live  together.  If  the  Disunion 
candidate  in  the  late  Presidential  contest 
had  carried  the  united  South,  their 
scheme  was  —  the  Northern  candidate 
successful  —  to  seize  the  Capital  last 
spring,  and,  by  a  United  South  and  di- 
vided North,  hold  it.  That  scheme  was 
defeated  in  the  defeat  of  the  Disunion 
candidate  in  several  of  the  Southern 
States. 

"  But  this  is  no  time  for  a  detail  of 
causes.  The  conspiracy  is  now  known. 
Armies  have  been  raised,  war  is  levied 
to  accomplish  it.  There  are  only  two 
sides  to  the  question.  Every  man  must 
be  for  the*United  States  or  against  it. 
There  can  be  no  neutrals  in  this  war — 
•mly  patriot's  or  traitors.  Thank  God, 
Illinois  is  not  divided  on  this  question. 
I  know  they  expected  to  present  a  united 
South  against  a  divided  North.  They 
hoped  in  the  Northern  States  party  ques- 
tions would  bring  civil  war  between  De- 
mocrats and  Republicans,  when  the  South 
would  step  in  with  her  cohorts,  aid  one 
party  to  conquer  the  other,  and  then 
make  easy  prey  of  the  victors.  Their 
scheme  was  carnage  and  civil  war  in  the 
North.  There  is  but  one  way  to  defeat  this. 
In  Illinois  it  is  being  so  defeated  by  clos- 
ing up  the  ranks.  "War  will  thus  be  pre- 
vented on  our  own  soil.  While  there  was 
a  h  ope  of  peace  I  was  ready  for  any  rea- 
sonable sacrifice  or  compromise  to  main- 
tain it.  But  when  the  question  comes 
of  war  in  the  cotton-fields  of  the  South 


or  the  corn-fields  of  Illinois,  I  say  the 
farther  off  the  better.  We  cannot  close 
our  eyes  to  the  sad  and  solemn  fact  that 
war  does  exist.  The  Government  must 
be  maintained,  its  enemies  overthrown, 
and  the  more  stupendous  our  prepara- 
tions, the  less  the  bloodshed  and  the 
shorter  the  struggle.  But  we  must  re- 
member certain  restraints  on  our  action 
even  in  time  of  war.  We  are  a  Chris- 
tian people,  and  the  war  must  be  prose- 
cuted in  a  manner  as  recognized  by 
Christian  nations.  We  must  not  invade 
Constitutional  rights.  The  innocent  must 
not  suffer,  nor  women  and  children  be 
the  victims.  Savages  must  not  be  let 
loose.  But  while  I  sanction  no  war  on 
the  rights  of  others,  I  will  implore  my 
countrymen  not  to  lay  down  their  arms 
until  our  own  rights  are  recognized. 

"  The  Constitution  and  its  guarantees 
are  our  birth-right,  and  I  am  ready  to 
enforce  that  inalienable  right  to  the  last 
extent.  We  cannot  recognize  secession. 
Recognize  it  once,  and  you  have  not  only 
dissolved  government,  but  you  have  de- 
stroyed social  order,  upturned  the  foun- 
dations of  society.  You  have  inaugurat- 
ed anarchy  in  its  worst  form,  and  will 
shortly  experience  all  the  horrors  of  the 
French  Revolution.  Then  we  have  a  sol- 
emn duty — to  maintain  the  Government. 
The  greater  our  unanimity  the  speedier 
the  day  of  peace.  We  have  prejudices 
to  overcome  from  the  few  short  months 
since  of  a  fierce  party  contest.  Yet  these 
must  be  allayed.  Let  us  lay  aside  all 
criminations  and  recriminations  as  to  the 
origin  of  these  difficulties.  When  we 
shall  have  again  a  country  with  the  Unit- 
ed States  flag  floating  over  it  and  respect- 
ed on  every  inch  of  American  soil,  it 
will  then  be  time  enough  to  ask  who  and 
what  brought  all  this  upon  us.  I  have 


ONE  PATH   OF  DUTY. 


235 


said  more  than  I  intended  to  say.  It  is 
a  sad  task  to  discuss  questions  so  fearful 
as  civil  war,  but  sad  as  it  is,  bloody  and 
disastrous  as  I  expect  it  will  be,  I  express 
it  as  my  conviction  before  God,  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  every  American  citizen  to 
rally  round  the  flag  of  his  country.  I 
thank  you  again  for  this  magnificent  de- 
monstration. By  it  you  show  you  have 
laid  aside  party  strife.  Illinois  has  a 
proud  position.  United,  firm,  determin- 
ed never  to  permit  the  Government  to 
be  destroyed." 

A  few  days  after  this  address  was  de- 
livered we  find  Senator  Douglas  confined 
to  his  room,  deprived  of  the  use  of  his 
hand,  by  a  severe  attack  of  rheumatism, 
dictating  to  an  amanuensis  his  last  public 
letter,  enjoining  upon  a  committee  of  the 
democratic  party  who  had  written  to  him 
for  advice,  the  policy  and  duty  of  render- 
ing a  cordial  support  to  the  government. 
"  It  seems,"  says  he  in  this  epistle,  "  that 
some  of  my  friends  are  unable  to  compre- 
hend the  difference  between  arguments 
used  in  favor  of  an  equitable  compromise, 
with  the  hope  of  averting  the  horrors  of 
war,  and  those  urged  in  support  of  the 
government  and  flag  of  our  country, 
when  war  is  being  waged  against  the 
United  States  with  the  avowed  purpose 
of  producing  a  permanent  disruption  of 
the  Union  and  a  total  destruction  of  its 
government.  All  hope  of  compromise 
with  the  Cotton  States  was  abandoned 
when  they  assumed  the  position  that  the 
separation  of  the  Union  was  complete 
and  final,  and  that  they  would  never 
consent  to  a  reconstruction  in  any  contin- 
gency--not  even  if  we  would  furnish 
them  with  a  blank  sheet  of  paper  and 
permit  them  to  inscribe  their  own  terms. 
Still  the  hope  was  cherished  that  reason- 
able t?nd  satisfactory  terms  of  adjustment 


could  be  agreed  upon  with  Tennessee, 
North  Carolina,  and  the  Border  States, 
and  that  whatever  terms  would  prove 
satisfactory  to  these  loyal  States  would 
create  a  Union  party  in  the  Cotton  States 
which  would  be  powerful  enough  at  the 
ballot-box  to  destroy  the  Revolutionary 
government,  and  bring  those  States  back 
into  the  Union  by  the  voice  of  their  own 
people.  This  hope  was  cherished  by 
Union  men  North  and  South,  and  was 
never  abandoned  until  actual  war  was 
levied  at  Charleston,  and  the  authorita- 
tive announcement  made  by  the  Revolu- 
tionary government  at  Montgomery,  that 
the  secession  flag  should  be  planted  upon 
the  walls  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington, 
and  a  proclamation  issued  inviting  the 
pirates  of  the  world  to  prey  upon  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States.  These 
startling  facts,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  boastful  announcement  that  the  rav- 
ages of  war  and  carnage  should  be 
quickly  transferred  from  the  cotton  fields 
of  the  South  to  the  wheat  fields  and  corn 
fields  of  the  North,  furnish  conclusive 
evidence  that  it  was  the  fixed  purpose  of 
the  secessionists  utterly  to  destroy  the 
government  of  our  fathers  and  obliterate 
the  United  States  from  the  map  of  the 
world.  In  view  of  this  state  of  facts 
there  was  but  one  path  of  duty  left  to 
patriotic  men.  It  was  not  a  party  ques- 
tion, nor  a  question  involving  partisan 
policy  ;  it  was  a  question  of  government 
or  no  government ;  country  or  no  coun- 
try ;  and  hence  it  became  the  imperative 
duty  of  Union  men,  every  friend  of  con- 
stitutional liberty,  to  rally  to  the  support 
of  our  common  country,  its  government 
and  flag,  as  the  only  means  of  checking 
the  progress  of  revolution  and  of  pre- 
serving the  Union  of  the  States. 

"  I  am  unable  to  answer  your  questions 


236 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


in  respect  to  the  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  his  Cabinet.  I  am  not  in  their  con- 
fidence, as  you  and  the  whole  country 
ought  to  be  aware.  I  am  neither  the 
supporter  of  the  partisan  policy  nor  the 
apologist  for  the  errors  of  the  Adminis- 
tration. My  previous  relations  to  them 
remain  unchanged  ;  but  I  trust  the  time 
will  never  come  when  I  shall  not  be  will- 
ing to  make  any  needful  sacrifice  of  per- 
sonal feeling  and  party  policy  for  the 
honor  and  integrity  of  my  country.  I 
know  of  no  mode  by  which  a  loyal  citi- 
zen may  so  well  demonstrate  his  devotion 
to  his  country  as  by  sustaining  the  Flag, 
the  Constitution,  and  the  Union,  under 
all  circumstances,  and  under  every  ad- 
ministration (regardless  of  party  politics), 
against  all  assailants,  at  home  and  abroad. 
The  course  of  Clay  and  Webster  toward 
the  administration  of  General  Jackson,  in 
the  days  of  Nullification,  presents  a  noble 
and  worthy  example  for  all  true  patriots. 
At  the  very  moment  when  that  fearful 
crisis  was  precipitated  upon  the  country, 
partisan  strife  between  whigs  and  demo- 
crats was  quite  as  bitter  and  relentless  as 
now  between  democrats  and  republicans. 
The  gulf  which  separated  party  leaders 
in  those  days  was  quite  as  broad  and 
deep  as  that  which  now  separates  the 
democracy  from  the  republicans.  But 
the  moment  an  enemy  rose  in  our  midst, 
plotting  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union 
and  the  destruction  of  the  government, 
the  voice  of  partisan  strife  was  hushed 
in  patriotic  silence.  One  of  the  brightest 
chapters  in  the  history  of  our  country 
will  record  the  fact  that  during  this 
eventful  period  the  great  leaders  of  the 
Opposition,  sinking  the  partisan  into  the 
patriot,  rushed  to  the  support  of  the 
government,  and  became  its  ablest  and 
bravest  defenders  against  all  assailants 


until  the  conspiracy  was  crushed  and 
abandoned,  when  they  resumed  their 
former  positions  as  party  leaders  upon 
political  issues.  These  acts  of  patriotic 
devotion  have  never  been  deemed  evi- 
dences of  infidelity  or  political  treachery 
on  the  part  of  Clay  and  Webster,  to  the 
principles  and  organization  of  the  old 
whig  party.  Nor  have  I  any  apprehen- 
sion that  the  firm  and  unanimous  support 
which  the  democratic  leaders  and  masses 
are  now  giving  to  the  Constitution  and 
the  Union  will  ever  be  deemed  evidences 
of  infidelity  to  democratic  principles,  or 
a  want  of  loyalty  to  the  organization  and 
creed  of  the  democratic  party.  If  we 
hope  to  regain  and  perpetuate  the  ascend- 
ency of  pur  party,  we  should  never  for- 
get that  a  man  cannot  be  a  true  democrat 
unless  he  is  a  loyal  patriot."* 

In  accordance  with  these  patriotic  in- 
junctions were  his  last  words,  a  parting 
legacy  of  advice  to  his  children,  as  his 
wife  leaned  over  him  in  his  dying  mo- 
ments : — "  Tell  them  to  support  the 
Constitution  and  the  Laws." 

When  Congress  met  in  extra  session 
in  July,  according  to  the  custom  of  that 
body  a  day  was  set  apart  for  the  ex- 
pression of  sentiments  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  deceased  senator.  Eulo- 
gies were  pronounced  in  the  Senate  by 
his  colleague  Mr.  Trumbull,  by  his  suc- 
cessor Mr.  Browning,  by  Mr.  McDougall 
of  California,  Mr.  Nesmith  of  Oregon, 
Mr.  Coliamer  of  Vermont,  Mr.  Anthony 
of  Rhode  Island  ;  and  in  the  House  by 
Messrs.  Richardson,  McClernand,  Arnold 
and  Fouke  of  Illinois,  Messrs.  Critten- 
den  and  Wickliffe  of  Kentucky,  Mr.  Cox 
of  Ohio,  Mr.  Lane  of  Indiana,  and  others. 
Many  things  were  said  in  honor  of  the 


*  Letter  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Chicago,  May  10, 1861, 
to  Virgil  Hicox,  Chairman  State  Democrat!-}  Committee. 


SENATOR  DOUGLAS  AND  PRESIDENT  LINCOJuN. 


237 


departed  senator's  career,  his  energy,  his 
public  services,  his  patriotism,  his  su- 
periority to  party  in  the  last  months  of 
his  life.  From  the  collection  of  these 
obituary  addresses  published  by  Con- 
gress we  select  a  passage  from  the  re- 
marks offered  by  a  Eepublican  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  for  its 
bearing  on  the  topics  of  this  narrative. 
The  following  enumeration  of  the  emi- 
nent men  furnished  by  Illinois  to  the 
annals  of  the  country  in  the  present  gen- 
eration is  certainly  noticeable,  embracing 
as  it  does  several  of  the  distinguished 
actors  of  the  present  war.  "About 
twenty  years,"  said  Mr.  Isaac  N.  Arnold 
of  Illinois,  "there  practiced  at  the  same 
bar,  in  the  small  town  of  Springfield,  Il- 
linois, a  very  remarkable  combination  of 
men.  Among  them  Abraham  Lincoln, 
President  of  the  United  States  ;  Stephen 
A.  Douglas — not  less  distinguished  ;  Ly- 
man  Truinbull,  the  eminent  colleague  of 
Douglas  ;  James  Shields,  who  won  a  high 
reputation  on  the  battle  fields  of  Mexico, 
and  in  this  Capitol ;  E.  D.  Baker,  Sena- 
tor from  Oregon  ;  John  J.  Hardin,  who 
fell  upon  the  bloody  field  of  Buena 
Vista ;  James  A.  McDougall,  Senator 
from  California  ;  0.  H.  Browning,  the 
successor  of  Judge  Douglas.  Besides 
these,  there  was  the  late  Governor  Bis- 
sell,  whose  eloquence,  in  vindication  of 
the  bravery  of  the  Illinois  volunteers 
against  the  aspersions  of  the  traitor 
Davis,  is  still  remembered  in  this  House  ; 
and  there  was  also  Richard  Yates,  the 
present  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  my  dis- 
tinguished friends  and  colleagues,  Colo- 
nels Richardson  and  McClernand." 

Of  the  personal  relations  between  Sen- 
ator Douglas  and  President  Lincoln  he 
said,  ''Among  the  many  incidents  in  the 
life  of  Douglas,  upon  which  the  people 


will  linger  with  pleasure,  are  events 
growing  out  of  the  relations  between 
him  and  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  Those  relations  were,  in  my 
opinion,  alike  honorable  to  the  departed 
Senator  and  the  living  President.  The 
country  knows  they  had  long  been  rivals, 
the  acknowledged  leaders  of  their  respec- 
tive parties.  They  passed  through  the 
senatorial  contest  of  1858,  (a  contest 
which  was  really  a  battle  of  giants,) 
with  their  personal  relations  cordial  and 
friendly.  The  great  presidential  contest 
of  1860,  in  which  victory  changed  from 
Douglas  to  Lincoln,  left  them  still  friends. 
You,  Mr.  Speaker,  and  most  of  the  mem- 
bers of  this  House,  witnessed  the  grace- 
ful courtesies  extended  by  the  distin- 
guished Senator  to  the  President  elect 
on  hisN arrival  here  in  February  last. 
The  conduct  and  bearing  of  Douglas  were 
certainly  in  the  highest  degree  graceful 
and  magnanimous.  None  who  witnessed 
it  can  ever  forget  the  scene  on  the  east- 
ern portico  of  this  Capitol,  when  Mr. 
Lincoln,  in  the  presence  of  the  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  people,  assumed  the 
sublime  prerogatives  of  Government, 
and  swore  by  the  eternal  God  that  he 
would  faithfully  support  the  Constitution 
and  enforce  the  laws  of  his  country. 
Douglas,  not  by  accident,  stood  by  his 
side  ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  scowling  trait- 
ors, whispered  in  the  ear  of  the  Presi- 
dent that,  come  what  might  in  the  dark 
and  cloudy  future'  darkening  before  him, 
he  would  stand  by  the  Government  and 
strengthen  its  arm  to  crush  treason  and 
rebellion." 

In  conclusion  said  he,  "Douglas  died 
at  a  moment  when  he  had  the  ability 
and  the  disposition  to  have  rendered  the 
greatest  services  to  his  country.  He 
died  on  the  eve  of  this  gi  apple  between 


238 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


government  and  anarchy — between  law 
and  lawlessness — between  liberty  and 
slavery — between  civilization  and  bar- 
barism ;  the  result  of  which  is  to  shape 
the  destiny  of  this  continent.  Had  he 
lived  he  would  have  led  this  grand, 
sublime  uprising  of  the  people — this  ma- 
jestic popular  movement  now  sweeping 
onward  like  the  deep  and  resistless  vol- 


ume of  waters  of  the  great  lakes  over 
Niagara ;  he  would  have  led  it  onward 
to  crush  and  overthrow  this  wicked  re- 
bellion. Yes,  Mr.  Speaker,  had  he  lived 
until  this  day,  there  would  have  been 
heard  in  these  Halls  no  voice  louder, 
clearer,  more  emphatic  than  his,  de- 
manding action — action — prompt,  vigor 
ous,  decisive  action.'1'' 


CHAPTER    XYII. 


AFFAIRS    AT    BALTIMORE. 


TURNING  our  attention  from  the  occur- 
rences in  front  of  the  Capital  to  the  im- 
portant city  in  the  rear,  we  find  the 
military  administration  of  General  Cad- 
walader,  at  Baltimore,  conducted  with 
the  prudence  and  moderation  which  had 
marked  the  policy  of  the  Government 
from  the  outset.  The  object  was,  from 
the  beginning,  while  proper  protection 
was  given  to  the  Union  interests,  and  the 
insurrectionary  tendencies  of  a  portion 
of  the  inhabitants  were  firmly  held  in 
check,  that  the  city  should  feel  as  little 
as  possible  the  interference  of  a  foreign 
authority.  The  successive  appointments 
of  military  rulers  afforded  proofs  of  this 
disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  officers  chosen  were  known 
for  their  moderation.  They  were  pru- 
dent and  conciliatory,  and  their  power 
when  it  was  displayed,  being  obviously 
exerted  for  the  preservation  of  peace 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  common  wel- 
fare, and  strictly  limited  to  the  necessities 
of  the  occasion,  a  majority  of  the  citizens 
sustained  their  action.  As  the  authority, 
however,  was  an  unusual  one,  abhorrent 
to  the  habits  and  cherished  ideas  of  the 


people  of  the  country,  who  had  known 
no  other  regulations  of  their  conduct  than 
those  incident  to  a  state  of  peace,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  its  exercise 
was  looked  upon  in  many  quarters  with 
alarm.  This  was  especially  shown  in 
regard  to  the  arrests  which  at  this  time 
began  to  be  made  of  suspected  persons, 
and  the  suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which  became  a 
necessary  part  of  the  system.  The  con- 
flict of  military  and  civil  law  in  these 
proceedings  called  forth  considerable  dis- 
cussion. 

One  case  in  particular  became  of 
especial  note,  as  the  occasion  of  a  strong- 
ly pronounced  judicial  opinion  from  Chief 
Justice  Taney,  who  resolutely  opposed 
the  action  of  the  Administration.  John 
Merryman,  a  wealthy  and  influential 
citizen  of  Maryland,  residing  in  Balti- 
more County,  was,  at  2  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  25th  May,  arrested  on 
general  charges  of  treason  and  rebellion, 
by  an  armed  force  under  orders  of  Gen- 
eral Keiin  of  Pennsylvania,  and  lodged 
as  a  prisoner  in  Fort  McHenry,  in  custody 
of  General  Cadwalader.  Under  these 


THE   HABEAS   CORPUS  PRIVILEGE. 


239 


circumstances;  Chief  Justice  Taney  was 
applied  to  for  a  writ  oihaleas  corpus,  to 
bring  the  prisoner  before  a  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  to  test  the  legality  of  the 
arrest.  The  writ  was  granted,  and  duly 
served  upon  General  Cadwalader,  who 
declined  obedience  to  it,  alleging,  in  a 
written  communication  to  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice, that  the  prisoner  was  charged  with 
various  acts  of  treason,  such  as  holding 
a  commission  as  lieutenant  in  a  company 
in  possession  of  arms  belonging  to  the 
United  States  and  avowing  his  purpose 
of  armed  hostility  against  the  Govern- 
ment, and  in  such  cases  he  was  author- 
ized by  President  Lincoln  to  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus,  for  the  public 
safety.  "  This  is  a  high  and  delicate 
trust,"  he  added,  "and  it  has  been  en- 
joined upon  him  that  it  should  be  exer- 
cised with  judgment  and  discretion,  but 
he  is  nevertheless  also  instructed,  that  in 
times  of  civil  strife,  errors,  if  any,  should 
be  on  the  side  of  safety  to  the  country. 
He  most  respectfully  submits  to  your 
consideration  that  those  who  should  co- 
operate in  the  present  trying  and  painful 
position  in  which  our  country  is  placed, 
should  not  by  reason  of  any  unnecessary 
want  of  confidence  in  each  other,  increase 
our  embarrassments."  He  concluded  by 
requesting  the  postponement  of  further 
action  till  he  could  receive  instructions 
from  the  President.* 

President  Lincoln  had  in  fact  already 
in  a  somewhat  similar  case  publicly  an- 
nounced the  suspension  of  the  privilege 
of  the  writ  in  his  Proclamation  of  the 
10th  of  May,  when,  for  the  better  pre- 
servation of  the  portion  of  Florida  still 
remaining  under  the  national  control,  he 

*  Major-General  Geo.  Cadwalader  to  Hon.  Roger  B.  Ta- 
ney, Chief  Justice.  Headquarters  Department  of  Anna- 
polis, Fort  McHenry,  May  25,  1861. 


had  directed  the  commander  of  the  forces 
of  the  United  States  on  the  coast  of  that 
State,  "  to  permit  no  person  to  exercise 
any  office  or  authority  upon  the  islands 
of  Key  West,  the  Tortugas  and  Santa 
Rosa,  which  may  be  inconsistent  with  the 
Laws  and  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  authorizing  him  at  the  same  time 
if  he  shall  find  it  necessary,  to  suspend 
there  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  to 
remove  from  the  vicinity  of  the  United 
States  fortresses  all  dangerous  or  sus- 
pected persons." 

On  receiving  the  answer  of  General 
Cadwalader  to  the  writ,  Chief  Justice 
Taney,  on  the  27th  May,  ordered  an 
attachment  against  that  military  com- 
mander of  the  department,  for  contempt 
of  court,  to  which  the  marshal  returned, 
on  the  following  day,  that  on  going  to 
Fort  McHenry  to  serve  the  writ,  he  was 
refused  admittance.  Upon  this  the  Chief 
Justice  read  in  court  a  statement  declar- 
ing that  "  the  President  under  the  Con- 
stitution and  Laws  of  the  United  States 
cannot  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  nor  authorize  any  of- 
ficer to  do  so.  And  that  a  military 
officer  has  no  right  to  arrest  and  detain 
a  person,  nor  subject  him  to  the  rules 
and  articles  of  war  for  an  offence  against 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  except  in 
aid  of  the  judicial  authority  and  subject 
to  its  control,  and  if  the  party  is  arrested 
by  the  military,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
officer  to  deliver  him  over  immediately 
to  the  civil  authority  to  be  dealt  with 
according  to  law."  Under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances he  said,  it  would  be  the  duty 
of  the  marshal  to  proceed  with  posse 
comitatus  and  bring  the  party  into  court, 
but  as  this  was  impossible  from  the 
superior  force  he  would  meet,  that  officer 
in  the  present  instance  had  done  all  in 


240 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


his  power  to  discharge  his  duty.  He 
himself  would  during  the  week  prepare 
his  opinion  in  the  premises  and  submit  it 
to  the  President,  calling  upon  him  to 
perform  his  constitutional  duty  and  see 
that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed  and 
enforce  the  decree  of  the  court. 

In  the  written  "  decision"  which  he  sub- 
sequently rendered,  Chief  Justice  Taney 
supported  the  opinion  which  he  had  given 
by  a  review  of  the  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution for  the  protection  of  liberty, 
"life  and  property,"  an  examination  of 
the  limited  powers  expressly  conferred 
upon  the  President,  a  deduction  from 
the  analogies  between  the  English  and 
American  Governments,  and  the  cita- 
tion of  several  eminent  judicial  authori- 
ties, including  Marshall  and  Story.  Hav- 
ing thus  argued  that  the  power  to  sus- 
pend the  writ  resided  in  Congress,  and 
not  in  the  Executive,  he  presented  in 
conclusion  the  following  view  of  the 
particular  circumstances  attending  the 
Merryman  arrest : — "  The  documents  be- 
fore me  show  that  the  military  authority 
in  this  case  has  gone  beyond  the  mere 
suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus.  It  has,  by  force  of 
arms,  thrust  aside  the  judicial  authori- 
ties and  officers  to  whom  the  Constitu- 
tion has  confided  the  power  and  duty  of 
interpreting  and  administering  the  laws, 
and  substituted  a  military  government 
in  its  place,  to  be  administered  and  exe- 
cuted by  military  officers,  for  at  the 
time  these  proceedings  were  had  against 
John  Merryman,  the  District  Judge  of 
Maryland,  the  Commissioner  appointed 
under  the  act  of  Congress,  the  District 
Attorney  and  the  Marshal,  all  resided 
in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  a  few  miles 
only  from  the  home  of  the  prisoner. 
Up  to  that  time  there  had  never  been 


the  slightest  resistance  or  obstruction  to 
the  process  of  any  court  or  judicial  offi- 
cer of  the  United  States  in  Maryland, 
except  by  the  military  authority.  And 
if  a  military  officer,  or  any  other  person, 
had  reason  to  believe  that  the  prisoner 
had  committed  any  offence  against  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  it  was  his 
duty  to  give  information  of  the  fact,  and 
the  evidence  to  support  it,  to  the  District 
Attorney ;  and  it  would  then  have  be- 
come the  duty  of  that  officer  to  bring 
the  matter  before  the  District  Judge  or 
Commissioner,  and  if  there  was  sufficient 
legal  evidence  to  justify  his  arrest,  the 
Judge  or  Commissioner  would  have  is- 
sued his  warrant  to  the  Marshal  to  arrest 
him  j  and  upon  the  hearing  of  the  party 
would  have  held  him  to  bail,  or  com- 
mitted him  for  trial,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  offence,  as  it  appeared 
in  the  testimony,  or  would  have  dis- 
charged him  immediately,  if  there  was 
not  sufficient  evidence  to  support  the 
accusation.  There  was  no  danger  of  any 
obstruction  or  resistance  to  the  action 
of  the  civil  authorities,  and  therefore  no 
reason  whatever  for  the  interposition  of 
the  military.  And  yet,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, a  military  officer,  stationed 
in  Pennsylvania,  without  giving  any  in- 
formation to  the  District  Attorney,  and 
without  any  application  to  the  judicial 
authorities,  assumes  to  himself  the  ju- 
dicial power  in  the  District  of  Mary- 
land ;  undertakes  to  decide  what  con- 
stitutes the  crime  of  treason  or  rebellion  • 
what  evidence  (if,  indeed,  he  required 
any)  is  sufficient  to  support  the  accusa- 
tion and  justify  the  commitment ;  and 
commits  the  party,  without  having  a 
hearing  even  before  himself,  to  close 
custody  in  a  strongly  garrisoned  fort, 
to  be  there  held,  it  would  seem,  during 


JUDGE  PARSONS   ON  MARTIAL  LAW. 


241 


the  pleasure  of  those  who  committed 
him. 

"  The  Constitution  provides,  as  I  have 
before  said,  that  '  no  person  shall  be  de- 
prived of  life,  liberty  or  property,  with- 
out due  process  of  law.'  It  declares 
that  '  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  se- 
cure in  their  persons,  houses,  papers  and 
effects  against  unreasonable  searches  and 
seizures,  shall  not  be  violated,  and  no 
warrant-  shall  issue,  but  upon  probable 
cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation, 
and  particularly  describing  the  place  to 
be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things 
to  be  seized.'  It  provides  that  the  party 
accused  shall  be  entitled  to  a  speedy 
trial  in  a  court  of  justice.  And  these 
great  and  fundamental  laws  which  Con- 
gress itself  could  not  suspend,  have  been 
disregarded  and  suspended,  like  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  by  a  military  officer, 
supported  by  force  of  arms.  Such  is  the 
case  now  before  me,  and  I  can  only  say 
that  if  the  authority  which  the  Constitu- 
tion has  confided  to  the  Judiciary  De- 
partment, and  judicial  offices  may  thus 
upon  any  pretext  and  under  any  circum- 
stances be  usurped  by  the  military  power 
at  its  discretion,  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  no  longer  living  under  a  Gov- 
ernment of  laws,  but  every  citizen  holds 
life,  liberty  and  property  at  the  will  and 
pleasure  of  the  army  officer  in  whose 
military  district  he  may  happen  to  be 
found." 

The  obvious  explanation  and  justifica- 
tion of  the  act  of  the  President,  and  un- 
doubtedly the  one  which  was  accepted 
by  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
country  who  looked  into  the  matter,  was 
presented  by  Judge  Theophilus  Parsons, 
the  Dane  Professor  of  the  Law  School  at 
Harvard,  in  a  lecture  on  martial  law,  de- 
livered just  previous  to  the  time  when 
31 


the  Merryman  case  arose.  Defining  the 
authority  as  the  creature  of  a  state  of 
war,  and  as  wholly  arbitrary  in  its  na- 
ture, he  found  its  exercise  justifiable  by 
adequate  necessity,  of  which  the  govern- 
ing power  was  obviously  the  judge. 
Though  necessarily  undefined  in  its  prin- 
ciples, extent  and  operation,  "  practical- 
ly," said  he,  "  the  very  essence  and  sub- 
stance of  martial  law  is,  in  England  and 
the  United  States,  the  suspension  of  the 
right  to  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus"  and 
consequently  its  supremacy,  for  the  time, 
over  the  civil  law.  Citing  next  the  pro- 
vision of  the  Constitution  that  "  the  priv- 
ilege of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall 
not  be  suspended  unless  when,  in  cases 
of  rebellion  and  invasion,  the  public 
safety  may  require  it,"  he  fairly  inter- 
preted it  as  a  declaration  that,  when  the 
conditions  spoken  of  arose,  the  writ 
might  be  suspended.  He  thus  in  a  few 
sentences,  with  great  clearness,  sets  forth 
his  interpretation  of  the  mode  of  exer- 
cising the  authority  conferred  or  allowed. 
"  The  first  and  most  important  question 
is,  who  may  decide  when  the  exigency 
occurs,  and  who  may,  if  it  occurs,  declare 
martial  law  ?  On  this  point  I  have  my- 
self no  doubt.  The  clause  on  this  sub- 
ject is  contained  in  the  first  article  of  the 
Constitution,  and  this  article  relates  prin- 
cipally to  Congress.  Nor  can  there  be 
any  doubt  that  Congress  may,  when  the 
necessity  occurs,  suspend  the  right  to  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus,  or,  which  is  the 
same  thing,  declare  or  authorize  martial 
law.  The  question  is,  has  the  President 
this  power  ?  The  Constitution  does  not 
expressly  give  this  power  to  any  depart- 
ment of  Government,  nor  does  it  express- 
ly reserve  it  to  Congress,  although,  in  the 
same  article,  it  does  make  this  express 
reservation  as  to  some  of  tho  provisions 


242 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


contained  in  the  article.  This  may  be  a 
mere  accidental  omission,  but  it  seems  to 
me  more  reasonable,  and  more  consonant 
with  the  principles  of  legal  interpretation, 
to  infer  from  it  an  absence  of  intention 
to  confine  it  to  Congress.  And  I  am 
confirmed  in  this  opinion  by  the  nature 
of  the  case.  The  very  instances  speci- 
fied as  those  in  which  the  right  to  habeas 
corpus  may  be  suspended  (invasion  and 
rebellion),  are  precisely  those  in  which 
the  reason  for  doing  so  may  come  sud- 
denly, the  necessity  of  determination  be 
immediate,  and  a  certainty  exist  that  the 
suspension  shall  be  useless,  and  the  whole 
mischief  which  the  suspension  might  pre- 
vent, take  place  if  there  be  any  delay. 
To  guard  against  the  suspension  by  lim- 
iting the  3ases,  as  is  done,  seems  to  me 
wise  ;  to  obstruct  it  by  requiring  the  de- 
lay necessarily  arising  from  legislative 
action,  would  seem  to  be  unreasonable. 
It  is  true  that  my  construction  gives  to 
the  President,  in  the  two  cases  of  rebel- 
lion and  invasion,  a  vast  power  ;  but  so 
is  all  military  power.  It  is  a  vast  power 
to  send  into  a  rebellious  district  fifteen 
thousand  soldiers,  as  Washington  did, 
whose  duty  it  would  be  to  meet  the  reb- 
els, and,  if  necessary,  kill  as  many  as 
they  could.  But  it  was  a  power  which 
belonged  to  him,  of  necessity,  as  Presi- 
dent ;  and  so,  I  think,  did  the  power  of 
martial  law.  If  it  did  not,  then  when  his 
troops  had  captured  the  armed  rebels 
whom  they  were  sent  to  subdue,  the  near- 
est magistrate  who  could  issue  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  might  have  summoned  the 
officer  having  them  in  charge  to  bring 
them  before  him,  and  might  have  liber- 
ated them  at  once  to  fight  again,  and  this 
as  often  as  they  were  captured,  until  a 
law  could  be  passed  by  Congress.  If  the 
]  ower  belongs  to  the  President,  he  may 


exercise  it  at  his  discretion,  when  either 
invasion  or  rebellion  occurs,  subject,  how- 
ever, to  two  qualifications.  One — a  uni- 
versal one — applicable  to  his  exercise  of 
every  power.  If  he  abuses  it,  or  exer- 
cises it  wrongfully,  he  is.  liable  to  im- 
peachment. The  other  is  more  a  matter 
of  discretion  or  propriety.  I  suppose 
that  he  would,  of  course,  report  his  do- 
ings in  such  a  matter  to  Congress  when 
he  could,  and  be  governed  by  their  ac- 
tion. My  conclusion  is,  therefore,  that 
in  case  of  invasion  from  abroad  or  rebel- 
lion at  home,  the  President  may  declare 
or  exercise,  or  authorize  martial  law,  sJ 
his  discretion." 

Another  high  authority  in  questions 
of  civil  law  and  polity,  Mr.  Horace 
Binney  of  Philadelphia,  in  an  elaborate 
pamphlet  discussing  "  The  privilege  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  under  the 
Constitution,"  differing  from  Chief  Justice 
Taney,  unhesitatingly  assigned  the  exer- 
cise of  the  power  of  suspension  to  the 
President.  An  idea  of  the  range  of  his 
argument  may  be  gathered  from  the  final 
paragraph  of  his  essay.  "The  conclu- 
sion," says  he  "of  the  whole  matter  is 
this :  that  the  Constitution  itself  is  the 
law  of  the  privilege,  and  of  the  excep- 
tion to  it ;  that  the  exception  is  expressed 
in  the  Constitution,  and  that  the  Consti- 
tution gives  effect  to  the  act  of  suspen- 
sion when  the  conditions  ocgur :  that  the 
conditions  consist  of  two  matters  of  fact, 
one  a  naked  matter  of  fact,  and  the  other 
a  matter-of-fact  conclusion  from  facts,  that 
is  to  say,  rebellion  and  the  public  dan- 
ger, or  the  requirement  of  public  safety. 
Whichever  power  of  the  constituted  gov- 
ernment can  most  properly  decide  these 
facts,  is  master  of  the  exception,  and 
competent  to  apply  it.  Whether  it  be 
Congress  or  the  President,  the  power 


PRESIDENT   LINCOLN'S  STATEMENT. 


243 


can  only  be  derived  by  implication,  as 
there  is  no  express  delegation  of  the 
power  in  the  Constitution ;  and  it  must 
be  derived  to  that  department  whose 
functions  are  the  most  appropriate  to  it. 
Congress  cannot  executively  suspend. 
All  that  a  Legislative  body  can  do,  is  to 
authorize  suspension,  by  giving  that  effect 
to  an  Executive  act ;  and  the  Constitu- 
tion having  authorized  that,  there  is  no 
room  for  the  exercise  of  Legislative 
power.  The  Constitution  intended,  that 
for  the  defence  of  the  nation  against  re- 
bellion and  invasion,  the  power  should 
always  be  kept  open  in  either  of  these 
events,  to  be  used  by  that  department, 
which  is  the  most  competent  in  the  same 
events  to  say  what  the  public  safety  re- 
quires in  this  behalf.  The  President 
being  the  properest  and  the  safest  de- 
positary of  the  power,  and  being  the  only 
power  which  can  exercise  it  under  real 
and  effective  responsibilities  to  the  peo- 
ple, it  is  both  constitutional  and  safe  to 
argue,  that  the  Constitution  has  placed  it 
with  him." 

The  positions  taken  by  Chief  Justice 
Taney  were  also  ably  reviewed,  with 
some  important  additional  illustrations 
of  the  subject,  by  the  Hon.  Eeverdy 
Johnson  of  Maryland,  in  an  elaborate 
essay  on  the  power  of  the  President  to 
suspend  the  habeas  corpus  writ.  He 
maintained  the  constitutionality  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  President  as  the  direct 
and  necessary  discharge  of  his  duty  as 
the  Executive,  according  to  established 
principles  and  precedents,  instancing  in 
particular  the  authority  of  Hamilton  in 
reference  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
powers  of  the  President,  when  the  ques- 
tion arose  in  General  Washington's  Ad- 
ministration out  of  his  Proclamation  of 
Neutrality  in  1793,  and  the  position  laid 


down  by  President  Jackson  in  1834,  in 
regard  to  the  constitutional  independence 
of  the  Executive  department. 

It  was  evidently  in  reply  to  tht  re- 
monstrance of  Chief  Justice  Taney  that 
President  Lincoln  in  his  message  to  Con- 
gress, at  its  session  in  July,  presented 
the  following  explanation  of  his  course. 
"Soon  after  the  first  call  for  militia," 
says  he,  "it  was  considered  a  duty  to 
authorize  the  commanding  general,  in 
proper  cases,  according  to  his  discretion 
to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  or,  in  other  words,  to 
arrest  and  detain,  without  resort  to  the 
ordinary  processes  and  forms  of  law, 
such  individuals  as  he  might  deem  dan- 
gerous to  the  public  safety.  This  author- 
ity has  purposely  been  exercised  but 
very  sparingly.  Nevertheless,  the  legal- 
ity and  propriety  of  what  has  been  done 
under  it  are  questioned,  and  the  attention 
of  the  country  has  been  called  to  the 
proposition  that  one  who  is  sworn  to  '  take 
care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,' 
should  not  himself  violate  them.  Of  course 
some  consideration  was  given  to  the 
questions  of  power,  and  propriety,  before 
this  matter  was  acted  upon.  The  whole  of 
the  laws  which  were  required  to  be  faith- 
fully executed,  were  being  resisted,  and 
failing  of  execution  in  nearly  one-third  of 
of  the  States.  Must  they  be  allowed  to 
finally  fail  of  execution,  even  had  it  been 
perfectly  clear,  that  by  the  use  of  the  means 
necessary  to  their  execution,  some  single 
law,  .made  in  such  extreme  tenderness  of 
the  citizen's  liberty,  that  practically,  it 
relieves  more  of  the  guilty  than  of  the 
innocentj  should,  to  a  very  limited  extent, 
be  violated  ?  To  state  the  question  more 
directly,  are  all  the  laws  but  one  to  go 
unexecuted,  and  the  government  itself  to 
go  to  pieces,  lest  that  one  be  violated  ? 


244 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Even  in  such  a  case,  would  not  the  official 
oath  be  broken,  if  the  government  should 
be  overthrown,  when  it  was  believed  that 
disregarding  the  single  law,  would  tend 
to  preserve  it?  But  it  was  not  believed 
that  this  question  was  presented.  It  was 
not  believed  that  any  law  was  violated. 
The  provision  of  the  Constitution  that 
the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  licibeas  cor- 
pus shall  not  be  suspended  unless  when, 
in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the 
public  safety  may  require  it,'  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  provision — is  a  provision — that 
such  privilege  may  be  suspended  when, 
in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the 
public  safety  does  require  it.  It  was 
decided  that  we  have  a  case  of  rebellion, 
and  that  the  public  safety  does  require 
the  qualified  suspension  of  the  privilege 
of  the  writ  which  was  authorized  to  be 
made.  Now  it  is  insisted  that  Congress, 
and  not  the  Executive,  is  vested  with  this 
power.  But  the  Constitution  itself  is 
silent  as  to  which,  or  who,  is  to  exercise 
the  power  ;  and  as  the  provision  was 
plainly  made  for  a  dangerous  emergency, 
it  cannot  be  believed  that  the  framers  of 
the  instrument  intended  that,  in  every 
case,  the  danger  should  run  its  course, 
until  Congress  could  be  called  together  ; 
the  very  assembling  of  which  might  be 
prevented,  as  was  intended  in  this  case, 
by  the  rebellion." 

On  the  10th  of  June  General  Cadwal- 
ader,  having  been  ordered  to  active  ser- 
vice on  the  line  of  the  Potomac  in  co- 
operation with  General  Patterson,  was 
succeeded  in  the  command  of  the  military 
department,  including  Baltimore,  by  Ma- 
jor-General Nathaniel  Prentiss*  Banks. 
The  career  of  this  officer,  who  brought 
from  civil  life  an  eminent  reputation  for 
high  moral,  and  mental  qualities,  is  of 
peculiar  interest  as  an  illustration  of  the 


facility  with  which,  freed  from  the  imped- 
iments which  obstruct  the  way  in  other 
lands  and  older  states  of  society,  the  in- 
dividual, relying  upon  integrity,  industry 
and  ability,  may,  under  the  protection 
of  the  free  institutions  of  America,  rise 
from  a  humble  position  to  offices  in  the 
State  of  the  highest  trust  and  honor. 
Born  at  the  manufacturing  town  of  Wal- 
tham,  in  Massachusetts,  in  1816,  the  son 
of  an  overseer  of  a  cotton  mill,  he  was 
placed  as  a  boy  in  the  same  factory, 
where  he  was  employed  in  cleaning  bob- 
bins. But  "  the  bobbin  boy,"  as  he  was 
called,  was  not  content  to  rest  there. 
Like  all  New  England  youth  of  any 
spirit,  however  poor,  he  managed  to  di- 
vide his  time  between  his  daily  labor  and 
the  village  school,  where  he  acquired 
those  elements  of  knowledge  which,  after 
all,  are  the  greatest  acquisitions  we  ever 
obtain  from  our  instructors  —  so  much 
does  the  rest  depend  upon  ourselves  and 
experience  of  the  world  and  affairs.  The 
boy  was  apt  to  learn,  and,  it  is  said,  was 
such  a  proficient  in  recitation,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  a  dramatic  company  formed  by 
his  associates,  that  he  was  offered  induce- 
ments to  become  a  professional  actor. 
If  there  is  any  importance  to  be  attached 
to  the  anecdote,  it  was  something  in  evi- 
dence of  the  boy's  character  that  he  turn- 
ed from  a  temptation  so  agreeable  to 
youthful  vanity,  to  the  sober  labors  of  a 
machinist,  learning  the  trade  and  working 
at  it  as  a  journeyman  in  Boston.  He 
also,  we  are  told,  taught  an  evening  school 
some  time,  and  edited  a  newspaper  at 
Waltham,  meantime  occasionally  lectur- 
ing before  Lyceums,  temperance  meet- 
ings, and  political  gatherings,  all  which 
prepared  him  for  public  life  on  a  larger 
scene.  Presenting  himself  to  his  towns- 
people of  Waltham  as  a  Democratic  can- 


s  from,  a-  recent  fh0tffpraz>7i,  fr.'wri.  7ife 


Johnson. Fiy  &  Co.-Pailisliers.  "NewYon-k. 


MA  JOE  GENERAL  BANKS. 


215 


didate  for  the  State  Legislature,  he  was 
six  times  defeated.  At  the  next  election, 
in  1849,  he  was  successful.  Previously, 
under  President  Polk's  administration,  he 
held  an  office  in  the  Boston  Custom- 
House.  In  1850,  we  find  him  admitted 
a  member  of  the  Suffolk  bar.  He  was, 
the  following  year,  chosen  Speaker  of  the 
lower  House  of  the  Massachusetts  Legis- 
lature ;  and  in  1852,  by  a  coalition  of 
the  Free-Soil  and  Democratic  parties, 
which  he  had  done  much  to  assist,  was 
elected  a  Eepresentative  to  Congress.  In 
1853  he  presided  over  the  Massachusetts 
Convention  held  to  revise  the  State  Con- 
stitution. During  his  first  term  in  Con- 
gress he  separated  himself  from  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  of  that  day  by  his  vote  in 
opposition  to  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill.  He  was  returned  to  the 
next  Congress  by  a  combination  of  the 
Native  Americans  with  the  Republicans, 
and  being  put  forward  by  the  latter  par- 
ty for  Speaker  of  the  House,  was  elected 
by  a  plurality  vote,  after  an  unprece- 
dented contest  of  two  months'  duration, 

j  i 

in  the  course  of  which  more  than  a  hun- 
dred ballots  were  taken.  From  Congress 
he  was  called,  in  1857,  to  be  Governor 
of  Massachusetts,  to  which  high  office  he 
was  reflected  the  succeeding  term.  At 
the  end  of  this  period,  in  1860,  retiring 
from  political  life,  he  removed  to  Chicago, 
having  accepted  the  lucrative  position  of 
General  Superintendent  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad.  Like  McClellan,  Burn- 
side  and  others,  who  held  similar  engage- 
ments, he  left  this  post  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war  to  offer  his  services  to  the 
Government.  His  abilities  were  too  well 
appreciated  by  the  Administration  for 
the  offer  to  be  neglected,  and  on  the  30th 
May,  1861,  he  was  created  a  Major-Gen- 
eral of  Yolunteers.  Though  heretofore 


mainly  engaged  in  civil  life,  his  duties  as 
Governor  of  Massachusetts  had  neces- 
sarily made  him  familiar,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, with  the  routine  of  military  affairs. 
The  most  important  acts  of  General 
Banks's  administration  of  his  department 
of  Annapolis  were  connected  with  the 
breaking  up  of  the  Board  of  Police  in 
Baltimore,  an  organization  which  had 
shown  from  the  beginning  an  active  and 
dangerous  sympathy  with  the  rebellior 
The  motives  which  influenced  him  in  this 
matter,  the  nature  of  the  obstacles  he 
had  to  encounter,  and  the  extent  to 
which  he.  was  willing  to  carry  his  au- 
thority, are  fully  exhibited  in  the  proc- 
lamation which  he  set  forth  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  arrest,  which  he  ordered  on 
the  27th  of  June,  of  Mr.  George  P.  Kane 
the  Chief  of  Police.  "  I  deem  it  proper 
at  this  the  moment  of  arrest,"  says  he,  in 
that  document,  "  to  make  formal  and 
public  declaration  of  the  motive  by  which 
I  have  been  governed  in  this  proceeding. 
It  is  not  iny  purpose,  neither  is  it  in  con- 
sonance with  my  instructions,  to  interfere 
in  any  manner  whatever  with  the  legiti- 
mate government  of  the  people  of  Balti- 
more or  Maryland.  I  desire  to  support 
the  public  authorities  in  all  appropriate 
duties  ;  in  preserving  peace,  protecting 
property  and  the  rights  of  persons,  in 
obeying  and  upholding  every  municipal 
regulation  and  public  statute,  consistent 
with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
United  States  and  of  Maryland.  But 
unlawful  combinations  of  men,  organized 
for  resistance  to  such  laws,  that  provide 
hidden  deposits  of  arms  and  ammunition, 
encourage  contraband  traffic  with  men  at 
war  with  the  Government,  and  while 
enjoying  its  protection  and  privileges, 
stealthily  wait  opportunity  to  combine 
their  means  and  forces  with  those  in 


246 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


rebellion  against  its  authority,  are  not 
among  the  recognized  or  legal  rights  of 
any  class  of  men,  and  cannot  be  per- 
mitted under  any  form  of  government 
whatever.  Such  combinations  are  well 
known  to  exist  in  this  Department.  The 
mass  of  citizens  of  Baltimore  and  of  Mary- 
land, loyal  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union,  are  neither  parties  to,  nor  re- 
sponsible for  them.  But  the  Chief  of 
Police  is  not  only  believed  to  be  cog- 
nizant of  these  facts,  but,  in  contraven- 
tion of  his  duty,  and  in  violation  of  law, 
he  is,  by  direction  or  indirection,  both 
witness  and  protector  to  the  transactions 
and  the  parties  engaged  therein.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  Government  can- 
not regard  him  otherwise  than  as  the 
head  of  an  armed  force,  hostile  to  its 
authority  and  acting  in  concert  with  its 
avowed  enemies.  For  this  reason,  su- 
perseding his  official  authority  and  that 
of  the  Commissioners  of  Police,  I  have 
arrested  and  do  now  detain  him  in  cus- 
tody of  the  United  States  ;  and  in  further 
pursuance  of  my  instructions,  I  have  ap- 
pointed for  the  time  being  Colonel  Kenly 
of  the  1st  Eegiment  of  Maryland  Volun- 
teers, Provost  Marshal,  in  and  for  the 
City  of  Baltimore,  '  to  superintend  and 
cause  to  be  executed  the  Police  laws 
provided  by  the  Legislature  of  Mary- 
land,' with  the  aid  and  assistance  of  the 
subordinate  officers  of  the  Police  Depart- 
ment. And  he  will  be  respected  ac- 
cordingly. Whenever  a  loyal  citizen 
shall  be  otherwise  named  for  the  per- 
formance of  this  duty,  who  will  execute 
these  laws  impartially  and  in  good  faith 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
the  military  force  of  this  department  will 
render  tc  him  that  instant  and  willing 
obedience  which  is  due  from  every  good 
citizen  to  his  Government." 


A  second  proclamation  of  General 
Banks,  on  the  1st  of  July,  exhibits  the 
efforts  of  the  superseded  members  of  the 
old  Board  to  defeat  his  new  regulations, 
and  the  effective  measures  which  he  was 
instructed  by  the  Government  to  take  for 
the  safety  of  the  State.  "In  pursuance." 
says  he,  "  of  orders  issued  from  the  head- 
quarters of  the  army  at  Washington  for 
the  preservation  of  the  public  peace  in 
this  department,  I  have  arrested,  and 
now  detain  in  the  custody  of  the  United 
States,  the  late  members  of  the  Board  of 
Police,  Messrs.  Charles  Howard,  William 
Getchell,  John  Hincks,  and  John  W. 
Davis.  The  incidents  of  the  past  week 
have  afforded  justification  of  this  order. 
The  headquarters  under  the  charge  of 
the  Board,  when  abandoned  by  their  offi- 
cers, resembled  in  some  respects  a  con- 
cealed arsenal.  After  a  public  recogni- 
tion and  protest  against  the  suspension 
of  their  functions,  they  continued  their 
sessions  daily.  Upon  a  forced  and  un- 
warrantable interpretation  of  my  procla- 
mation of  the  28th  ult.,  they  declared 
that  the  police  law  was  suspended,  and 
that  the  police  officers  and  men  were  put 
off  duty  for  the  present,  intending  to 
leave  the  city  without  any  police  protec- 
tion whatever.  They  refused  to  recog- 
nize the  officers  and  men  necessarily  se- 
lected by  the  Provost  Marshal  for  its 
protection,  and  hold  subject  to  their  or- 
ders, now  and  hereafter,  the  old  police 
force,  a  large  body  of  armed  men  for 
some  purpose  not  known  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  inconsistent  with  its  peace  and 
security.  To  anticipate  any  intentions  or 
orders  on  their  part,  I  have  placed  tem- 
porarily a  portion  of  the  force  under  my 
command  within  the  city.  I  disclaim,  on 
the  part  of  the  Government  I  represent, 
all  desire,  intention  and  purpose  to  inter- 


REBEL   CALCULATIONS. 


249 


turned  to  Virginia  I  unhesitatingly  re- 
ported that  Maryland  is  with  the  South. 
I  staked  my  word  upon  it  as  a  man  of 
principle  and  a  man  of  truth.  The  giant 
arm  of  the  oppressor  has  been  too  strong 
for  the  time  being,  but  the  spirit  is  still 
alive,  unsubdued  and  unrepressed." 

Comparing  the  defenders  of  the  Union 
with  its  assailants,  he  said,  "They  are 
mercenaries  fighting  for  pay  ;  you  are 
men  fighting  for  your  homes  and  rights. 
All  you  require  is  subsistence.  '  G-ive 
us,'  you  say,  '  the  means  of  living,  the 
arms  to  fight  with,  and  show  us  the.  ene- 
my.' .It  may  be,  that  in  the  providences 
of  war,  not  one  among  all  those  who  are 
before  me  will  return.  You  have  come 
here,  if  necessary,  to  lay  your  lives  upon 
the  altar  of  your  country,  and  I  feel  as- 
sured that  every  man  will  do  his  duty. 
I  will  tell  you  an  incident  connected 
with  the  Alabama  troops.  They  were 
attended  by  a  minister  of  the  gospel, 
who  was  a  guest  at  my  house.  He  told 
me  that  he  had  with  him  a  purse  of  gold, 
which  had  been  given  to  him  by  the  pa- 
rents of  two  young  men  in  the  ranks, 
with  the  injunction  that  it  should  be  sa- 
credly preserved  during  the  war,  unless 
his  sons  should  fall  upon  the  field  of  bat- 
tle. Then,  said  the  father,  '  Give  them 
a  Christian  burial.'  There  was  a  patriot 
father,  who  had  devoted  his  sons  to  the 
service  of  his  country,  and  that  man  does 
not  stand  alone." 

In  conclusion  he  thus  alluded  to  the 
new  star  which  he  already  saw  gracing 
the  banner  of  the  rebel  Confederacy. 
"  I  will  not  detain  you  longer,  except  to 
discharge  the  grateful  duty  which  re- 
mains, of  presenting  to  you  in  behalf  of 
the  ladies  of  Baltimore  this  beautiful 
banner..  There  it  is  unfurled  before  you 
for  the  first  time.  There  are  emblazoned 
32 


the  fifteen  stars  of  the  Southern  States, 
looking  prospectively  to  the  day  when 
they  will  all  be  with  us !  The  star  of 
Maryland  is  among  them,  and  the  women 
of  your  State  have  put  it  there,  confiding 
it  to  your  safe  keeping.  Look  upon  it 
as  a  sacred  trust.  In  passing  through 
the  storm  of  battle,  it  may  be  tattered 
and  soiled,  but  I  believe  I  can  say  that 
you  will  bring  it  back  without  a  spot  of 
dishonor  upon  it.  But  you  are  not  only 
to  return  that  flag  here — you  are  to  take 
it  back  to  Baltimore.  It  came  here  in 
the  hands  of  the  fair  lady  who  stands  by 
my  side,  who  brought  it  through  the 
camp  of  the  enemy,  with  a  woman's  for- 
titude, courage,  and  devotion  to  our 
cause  ;  and  you  are  to  take  it  back  to 
Baltimore,  unfurl  it  in  your  streets,  and 
challenge  the  applause  of  your  citizens." 
Nor  were  these  expectations,  from  the 
disloyal  faction  in  Maryland,  confined  to 
Senator  Mason  and  the  oratorical  dis- 
play at  a  moment  of  popular  excitement. 
If  we  may  trust  a  Richmond  correspond- 
ent of  the  Charleston  Courier,  the  belief 
was  confidently  entertained  at  the  rebel 
capital  on  the  4th  of  July,  the  date  of  his 
letter,  that  a  civil  conflict  at  Baltimore 
was  imminent,  in  cooperation  with  the 
advancing  army  of  General  Johnston, 
and  that  the  result  would  undoubtedly  be 
the  separation  of  Maryland  from  the 
Union.  "Should  a  fight  result,"  said 
this  writer,  "we  shall  hear  of  scenes 
that  only  find  a  parallel  in  the  bloody 
records  of  the  French  Revolution,  when 
the  people  fought  and  conquered  the 
trained  soldiers  of  their  king  behind  bar- 
ricades. The  blow  may  be  precipitated 
in  less  than  a  week.  Everything  depends 
upon  the  success  and  movements  of  Gen- 
eral Johnston.  If  he  has  orders  from  the 
President  (Davis)  to  march  into  Marv 


250 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


land  and  towards  Baltimore,  the  game 
commences  at  once.  Lincoln  will  find 
himself  encompassed  by  forces  in  front 
and  rear.  Cut  off  from  the  North  and 
West,  Washington  will  be  destroyed, 
and  the  footsteps  of  the  retreating  army, 
though  tracked  in  blood  across  the  soil 
of  Maryland — as  they  assuredly  will  be 
in  such  an  event — may  possibly  pave 
the  way  to  an  honorable  peace."*  It  was 
to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  scenes  like 
these  that  the  military  authority  of  the 
Government  was  interposed  at  Baltimore, 
that  the  city  was  occupied  by  troops,  the 
officials  imprisoned,  and  a  quantity  of  se- 
creted arms  taken  possession  of.  On  the 
10th  of  July,  the  peace  of  the  city  hav- 
ing been  secured,  Colonel  John  R.  Kenly 
was  relieved  of  the  duties  of  Provost 
Marshal,  and  George  R.  Dodge,  a  loyal 
citizen,  appointed  Chief  of  Police,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  troops  which  had  been 
stationed  in  the  centre  of  the  city  resum- 
ed their  former  position  in  the  suburbs. 
Colonel  Kenly  returned  to  the  charge  of 
his  1st  Eegiment  of  faithful  Marylanders, 
at  whose  head  we  shall  hereafter  find  him 
"in  the  ranks  of  death,"  nobly  resisting 
to  the  last  one  of  the  most  ruthless  at- 
tacks of  the  enemy.  He  was  a  lawyer 
by  profession,  and  had  served  with  cred- 
it as  an  officer  in  the  Maryland  regiment 
through  the  Mexican  war. 

Among  the  incidents  of  this  period 
about  Baltimore,  a  piratical  adventure  of 
a  ludicrous  character  exhibits  the  desper- 
ate straits  to  which  the  rebels  in  Mary- 
land were  driven  to  accomplish  their 
treasonable  intentions.  There  was  a 
steamer  named  the  St.  Nicholas,  one  of 


•  See  the  debate  in  Congress  July  18,  1861,  between 
Messrs.  May  and  Thomas,  Representatives  from  Maryland, 
in  which  the  arrest  of  the  Police  Commissioners  and  the 
policy  of  General  Banks  were  discussed. 


the  vessels  plying  the  waters  of  the  Ches- 
apeake, from  Baltimore  to  the  extremity 
of  the  State  on  the  Potomac,  which  it 
was  contrived  should  be  seized  and  hand- 
ed over  to  the  service  of  the  Virginians. 
The  plan  was  thus  carried  out :  On  the 
28th  of  June,  the  steamer  left  Baltimore 
on  her  usual  trip  to  Point  Lookout,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Potomac,  with  about 
forty-five  passengers,  including  several 
ladies  and  a  party  of  some  twenty-five 
persons,  apparently  mechanics,  with  their 
carpenter's,  blacksmith's  and  other  tools, 
One  of  the  passengers  was  a  ''French 
lady,"  amply  enveloped  in  crinoline,  who," 
professing  herself  indisposed,  was,  on 
coming  aboard,  immediately  shown  to 
her  state-room.  Everything  went  on  sat- 
isfactorily, as  the  boat  made  her  custom- 
ary landings,  till  her  arrival  the  next 
morning  near  Point  Lookout,  when  the 
officers  on  deck  were  confronted  by  the 
appearance  of  the  French  lady,  her  fe- 
male garb  being  laid  aside,  in  the  new  and 
undoubted  character  of  a  stalwart  young 
man.  There  was  no  mistaking  the  situa- 
tion, as  the  resolute  Captain  Thomas,  the 
son  of  a  prominent  citizen  of  St.  Mary's 
County  —  for  such  the  lady  proved  to 
be  —  surrounded  by  his  band  of  con- 
spirators —  the  pretended  mechanics  — 
stepped  up  to  Captain  Kirwan,  and 
politely  imformed  him  that  he  intended 
to  take  command  of  his  vessel.  Resist- 
ance under  the  circumstances  was  out  of 
the  question  and  the  captain  submitted. 
The  boat  was  then  steered  for  Cone 
Point  on  the  Virginia  shore  and  received 
on  board  a  hundred  and  fifty  armed  men, 
who  were  there  by  concert.  The  pas- 
sengers were  landed,  Captain  Kirwan 
and  his  crew  were  retained  as  prisoners 
and  the  armed  vessel  went  on  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Eappahannock,  where  cap- 


"THE  FRENCH   LADY." 


251 


ture  was  made  of  three  brigs,  respective- 
ly laden  with  coffee,  ice  and  coal,  a  highly 
acceptable  prize  under  the  privations  of 
the  blockade  to  the  people  of  Fredericks- 
burg,  whither  the  whole  was  transported. 
The  winners,  of  course,  laughed  as  the 
vessels  were  sold  and  the  prize  money 
distributed,  and  the  purchasers  munched 
the  longed-for  ice  in  their  cobblers  and 
scented  the  unaccustomed  flavor  of  the 
3offee.  Indeed  the  joke  was  thought  so 
good  a  one  that  the  people  of  Fredericks- 
burg  gave  a  dinner  to  the  captors,  when, 
at  a  proper  moment  of  the  festivities,  the 
exhilaration  of  the  occasion  was  immense- 
ly heightened  by  the  appearance  of  Cap- 
tain Thomas,  in  unbounded  female  attire, 
in  his  original  part  of  "The  French 
Lady."  In  the  absence  of  more  active 
proceedings  of  the  war,  the  newspapers  on 
both  sides,  of  course,  liberally  entertained 
their  readers  with  the  incident.  Present- 
ly, however,  the  tables  were  turned.  The 
nine  days'  wonder  over  this  valorous 
affair  had  barely  expired  when  news 
came  of  the  accidental  capture  of  the  re- 
doubtable Captain  Thomas,  and  his  safe 
delivery  to  the  guardianship  of  Fort 
McHenry.  On  the  8th  of  July,  officers 
Carmichael  and  Horner  of  the  Baltimore 
Police  were  on  a  visit  down  the  Chesa- 
peake, at  Fair  Haven,  to  arrest  an  of- 
fending barber,  charged  with  participa- 
tion in  the  street  riot  and  assault  on  the 
Massachusetts  soldiers.  They  secured  the 
culprit  and  took  the  up  river  boat,  the 
Mary  Washington,  on  their  return.  It 
so  happened  that  on  board  the  steamer 
were  the  released  officers  of  the  St. 
Nicholas  and  several  of  their  captors, 
including  Captain  Thomas,  the  "  French 


lady,"  who  was  supposed  to  be  bent  on 
some  repetition  of  his  previous  adven- 
ture. Lieutenant  Carmichael  of  the  po- 
lice, becoming  aware  of  the  presence  of 
these  distinguished  personages,  directed 
Captain  Mason  L.  "Weems  to  land  his 
passengers  at  Fort  McHenry.  Captain 
Thomas  loudly  questioned  the  propriety 
of  the  order,  when  he  was  informed  that 
it  was  by  authority  from  the  Provost- 
Marshal  of  Baltimore.  Upon  this  he 
drew  his  pistol,  called  his  comrades 
around  him,  and  threatened  to  throw  the 
officers  overboard.  The  latter  drew 
their  revolvers  and  invited  them  to  try 
it.  The  ladies  screamed,  the  male 
passengers  supported  the  police,  and 
order  was  maintained  till  the  arrival  at 
McHenry,  when  the  lieutenant  informed 
General  Banks  of  the  capture.  A  com- 
pany of  infantry  was  sent  on  board  and 
arrested  the  rebel  party,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  main  actor,  Thomas,  who  had 
disappeared.  At  length,  still  true  to  the 
millinery  associations  of  the  French  lady, 
he  was  found  hidden  away  in  the  drawer 
of  a  bureau  in  the  ladies'  cabin,  when  he 
was  unpacked  and,  without  further  re- 
sistance, lodged  a  prisoner  in  the  Fort. 
An  explanation  of  his  attempted  return 
to  Baltimore  was  afforded  in  certain 
mysterious  approaches  which  had  been 
made  to  another  steamer  of  the  Bay, 
which  it  was  supposed  it  might  have 
been  his  purpose  to  "  convey"  somewhat 
after  the  fashion  of  the  St.  Nicholas. 

On  the  19th  July,  General  Banks  suc- 
ceeded General  Patterson  in  his  command 
on  the  Potomac,  and  the  vacated  De- 
partment of  Annapolis  was  conferred  on 
General  Dix. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


GENERAL    BUTLER    AT    FORTRESS    MONROE. 


ON  the  22d  of  May,  two  days  before 
the  advance  across  the  Potomac,  General 
Butler  entered  upon  his  command  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  and  immediately  began 
preparations  forjthe  occupation  of  points 
of  military  importance  in  the  vicinity 
upon  the  mainland.  Up  to  that  time  the 
Government  authority  had  been  confined 
to  the  narrow  peninsula,  mostly  occupied 
by  the  fort  itself,  an  ample  area,  however, 
for  the  small  force  gathered  at  the  spot. 
With  barely  three  hundred  regulars, 
Colonel  Justin  Dimick  of  the  1st  Artil- 
lery, the  .  commander  of  the  post,  had  at 
the  outset  of  the  rebellion  held  the  work 
free  from  assault  of  the  surrounding  con- 
spirators, not  indeed  without  certain  en- 
vious glances  of  Governor  Letcher  and 
his  associates.  The  Governor  who,  doubt- 
less, was  compelled  to  listen  to  many 
complaints  of  his  neglect  in  this  matter, 
afterward  publicly  expressed  his  regret 
that  Fortress  Monroe  was  not  in  his  pos- 
session, and  that  it  had  not  been  as  easily 
captured  as  the  Navy  Yard  at  Norfolk  and 
the  arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry.  It  would 
certainly  have  completed  the  trio  very 
handsomely,  and  been  the  most  important 
acquisition  of  the  three.  "As  far  back 
as  the  8th  of  January  last,"  said  Gover- 
nor Letcher  in  his  message  to  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Delegates  of  Yirginia,  at 
the  close  of  the  year,  "  I  consulted  with 
a  gentleman,  whose  position  enabled  him 
to  know  the  strength  of  that  fortress,  and 
whose  experience  in  military  matters  en- 


abled him  to  form  an  opinion  as  to  the 
number  of  men  that  would  be  required  to 
capture  it.  He  represented  it  to  be  one  of 
the  strongest  fortifications  in  the  world, 
and  expressed  his  doubts  whether  it  could 
be  taken,  unless  assailed  by  water  as  well 
as  by  land,  and  simultaneously.  He  stated, 
emphatically  and  distinctly,  that  with  the 
force  then  in  the  fortress,  it  would  be 
useless  to  attempt  its  capture  without  a 
large  force,  thoroughly  equipped  and  well 
appointed.  At  no  time  previous  to  the 
secession  of  Yirginia,  had  we  a  military 
organization  sufficient  to  justify  an  attempt 
to  take  it,  and  events  since  that  occur- 
rence demonstrate  very  clearly  that  with 
our  military  organization  since,  and  now 
existing,  it  has  not  been  deemed  prudent 
to  make  the  attempt."* 

So  it  was  owing  to  no  good  will  on  the 
part  of  Governor  Letcher  that  the  valu- 
able possession  of  Fortress  Monroe  was 
delivered  in  safety  by  President  Buchanan 
to  the  keeping  of  his  successor.  It  owed 
that  immunity  from  the  withering  touch 
of  treason  to  the  strength  of  its  defences 
and  the  equally  unapproachable  loyal 
officers  who  had  it  in  charge.  "  Three 
hundred  men  to  guard  a  mile  and  a  half 
of  ramparts  !"  wrote  Theodore  Winthrop 
on  his  arrival  shortly  after  General  But- 
ler. "  Three  hundred  to  protect  some 
sixty-five  broad  acres  within  the  walls. 
But  the  place  was  a  Thermopylae,  and 
there  was  a  fine  old  Leonidas  at  the  head 

*  Message  of  Governor  Letcher,  Dec.  2,  1861. 


FORTRESS  MONROE. 


253 


of  its  three  hundred.  He  was  enough 
to  make  Spartans  of  them.  Colonel 
Dimick  was  the  man, — a  quiet,  modest, 
shrewd,  faithful,  Christian  gentleman ; 
and  he  held  all  Virginia  at  bay.  The 
traitors  knew,  that,  so  long  as  the  Colo- 
nel was  here,  these  black  muzzles  with 
their  white  tompions,  like  a  black  eye 
with  a  white  pupil,  meant  mischief.  To 
him  and  his  guns,  flanking  the  approaches 
and  ready  to  pile  the  moat  full  of  seced- 
ers,  the  country  owes  the  safety  of  For- 
tress Monroe." 

As  the  key  to  the  waters  of  Virginia 
and  Maryland ;  the  great  Chesapeake 
Bay  with  its  numerous  affluents  from  the 
Susquehannah  to  Hampton  Roads  ;  the 
approaches  to  the  national  Capital,  to 
Baltimore,  to  Fredericksburg,  Yorktown, 
Richmond  and  Norfolk  by  the  vast  series 
of  river  communication  of  the  Potomac, 
the  Patapsco,  the  Rappahannock,  the 
York,  the  James  and  the  Elizabeth,  the 
fortress  was  of  inestimable  advantage. 
Its  possession  immediately  controlled  a 
great  part  of  the  Confederate  territory, 
secured  the  blockade  of  some  of  its  most 
important  products,  and  as  a  base  of 
operations  might  at  any  time  be  turned 
to  the  most  profitable  account  in  the  sup- 
pression of  the  rebellion.  As  a  defensive 
work  it  was  second  to  none  in  the  coun- 
try. Commenced  in  1819,  under  the 
direction  of  the  eminent  French  engineer, 
G-eneral  Bernard,  it  had  been  an  object 
of  attention  with  successive  administra- 
tions, at  a  cost  to  the  country  of  nearly 
$2,500,000.  The  walls,  thirty-five  feet 
in  height,  montly  built  of  granite,  case- 
mated  below,  were  surmounted  on  the 
ramparts  by  a  formidable  series  of  heavy 
ordnance.  The  armament  numbered 
nearly  four  hundred  guns  of  all  descrip- 
tions, columbiads,  mortars,  42-pounders, 


32's,  and  lower  denominations.  Outside 
of  the  walls  were  the  work-shoje,  found- 
ery  and  machine-shops,  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  shot  and  shell ;  the  Hygeia 
Hotel,  kept  by  permission  of  the  Govern- 
ment, for  the  convenience  of  summer 
visitors  to  Old  Point  Comfort ;  and  on  the 
beach  was  mounted  the  famous  experi- 
mental 15 -inch  columbiad  the  Constitu- 
tion, sometimes  called  after  the  late  Sec- 
retary of  War,  the  Floyd.  Within  the 
fortress,  the  officers  were  lodged  in  the 
casemates  and  separate  residences,  which, 
with  their  gardens  and  foliage  and  the 
finely  shaded  parade  ground  of  twenty- 
five  acres,  with  a  neat  Episcopal  chapel, 
gave  the  interior  the  appearance  of  a 
rural  village.  The  water  battery,  the 
most  substantial  part  of  the  work,  facing 
the  sea,  mounted  the  heaviest  guns  in  its 
forty-two  embrasures.  The  inner  side 
was  less  protected,  but  a  deep  and  wide 
moat,  communicating  with  the  sea,  sur- 
rounding the  work  on  all  sides,  gave 
security  to  the  whole.  Even  toward  the 
mainland,  however,  the  fort  was  nearly 
isolated  by  the  waters  of  the  bay,  a  nar- 
row dyke  or  causeway,  about  half  a  mile 
in  length,  terminating  in  a  wooden  bridge 
of  some  three  hundred  feet,  being  the 
only  communication  by  land  with  the 
neighboring  region.  Beyond  the  bridge 
the  country  extended  mostly  in  a  dead 
level,  broken  at  a  distance  of  about  two 
miles  to  the  northwest  by  an  inlet  of  the 
bay,  where  the  traveller  from  the  fort, 
crossing  a  second  bridge,  entered  the 
village  of  Hampton. 

The  first  reinforcement  of  Fortress 
Monroe,  when  it  was  threatened  by  the 
rebellion,  was  immediately  after  the  af- 
fair at  Sumter,  when  the  garrison  was 
strengthened  by  the  3d  and  4th  Massa- 
chusetts Regiments,  a  portion  of  whom, 


254 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


it  will  be  remembered,  were  immediately 
on  their  arrival  embarked  with  Captain 
Paulding  in  his  hurried  expedition  to 
save  the  public  property  at  the  Gosport 
Navy  Yard.  It  was  not  till  three  weeks 
after  this  event,  on  the  13th  of  May,  that 
the  pickets  of  the  rebel  guard,  who 
flaunted  their  Confederate  flag  within 
sight  of  the  fortress,  were  driven  from 
the  bridge  by  Colonel  Dimick,  and  the 
Government  authority  thus  established 
over  the  whole  of  its  property  at  the 
Point.  The  same  day  Colonel  Phelps'  1st 
Vermont  Regiment  was  added  to  the  force, 
and  within  the  next  fortnight  the  arrival 
of  other  troops,  including  Colonel  Dur- 
yee's  Advance  Guard,  5th  Regiment  New 
York  Volunteers,  gave  General  Butler, 
upon  entering  on  his  new  department  of 
Virginia,  a  body  of  about  6,000  men,  to 
carry  out  a  system  cf  operations  on  the 
mainland,  which,  though  they  were  at- 
tended with  one  memorable  repulse,  se- 
cured most  important  advantages  for  the 
ultimate  prosecution  of  the  war. 

On  the  23d  of  May,  the  day  after 
his  arrival,  General  Butler  ordered  a 
reconnoissance  of  the  neighboring  coun- 
try by  Colonel  Phelps,  who  advanced 
towards  Hampton,  when  an  attempt  was 
made  by  the  rebels  to  burn  the  bridge 
leading  to  the  village.  The  Vermonters, 
however,  were  too  quick  for  them.  They 
arrested  the  conflagration,  saved  the 
bridge,  and  passed  over  it  into  the  town, 
where  they  met  with  no  further  serious 
opposition.  A  place  for  an  encampment 
was  marked  out,  between  the  fort  and 
the  village,  on  the  Segar  farm,  and  the 
next  day  Camp  Hamilton  was  regularly 
established  there,  occupied  by  Colonel 
Carr's  Troy,  New  York,  and  Colonel 
Phelps'  Vermont  regiments.  On  the 
27th,  Colonel  Phelps  was  sent  with  a  de- 


tachment of  several  of  the  regiments  to 
occupy  Newport  News,  the  promontory 
some  twelve  miles  distant,  commanding 
the  entrance  to  James  River.  The  place 
was  successfully  taken  possession  of,  en- 
trenchments were  thrown  up,  and  a 
permanent  occupation  effected.  Colonel 
Phelps,  the  energetic  officer  placed  in 
charge  of  the  expedition,  and  who  for 
some  months  held  command  of  the  camp, 
was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  who  had 
long  served  with  distinction  in  the  army, 
and  having  resigned  his  position  about 
two  years  before,  was  living  at  Brattle- 
boro,  when  the  call  for  volunteers  again 
rammoned  him  to  the  field.  He  was 
early  appointed  a  Brigadier  -  General. 
We  shall  find  him  hereafter  again  in  in- 
timate military  relations  with  General 
Butler,  as  second  in  command  in  the  ope- 
rations leading  to  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans. 

To  Colonel  Duryee  was  assigned  the 
command,  as  Acting  Brigadier-General, 
of  the  camp  before  Hampton.  This  offi- 
cer, a  native  of  New  York,  had  shown 
an  early  fondness  for  military  life,  having 
risen  through  the  various  grades  of  the 
militia  service  of  the  State  to  the  Colo- 
nelcy of  the  7th  Regiment,  which  he  held 
for  ten  years.  He  was  in  command  the 
night  of  the  Astor  Place  Riots  in  New 
York,  and  had,  with  a  portion  of  the  re- 
giment, escorted  the  remains  of  President 
Monroe  to  Richmond.  Colonel  Duryee 
remained  in  command  of  Camp  Hamilton 
till  the  arrival  of  Brigadier  -  General 
Pierce,  when  he  returned  to  his  regiment. 
We  shall  meet  with  him  presently  in  ac- 
tion at  Great  Bethel.  Shortly  after  that 
event  his  regiment  was  removed  to 
Washington.  On  the  31st  of  August  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier- 
General,  and  placed  in  command  of  a 


THE  "CONTRABANDS." 


255 


reserve  corps  in  the  vicinity  of  Balti- 
more. 

Colonel  Duryee,  on  taking  command 
of  Camp  Hamilton,  issued  a  proclamation 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Hampton  and  its  vi- 
cinity, marked  by  the  moderate,  earnest 
tone  of  friendly  expostulation  which  the 
army  had  adopted  in  proceedings  of  this 
kind  as  its  settled  policy.  "Having 
been  placed,"  said  he,  "by  order  of  Ma- 
jor-General  Butler,  in  command  of  the 
troops  in  this  vicinity,  outside  of  the  walls 
of  Fortress  Monroe  :  I  hereby  notify  all, 
that  their  rights  of  person  and  property 
will  be  entirely  respected  ;  that  their  co- 
operation in  maintaining  law  and  order  is 
expected,  both  by  reporting  every  viola- 
tion of  them,  when  committed  by  any 
one  attached  to  the  camp,  and  by  pre- 
serving local  order  and  restraining  such 
of  their  fellow-citizens  as  may  entertain 
perverted  intentions.  You  can  rely  that 
all  offences  against  you  will  be  severely 
punished  ;  that  no  effort  will  be  spared 
to  detect  the  guilty,  and  that  you,  as  a 
community,  will  also  be  held  responsible 
for  every  act  committed  by  any  one  of 
your  numbers,  where  the  particular  of- 
fender is  not  surrendered.  Be  assured 
that  we  are  here  in  no  war  against  you, 
your  liberty,  your  property,  or  even 
your  local  customs  ;  but  to  keep  on  high 
that  flag  of  which  your  own  great  son 
was  the  bearer  ;  to  sustain  those  institu- 
tions and  those  laws  made  by  our  ances- 
tors and  defended  by  their  common  blood. 
Remember  all  these  things,  and  if  there 
be  those  among  you  who,  maddened  by 
party  feeling,  misled  by  wilful  falsehoods, 
or  a  mistaken  sense  of  duty,  have  thought 
to  obliterate  the  national  existence,  let 
them  at  least  pause  till  they  learn  the 
true  value  of  what  they  have  imperilled, 
and  the  nature  of  that  into  which  they 


are  asked  to  plunge.  We  have  all  confi- 
dence that,  in  Yirginians  in  arms  against 
us,  we  have  honorable  foes,  \\hom  we 
hope  yet  to  make  our  friends." 

These  military  demonstrations  on  the 
part  of  General  Butler,  were  attended 
with  a  circumstance  which  considerably 
taxed  his  ingenuity,  fertile  as  it  was  in 
expedients.  The  advance  upon  Hamp- 
ton, while  it  repelled  the  white  popula- 
tion brought  back  into  the  camp  a  con- 
siderable number  of  negroes,  whose  ar- 
rival occasioned  no  little  perplexity. 
How  should  they  be  treated  ?  Many 
men  of  General  Butler's  political  antece- 
dents would  have  been  content  to  an- 
swer the  question  by  sending  them  back 
to  their  masters.  But  our  Boston  mili- 
tary lawyer  was  of  too  astute  and  prac- 
tical a  turn  for  that.  He  saw  that  in 
the  hands  of  their  owners  those  nonde- 
script personages,  whether  regarded  as 
human  beings  or  chattels,  were  very  im- 
portant aids  in  carrying  on  the  war,  and 
very  dangerous  instruments  to  be  em- 
ployed against  the  advancing  armies  of 
the  Union.  He  had,  indeed,  a  hint  on  the 
subject  in  the  shots  fired  at  his  transports 
from  the  batteries  at  Sewell's  Point,  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Roads,  when 
they  were  making  their  way  from  the 
Fortress  to  Newport  News.  The  shots 
were  ineffectual,  indeed,  but  the  batteries 
were  there  with  evil  intent,  and  it  was 
known  to  General  Butler  that  they  were 
largely  indebted  for  their  construction  to 
slave  labor.  This  unpleasant  reflection, 
disheartening  to  his  schemes  of  military 
progress,  brought  his  mind  to  a  speedy 
conclusion.  He  resolved  to  consider  the 
slave  property  contraband  of  war,  an  in- 
genious, if  not  conclusive,  solution  of  the 
difficulty. 

The  first  application  of  the  new  doc- 


256 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


trine  was  on  the  appearance  at  the 
Fort  of  three  colored  fugitives  seeking 
protection,  the  property  of  Colonel  Mai- 
lory,  a  lawyer  of  Hampton,  who  had 
taken  command  in  the  rebel  service. 
They  were  promptly  demanded  by  Major 
Gary,  another  rebel  officer,  late  principal 
of  an  academy  in  Hampton,  a  delegate 
to  the  Charleston  Convention,  and  a  se- 
ceder  with  General  Butler  from  the  Con- 
vention at  Baltimore,  who  came  as  the 
representative  of  Colonel  Mallory,  bear- 
ing a  flag  of  truce,  and  rather  illogically 
asked  the  surrender  of  the  negroes  under 
the  Fugitive  Slave  law.  To  this  General 
Butler  replied  that  he  considered  them 
"contraband  of  war,"  adding,  however, 
in  reference  to  the  claim  under  the  Con- 
stitution, that  it  could  hardly  be  urged 
by  a  member  of  a  foreign  State,  which 
Virginia  pretended  to  be  ;  but  that  if  their 
owner  would  report  himself  at  the  Fort- 
ress and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  United  States  he  should  have  them. 
The  General  then  took  an  early  oppor- 
tunity to  bring  his  view  of  the  matter  to 
Jie  notice  of  the  authorities  at  Washing- 
ton. 

"The  question  in  regard  to  slave  pro- 
perty," he  wrote  to  General  Scott,  the 
Commander-in-Chief,  on  the  27th  May, 
four  days  after  assuming  the  command  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  "is  becoming  one  of 
very  serious  magnitude.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  Virginia  are  using  their  negroes 
in  the  batteries,  and  are  preparing  to 
send  the  women  and  children  South. 
The  escapes  from  them  are  very  numer- 
ous, and  a  squad  has  come  in  this  morn- 
ing to  my  pickets,  bringing  their  women 
and  children.  Of  course  these  can- 
not be  dealt  with  upon  the  theory  on 
which  I  designed  to  treat  the  services  of 
able-bodied  men  and  women  who  might 


come  within  my  lines.  I  am  in  the  ut- 
most doubt  what  to  do  with  this  species 
of  property.  Up  to  this  time  I  have  had 
come  within  my  lines  men  and  women 
with  their  children,  in  entire  families, 
each  family  belonging  to  the  same  owner. 
I  have  therefore  determined  to  employ, 
as  I  can  do  very  profitably,  the  able-bod- 
ied persons  in  the  party,  issuing  proper 
food  for  the  support  of  all,  and  charging 
against  their  services  the  expense  of  care 
and  sustenance  of  the  non-laborers,  keep- 
ing a  strict  and  accurate  account,  as  well 
of  the  services  as  the  expenditures,  hav- 
ing the  worth  of  the  services  and  the  cost 
of  the  expenditure  determined  by  a  board  . 
of  survey,  hereafter  to  be  detailed.  I 
know  of  no  other  manner  in  which  to  dis- 
pose of  this  subject  and  the  questions 
connected  herewith.  As  a  matter  of 
property  to  the  insurgents,  it  will  be  of 
very  great  moment — the  number  that  I 
now  have  amounting,  as  I  am  informed, 
to  what  in  good  times  would  be  of  the 
value  of  $60,000.  Twelve  of  these  ne- 
groes, I  am  informed,  have  escaped  from 
the  erection  of  the  batteries  on  Sewell's 
Point,  which  this  morning  fired  upon  my 
expedition  as  it  passed  by  out  of  range. 
As  a  means  of  offence,  therefore,  in  the 
enemy's  hands,  these  negroes,  when  able- 
bodied,  are  of  the  last  importance.  With- 
out them  the  batteries  could  not  have 
been  erected,  at  least  for  many  weeks. 
As  a  military  question,  it  would  seem  to 
be  a  measure  of  necessity  to  deprive 
their  masters  of  their  services.  How  can 
this  be  done  ?  As  a  political  question 
and  a  question  of  humanity,  can  I  receive 
the  services  of  a  father  and  a  mother, 
and  not  take  the  children  ?  Of  the  hu- 
manitarian aspect  there  is  no  doubt ; 
of  the  political  one,  I  have  no  right  to 
judge.  I  therefore  submit  all  this  to 


NAYAL  RECONNOISSANCES. 


257 


your  better  judgment.  As  these  ques- 
tions have  a  political  aspect,  I  have  ven- 
tured, and  I  trust  I  am  not  wrong  in  so 
doing,  to  duplicate  the  parts  of  my  des- 
patch relating  to  this  subject,  and  forward 
them  to  the  Secretary  of  War." 

The  subject,  doubtless,  was  considered 
with  care,  according  to  the  importance 
of  the  precedent  about  to  be  established. 
Some  days  were  taken  for  reflection,  and 
on  the  30th  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary 
of  War,  replied  as  follows,  admitting  the 
propriety  of  the  course  pursued  by  Gen- 
eral Butler,  forbidding  in  certain  cases 
the  return  of  the  fugitives,  but  avoiding 
any  positive  statement  as  to  their  future 
position: — "Your  action  in  respect  to 
the  negroes  who  came  within  your  lines, 
from  the  service  of  the  rebels,  is  approv- 
ed. The  department  is  sensible  of  the 
embarrassments  which  must  surround  offi- 
cers conducting  military  operations  in  a 
Stale  by  the  laws  of  which  slavery  is 
sanctioned.  The  Government  cannot  re- 
cognize the  rejection  by  any  State  of  its 
Federal  obligation,  resting  upon  itself, 
among  these  Federal  obligations.  How- 
ever, no  one  can  be  more  important  than 
that  of  suppressing  and  dispersing  any 
combination  of  the  former  for  the  pur- 
pose of  overthrowing  its  whole  constitu- 
tional authority.  While,  therefore,  you 
will  permit  no  interference,  by  persons 
under  your  command,  with  the  relations 
of  persons  held  to  service  under  the  laws 
of  any  State,  you  will,  on  the  other  hand, 
so  long  as  any  State  within  which  your 
military  operations  are  conducted,  remain 
under  the  control  of  such  armed  combi- 
nations, refrain  from  surrendering  to  al- 
leged masters  any  persons  who  come 
within  your  lines.  You  will  employ  such 
persons  in  the  services  to  which  they 
will  be  best  adapted,  keeping  an  account 
33 


of  the  labor  by  them  performed,  of  the  ' 
value   of  it,  and  the  expense  of  their 
maintenance.     The  question  of  their  final 
disposition  will  be  reserved  for  fiiture 
determination." 

On  the  5th  of- June,  Captain  John 
Faunce,  in  command  of  the  United  States 
steamer  Harriet  Lane,  in  obedience  to 
orders  from  General  Butler,  made  a 
spirited  reconnoissance  of  Pig  Point,  a 
promontory  south  of  Newport  News, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Roads,  at 
the  entrance  to  James  River.  Ap- 
proaching the  rebel  battery,  which  he 
observed  on  the  shore,  he  opened  fire  at 
a  distance  of  about  1,800  yards,  as  near 
as  the  flats  would  allow,  throwing  thirty 
rounds  of  shot  and  shell,  some  of  which 
struck  within  the  enemy's  works,  but 
most  of  which  fell  short.  The  rebel  bat- 
tery was  more  effective,  the  vessel  being 
twice  hit,  and  five  of  her  men  were 
wounded.  The  engagement  began  at 
half-past  8  in  the  forenoon,  and  lasted 
45  minutes,  when  the  Harriet  Lane,  hav- 
ing succeeded  in  her  purpose  of  testing 
the  strength  of  the  enemy's  position, 
drew  off  out  of  range."*  A  similar 
spirited  naval  reconnoissance  of  Sewell's 
Point,  at  the  entrance  to  Elizabeth  River, 
on  the  18th  and  19th  of  May,  a  few  days 
previous  to  General  Butler's  arrival,  con- 
ducted by  Commander  Eagle,  in  the  gun- 
boat Star,  late  Monticello,  in  which  Cap- 
tain Ward,  in  the  Freeborn,  took  a  part, 
had  established  the  fact  of  the  rebel  pre- 
parations in  that  quarter,  and  as  authori- 
tatively proved  the  readiness  and  skill 
of  our  naval  officers  in  grasping  every 
opportunity  for  distinction  in  the  service. 
But  little  injury  appears  to  have  been 


*  Captain  John  Faunce  to  Flag  Officer  G.  J.  Pendergrast, 
Commanding  the  Cumberland.  Hampton  Roads,  June  5, 
1861. 


258 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


received  on  either  side  ;  though,  as  the 
first  conflict  between  the  land  and  naval 
forces  at  this  important  station,  the  de- 
tails of  the  affair,  variously  represented, 
occupied  at  the  time  a  considerable  share 
of  the  public  attention.  The  rebels  who 
had  every  facility  for  manning  their 
works,  from  the  store  of  heavy  guns 
which  they  had  taken  possession  of  at 
Gosport,  presently  strengthened  their 
positions  at  Craney  Island,  Sewell's  Point 
and  other  approaches  to  Norfolk,  and 
continued  to  hold  them  with  effect  during 
the  ensuing  year,  till  the  movements  con- 
sequent upon  the  grand  attack  upon 
Yorktown  compelled  their  abandonment. 
The  first  military  expedition  in  the 
vicinity  of  Fortress  Monroe  was  directed 
against  the  positions  of  the  rebels  at  Little 
and  Great  Bethel.  "  Having  learned," 
says  General  Butler  in  his  official  report 
01  the  affair,  "  that  the  enemy  had  estab- 
lished an  outpost  of  some  strength  at  a 
place  called  Little  Bethel,  a  small  church, 
about  eight  miles  from  Newport  News,' 
and  the  same  distance  from  Hampton, 
from  whence  they  were  accustomed  night- 
ly to  advance  both  on  Newport  News 
and  the  picket  guards  of  Hampton,  to 
annoy  them,  and  also  from  whence  they 
had  come  down  in  small  squads  of  cavalry 
and  taken  a  number  of  Union  men,  some 
of  whom  had  the  safeguard  and  protec- 
tion of  the  troops  of  the  United  States, 
and  forced  them  into  the  rebel  ranks,  and 
that  they  were  also  gathering  up  the 
slaves  of  citizens  who  had  moved  away 
and  left  their  farms  in  charge  of  their 
negroes,  carrying  them  to  work  in  en- 
trenchments, at  Williamsburg  and  York- 
town,  I  had  determined  to  send  up  a 
force  to  drive  them  back  and  destroy 
their  camp,  the  headquarters  of  which 
was  this  small  church.  I  had  also  learn- 


ed that  at  a  place  a  short  distance  further 
on,  on  the  road  to  Yorktown,  was  an 
outwork  of  the  rebels,  on  the  Hampton 
side  of  a  place  called  Big  Bethel,  a  large 
church,  near  the  head  of  Back  River,  and 
that  here  was  a  very  considerable  ren- 
dezvous, with  works  of  more  or  less 
strength  in  process  of  erection,  and  from 
this  point  the  whole  country  was  laid 
under  contribution." 

Under  these  circumstances  the  expedi- 
tion was  projected  at  Fortress  Monroe  on 
Sunday  morning  the  9th  of  June,  in 
general  accordance  with  a  plan,  of  which 
the  outlines  are  presented  in  a  private 
memorandum  drawn  up  by  Major  Theo- 
dore Winthrop,  military  secretary  of 
General  Butler,  "  partly  made  up  from 
the  General's  hints  and  partly  from 
his  own  fancies."  This  document,  which 
afterwards  became  of  peculiar  interest, 
read  as  follows  : — "  Notes  of  the  plan  of 
attack — by  two  detachments  upon  Little 
Bethel  and  Big  Bethel.  A  regiment  or 
a  battalion  to  march  from  Newport,  and 
a  regiment  or  a  battalion  to  march  from 
Camp  Hamilton,  Duryee's.  Each  regi- 
ment to  be  supported  by  sufficient  re- 
serves under  arms  in  camp,  and  with  ad- 
vanced guards  out  on  the  road  of  march. 
Duryee  to  push  out  two  pickets  at  10 
p.  M.,  one  two  and  a  half  miles  beyond 
Hampton,  on  the  county  road,  but  not  so 
far  as  to  alarm  the  enemy.  This  is  im- 
portant. Second  picket  half  as  far  as  the 
first.  Both  pickets  to  keep  as  much  out 
of  sight  as  possible.  No  one  whatever 
to  be  allowed  to  pass  out  through  their 
lines.  Persons  to  be  allowed  to  pass  in- 
ward towards  Hampton,  unless  it  appears 
that  they  intend  to  go  round  about  and 
dodge  through  to  the  front.  At  12  mid- 
night, Colonel  Duryee  will  march  his 
regiment,  with  fifteen  rounds  cartridges, 


LITTLE  BETHEL. 


259 


on  the  county  road  toward  Little  Bethel. 
Scows  will  be  provided  to  ferry  them 
across  Hampton  Creek.  March  will  be 
rapid,  but  not  hurried.  A  howitzer  with 
canister  and  shrapnell  to  go.  A  wagon 
with  planks  and  material  to  repair  the 
New  Market  bridge.  Duryee  to  have 
the  two  hundred  rifles  (Sharpe's  rifles) 
purchased  the  day  previous.  He  will 
pick  the  men  to  whom  to  intrust  them. 
Rocket  to  be  thrown  up  from  Newport 
News.  Notify  Commodore  Pendergrast 
(flag  officer)  of  this  to  prevent  general 
alarm.  Newport  News  movement  to  be 
made  somewhat  later  than  this,  as  the 
distance  is  less.  If  we  find  and  surprise 
them,  we  will  fire  one  volley,  if  desirable 
— not  reload,  and  go  ahead  with  the 
bayonet.  As  the  attack  is  to  be  by  night, 
or  dusk  of  morning  and  in  detachments, 
our  people  should  have  some  token,  say 
a  white  rag  on  the  left  arm.  Perhaps 
the  detachments  which  are  to  do  the  job 
should  be  smaller  than  a  regiment ;  three 
or  five  hundred  on  the  right  and  left  of 
the  attack  would  be  more  easily  handled. 
If  we  bag  the  Little  Bethel  men,  push  on 
to  Big  Bethel  and  similarly  bag  them. 
Burn  both  the  Bethels  or  blow  up  if  brick. 
To  protect  our  rear,  in  case  we  take  the 
field  pieces  and  the  enemy  should  inarch 
his  main  body  (if  he  has  any)  to  recover 
them,  it  would  be  well  to  have  a  squad 
of  competent  artillerists,  regular  or  other, 
to  handle  the  captured  guns  on  the  re- 
tirement of  our  main  body.  Also,  to 
spike  them  if  retaken.  George  Scott 
(colored  guide)  to  have  a  shooting  iron. 
Perhaps  Duryee's  men  would  be  awk- 
ward with  a  new  arm  in  a  night  or  early 
dawn  attack,  where  -there  will  be  little 
marksman  duty  to  perform.  Most  of  the 
work  will  be  done  with  the  bayonet,  and 
they  are  already  handy  with  the  old  ones." 


The  troops  detached  for  the  perform- 
ance of  this  service,  placed  under  com 
mand  of  Brigadier- General  E.  W.  Pierce, 
of  Massachusetts,  who  had  been  appoint- 
ed by  Governor  Andrew  to  succeed  Gen- 
eral Butler,  on  the  promotion  of  the  lat- 
ter to  the  rank  of  Major-General,  con- 
sisted of  Colonel  Duryee's  5th  Regiment 
of  New  York  Volunteers,  Colonel  Towns- 
end's  Albany  3d  Regiment  of  New  York 
Yolunteers,  a  battalion  of  Yermont  and 
Massachusetts  troops  under  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Washburn,  from  Colonel  Phelps' 
command  at  Newport  News,  and  Colonel 
Bendix's  German  Seventh  Steuben  Regi- 
ment of  New  York  Yolunteers.  To  these 
were  added  a  battery  of  three  light 
pieces,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Greble 
of  the  United  States  Second  artillery. 

The  movements  of  the  several  regi- 
ments were  thus  conducted  :  At  midnight 
of  the  9th  of  June,  Colonel  Duryee,  pre- 
ceded by  two  companies  of  skirmishers, 
advanced  with  his  regiment  of  Zouaves 
j  from  Camp  Hamilton,  at  Hampton,  to- 
ward Little  Bethel.  Crossing  the  Hamp- 
ton River,  after  some  delay  in  the  surf- 
boats  manned  by  seamen  from  the  Naval 
Brigade  at  the  station,  the  force  moved 
rapidly  onward,  and  at  four  in  the  morn- 
ing had  accomplished  its  march  of  thir- 
teen miles  to  Little  Bethel.  A  picket- 
guard  was  discovered  and  surprised,  and 
a  mounted  officer,  with  four  or  five  men 
on  foot,  taken  prisoners.  The  further 
direct  attack  upon  the  position  was  to  be 
made  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Washburn's 
command,  which  was  approaching  from 
Newport  News.  Colonel  Duryee,  mean- 
while, according  to  instructions,  was 
pushing  on  to  put  his  force  in  a  position 
to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  rebels  at  Lit- 
tle Bethel,  when  he  suddenly  heard  a 
heavy  fire  of  musketry  and  cannon  in 


L 


260 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


his  rear,  indicating  a  severe  engagement. 
"Supposing  it  to  be  an  attempt  of  the 
enemy  to  cut  off  our  reserve,  we  imme- 
diately," says  Colonel  Duryee  in  his  re- 
port, "  countermanded  in  quick  and  dou- 
ble-quick time,  when,  having  proceeded 
about  five  miles,  we  came  upon  two  of 
our  regiments,  and  learned  that,  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  they  had  mistaken 
each  other  for  enemies,  and  that  an  un- 
fortunate engagement  had  taken  place." 
These  regiments  were  those  of  Colonel 
Townsend  and  Colonel  Bendix,  which 
had  been  sent  forward  respectively  from 
Camp  Hamilton  and  Newport  News  with 
the  intention  of  forming  a  junction  at  a 
point  where  the  two  roads  leading  from 
their  respective  camps  met.  The  Ger- 
mans, having  the  shorter  distance  to  go, 
were  first  on  the  ground.  As  the  Alba- 
ny men  came  up,  in  the  uncertain  light 
of  early  morning,  by  a  singular  fatality, 
under  the  circumstances — for  express  di- 
rections had  been  given  by  General  But- 
ler to  prevent  any  confusion  in  the  dark- 
ness by  requiring  that  no  attack  should 
be  made  until  the  watchword  (Boston) 
should  be  given  by  the  attacking  regi- 
ment, and  that  the  members  of  Colonel 
Townsend's  regiment  should  be  known, 
if  in  daylight,  by  something  white  worn 
on  the  arm — they  were  yet  mistaken  by 
the  Germans  for  the  enemy.  Fire  was 
opened  upon  the  head  of  the  advancing 
column  with  artillery  and  musketry,  at  a 
distance  of  a  hundred  yards,  and  was  re- 
turned by  some  of  the  Albany  men,  who 
were  under  the  impression  that  they  had 
fallen  into  an  ambuscade.  Colonel  Towns- 
end  then  withdrew  his  men  to  a  neigh- 
boring eminence,  and  the  disaster  was 
checked.  Yarious  explanations  were  af- 
terwards offered  in  extenuation  of  this 
affair.  It  was  stated  that  Colonel  Bendix 


had  received  no  intimation  of  the  white 
badges  to  be  worn  by  Colonel  Townsend's 
men,  and  that  if  he  had,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  distinguish  them  in 
the  darkness  of  the  morning  ;  that  the 
dress  of  the  Albany  regiment  resembled 
that  usually  worn  by  the  rebel  soldiers  ; 
and  that,  as  General  Pierce  and  General 
Townsend  rode  in  advance  of  their  forces, 
they  were  mistaken  for  the  enemj^'s  cav- 
alry. An  advance  guard,  it  was  fairly 
alleged  should,  under  any  circumstances, 
have  been  thrown  out.  The  evil  effects 
of  the  disaster,  however,  remained  incon- 
trovertible, whatever  may  have  been  its 
cause.  The  loss  by  this  unhappy  encoun- 
ter— two  killed  and  nineteen  wounded — 
was  considerable  ;  but  its  destruction  of 
the  entire  plan  of  the  attack  was  a  great- 
er injury.  Lieutenant  -  Colonel  Wash- 
burn,  like  Colonel  Duryee,  had  reversed 
his  forward  movement,  and  the  enemy, 
warned  by  the  noise  of  the  artilleiy, 
made  their  retreat  in  safety  from  Little 
Bethel.  When  the  Union  forces  present- 
ly reached  the  place,  it  was  found  de- 
serted. Colonel  Duryee  then  destroyed 
the  camp  which  he  found  there. 

Here  the  affair  might  well  have  ended, 
leaving  the  further  attack  upon  the  ene- 
my in  their  position  at  Great  Bethel  to 
a  better  opportunity.  Officers  and  men, 
however,  were  sanguine  of  their  ability 
to  carry  out  the  original  programme, 
and  had  no  disposition  to  return  to  their 
comrades  with  the  simple  story  of  an 
unfortunate  blunder.  Holding  a  con- 
sultation with  his  colonels,  General 
Pierce,  with  their  advice,  resolved  to 
go  forward  and  "attempt  to  carry  the 
works  of  the  enemy  at  Big  Bethel." 
The  whole  force  was  accordingly  ad- 
vanced, Colonel  Duryee,  as  before,  keep- 
ing the  lead.  A  correspondent  of  the 


BATTLE  AT  GREAT  BETHEL. 


261 


New  York  Daily  Times,  who  was  with 
the  column,  may  here  take  up  the  story. 
"It  was  ten  o'clock,"  he  writes,  "and 
the  soldiers,  wjth  their  long  and  rapid 
march  and  want  of  sleep,  were  marching 
listlessly  at  the  route  step,  when  the 
scouts  brought  word  that  the  enemy, 
3,000  strong,  were  entrenched  behind 
sand  batteries,  right  in  front,  and  that 
without  waiting  for  an  attack  they  were 
about  to  sally  forth.  It  put  a  new  spirit 
into  the  men  as  the  word  passed  down 
the  line.  They  were  no  longer  tired 
and  sleepy.  Each  freshened  up  to  his 
place  in  the  ranks,  and  closed  up  in 
column.  Each  regiment  deployed  into 
the  adjoining  fields,  right  and  left,  and 
drew  up  in  order  of  battle. 

"Over  a  small  stream  twelve  miles 
from  Hampton,  a  bridge  called  County 
Bridge  crosses  on  the  road  to  Yorktown. 
On  the  opposite  bank,  at  the  bridge  and 
on  the  right  of  it,  the  enemy  was  posted 
behind  sand  batteries.  In  front  of  their 
batteries  was  a  broad  open  field,  and 
this  side  of  that,  on  our  right,  was  a 
wood,  and  in  front*and  to  the  left  a  corn 
field.  Between  the  wood  and  the  corn* 
field  ran  a  road  connected  with  that  by 
which  we  had  advanced.  Over  the  fence 
into  the  corn  field  Colonel  Duryee's  regi- 
ment advanced,  and  then  down  the  road 
right  in  the  teeth  of  the  enemy's  bat- 
teries. Two  12-pound  howitzers,  and 
one  6-pounder  which  our  troops  carried 
with  them,  were  posted  in  the  open  field 
on  the  left  of  the  wood.  As  the  Zouaves 
advanced,  both  batteries  opened.  Eight 
onward  at  a  double-quick  step  the  regi- 
ment ran,  exposed  to  a  murderous  fire. 
Colonel  Duryee  himself  led  the  van,  and 
after  proceeding  a  quarter  of  the  distance 
to  the  enemy's  batteries,  he  commanded 
the  men  to  take  to  the  woods.  There 


they  remained  for  two  hours  and  twenty 
minutes,  under  an  incessant  fire  which 
raked  the  position,  and  finally,  after  a 
gallant  charge  by  Captain  Kilpatrick, 
(of  the  Duryee  Zouaves,)  which  drove 
the  secessionists  from  one  of  their  guns, 
after  our  artillerists  had  exhausted  all 
their  ammunition,  and  their  command- 
ant, Lieutenant  Greble  of  the  regular 
army,  and  many  others,  had  been  killed, 
General  Pierce  ordered  a  retreat.  Colo- 
nel Bendix,  with  three  companies  of  rifle- 
men, did  good  service  on  the  right  of  our 
position,  and  Colonel  Townsend's  regi- 
ment on  the  left  performed  its  part  well 
A  barn  near  the  enemy's  line  was  seized, 
and  from  it  many  of  the  enemy  were 
picked  oft7.  The  action  commenced  at 
twenty  minutes  before  ten  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  ended  at  twenty  minutes  past 
twelve.  The  retreat  was  conducted  in 
perfect  order.  Some  of  the  enemy's 
cavalry  hung  on  our  rear,  but  they  were 
repulsed  with  loss."  General  Pierce 
having  called  upon  General  Butler  for 
reinforcements,  Colonel  Allen's  and  Colo- 
nel Carr's,  1st  and  2d  New  York  regi- 
ments, were  sent  to  his  aid.  They  ar- 
rived at  the  close  of  the  battle,  and, 
drawn  up  in  line,  were  of  essential  ser- 
vice in  holding  the  enemy  in  check  while 
the  Union  troops  which  had  been  engaged 
in  the  action  retired  from  the  field.  Gen- 
eral Butler  himself  would  have  taken  the 
field,  had  not  his  services  been  required 
at  Hampton,  at  first  in  forwarding  the 
reinforcements,  and  afterwards  in  making 
dispositions  for  the  care  of  the  wounded 
and  the  safety  of  the  retreat. 

The  official  reports  of  the  day  add  va- 
rious details  of  the  battle  highly  credita- 
ble to  the  valor  of  the  several  regiments 
engaged  in  it.  The  officers,  generally, 
were  enthusiastic  in  the  p(  rformarice  of 


262 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION. 


their  dut}^  Lieutenant-Colonel  Warren, 
of  the  Zouaves,  is  mentioned  by  his  su- 
perior officer  in  command  of  the  regi- 
ment— Colonel  Duryee — as  deserving  of 
particular  honor  for  his  assistance  in 
planning  the  operations  of  the  day,  and 
for  his  heroic  performance  of  duty.  He 
was  among  the  last  to  leave  the  field, 
bringing  away  with  him  the  body  of  Lieu- 
tenant Greble,  borne  on  the  gun  that 
officer  was  serving  when  he  fell.  He  had 
been  instantly  killed  by  a  cannon-shot  of 
the  enemy  striking  his  head.  His  bat- 
tery was  stationed  in  an  open  field,  with- 
in two  hundred  yards  of  the  covered 
works  of  the  enemy,  from  which  they 
mercilessly  played  upon  his  position. 
Without  support,  with  his  few  brave 
cannoneers,  he  manfully  stood  by  his 
gun,  refusing  any  shelter  or  effort  at  pro- 
tection. Asked  to  take  care  of  himself 
as  the  rest  did,  he  replied,  "I  never 
dodge,  and  when  I  hear  the  notes  of  the 
bugle  calling  to  retreat  I  shall  retreat, 
and  not  before."  Throughout  the  firing, 
it  is  said  he  sighted  every  gun  himself, 
and  examined  every  shot  with  his  glass. 
His  last  words,  when  he  was  struck, 
were,  "  Oh  !  my  gun  !"* 

Lieutenant  John  Trout  Greble,  who 
died  thus  heroically,  was  a  native  of  Phil- 
adelphia, descended  from  ancestors  who, 
both  on  the  father  and  mother's  side,  had 
fought  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
Born  in  1834,  he  was  but  twenty-seven 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  From  boyhood 
"  he  had  been  remarkable  for  innocence 
and  purity  of  life — an  almost  feminine 
character,  blended,  however,  with  great 
firmness  and  courage — not  the  result  of 
a  robust  physical  constitution,  but  spring- 
ing from  the  action  of  principle  and  hon- 

*  Anecdotes  furnished  by  a  friend  of  Lieutenant  Greble 
to  the  Philadelphia  Inquirer. 


or."  Educated  at  the  Central  High 
School  of  his  native  city,  at  sixteen  he 
entered  the  West  Point  Academy  as  a 
cadet,  and  graduated  with  distinction  in 
1854,  when  he  was  commissioned  Brevet 
2d  Lieutenant  in  the  2d  Artillery.  He 
served  with  honor  in  the  war  in  Florida 
for  two  years,  when  he  was  appointed  to 
the  assistant  Professorship  of  Ethics  at 
West  Point,  embracing  instruction  in  no 
less  a  series  of  the  liberal  studies  than 
grammar,  geography,  history,  rhetoric, 
elocution,  international  and  constitution- 
al law,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  logic.  •  He  continued  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  this  position  till  Oc- 
tober, 1860,  when,  "  having  repeatedly 
solicited  active  service,  he  was  ordered 
to  Fortress  Monroe,  and  was  one  of  the 
handful  of  gallant  men  who  preserved 
that  important  post  to  the  country,  when, 
but  for  the  respect  inspired  by  Colonel 
Dimick  and  his  little  band  of  three  hun- 
dred, the  rebels  might  at  any  moment 
have  taken  it."  To  these  notices  of  the 
life  of  a  gallant  officer,  we  may  add  an 
endearing  memorial  of  his  private  char- 
^icter  in  the  few  last  words  "scrawled 
evidently  on  the  field,"  on  a  paper  which 
was  found  in  his  pocket.  They  were  ad- 
dressed to  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  his 
senior  professor  at  West  Point — the  Rev. 
John  W.  French  :  "  May  God  bless  you, 
my  darling,  and  grant  you  a  happy  and 
peaceful  life.  May  the  good  Father  pro- 
tect you  and  me,  and  grant  that  we  may 
live  happily  together  long  lives.  God 
give  me  strength,  wisdom,  and  courage. 
If  I  die,  let  me  die  as  a  brave  and  honor- 
able man  ;  let  no  stain  of  dishonor  hang 
over  me  or  you.  Devotedly,  and  with 
my  whole  heart  your  husband."* 

*  Memoir  of  Lt.  Greble,  in  Mr.  Shea's  excellent "  Biograpb, 
ical  Memorial  of  Officers  killed  in  Defence  of  the  Union." 


THEODORE   WINTHROP. 


263 


There  was  another  victim  of  the  war, 
that  day,  alike  youthful,  ingenuous  and 
self-sacrificing,  for  whose  untimely  fate 
much  sympathy  was  felt.  Theodore  Win- 
throp,  a  young  man  of  rare  cultivation 
and  attainments,  whom  we  have  already 
noticed,  bright  with  enthusiasm,  in  his 
march  with  the  New  York  Seventh,  at 
the  opening  of  the  war,  was  at  this  time 
attached  to  the  staff  of  General  Butler  at 
Fortress  Monroe.  He  had  been,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  the  councils  and  drawn  up 
the  memoranda  for  the  expedition.  No 
one  had  entered  more  eagerly  into  the 
battle,  or  borne  his  part  through  those 
long  forenoon  hours  with  more  bravery. 
"After  the  melancholy  events  of  the 
earlier  part  of  the  day,"  writes  one,  a 
friend  who  has  paid  a  noble  tribute  to 
his  memory,  "  he  saw  that  its  fortunes 
could  be  retrieved  only  by  a  dash  of 
heroic  enthusiasm.  Fired  himself,  he 
sought  to  kindle  others.  For  one  moment 
that  brave,  inspiring  form  is  plainly  visi- 
ble to  his  whole  country,  wrapt  and  calm, 
standing  upon  the  log  nearest  the  enemy's 
battery,  the  mark  of  their  sharp-shooters, 
the  admiration  of  their  leaders,  waving 
his  sword,  cheering  his  fellow-soldiers 
with  his  bugle  voice  of  victory, — young, 
brave,  beautiful,  for  one  moment  erect 
and  glowing  in  the  wild  whirl  of  battle, 
the  next  falling  forward  toward  the  foe, 
dead  but  triumphant."* 

Born  in  New  Haven  in  1828,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  first  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut, on  the  father's  side,  and  of 
Jonathan  Edwards,  on  the  mother's, 
Winthrop's  "grave,  delicate,  rather  pre- 
cocious childhood,"  had  ripened  with  his 
growth,  and  borne  him  triumphantly 

*  A  highly  appreciative  biographical  sketch  of  Theodore 
Winthrop  by  Geo.  W.  Curtis  in  the  Atlantic  Magazine  for 
August,  1861. 


through  the  liberal  studies  at  Yale.  Fee- 
ble health  drove  him  to  foreign  travel, 
when  he  made  the  acquaintance  in  Europe 
of  Mr.  W.  H.  Aspinwall,  the  eminent 
merchant  of  New  York,  who,  appreciat- 
ing his  character  and  attainments,  en- 
gaged him  as  a  tutor  for  his  son,  and 
afterwards  received  him  into  his  count- 
ing-house. Employment  at  Panama  as 
an  agent  of  the  Pacific  Steamship  Com- 
pany followed,  with  journeys  in  Califor- 
nia and  Oregon.  His  love  of  adventure 
then  made  him  a  sharer  in  Lieutenant 
Strain's  unfortunate  Darien  expedition. 
Escaping  that  peril  with  impaired  health 
he  studied  law  ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
and  engaged  eagerly  in  political  life, 
taking  the  field  as  a  speaker  in  the  Fre- 
mont Presidential  campaign.  Literature, 
during  these  changes  of  occupation  ap- 
pears, however,  from  the  unpublished 
books  he  left  behind  him,  to  have  been 
his  real  pursuit.  Several  romances  have 
been  published  since  his  death,  fresh, 
rapid,  vigorous,  inspiring  sketches  of  life 
and  manners.  "Cecil  Dreeme,"  "John 
Brent,"  "Edwin  Brothertoft,"— and  all 
have  been  received  with  favor.  It  is  not 
a  little  singular  that  one  who  wrote  so 
much  and  so  well  should  not  have  found 
his  way  to  the  public  as  an  author  in  his 
life  time  ;  but  with  the  exception  of  the 
sketches  of  camp  life  furnished  to  the 
Atlantic  Magazine,  we  are  not  aware 
of  anything  of  consequence  published 
before  his  death  from  his  pen.  The 
impressions  with  which  he  entered  the 
contest  are  given  in  a  passage  of  his 
correspondence  from  Washington,  writ- 
ten after  he  had  joined  the  army  : — "  I 
see,"  he  wrote,  "  no  present  end  to  this 
business.  We  must  conquer  the  South. 
Afterward  we  must  be  prepared  to  do  its 
police  in  its  own  behalf,  and  in  behalf  of 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


its  black  population,  whom  this  war  must, 
without  precipitation,  emancipate.  We 
must  hold  the  South  as  the  metropolitan 
police  holds  New  York.  All  this  is  in- 
evitable. Now  I  wish  to  enroll  myself 
at  once  iii  the  Police  of  the  Nation,  and 
for  life,  if  the  nation  will  take  me.  I  do 
not  see  that  I  can  put  myself — experi- 
ence and  character — to  any  more  useful 
use.  .  .  My  experience  in  this  short 
campaign  with  the  Seventh  assures  .me 
that  volunteers  are  for  one  purpose  and 
regular  soldiers  entirely  another.  We 
want  regular  soldiers  for  the  cause  of 
order  in  these  anarchical  countries,  and 
we  want  men  to  command  who,  though 
they  may  be  valuable  as  temporary  sa- 
traps or  proconsuls  to  make  liberty  pos- 
sible where  it  is  now  impossible,  will 
never  under  any  circumstances  be  dis- 
loyal to  Liberty,  will  always  oppose  any 
scheme  of  any  one  to  constitute  a  mili- 
tary government,  and  will  be  ready,  when 
the  time  comes,  to  imitate  Washington. 
We  must  think  of  these  things,  and  pre- 
pare for  them." 

The  number  of  the  Union  men  in  the 
engagement  at  Great  Bethel  was  esti- 
mated at  about  three  thousand,  and  that 
of  the  enemy,  commanded  by  Colonel  Ma- 
gruder,  late  of  the  United  States  service  ; 
was  set  down  at  the  time  as  at  least  as 
large  ;  but  the  report  of  Colonel  Hill  of 
the  North  Carolina  Volunteers  makes  the 
rebel  force  only  eight  hundred  of  his  own 
regiment  and  three  hundred  and  sixty 
Virginians.  He  reports  one  North  Car- 
olinian killed  and  seven  wounded,  while 
he  "  safely  estimates"  the  Union  loss  at 
two  hundred  and  fifty.  "  Our  regiment 
behaved  most  gallantly,"  writes  this  offi- 
cer. "  Not  one  man  shrunk  from  his  post 
or  showed  symptoms  of  fear.  Our  Heav- 
enly Father  has  most  wonderfully  inter- 


posed to  shield  our  hearts  in  the  day  of 
battle  ;  unto  His  .great  name  be  all  the 
praise  for  our  success."*  In  honor  of 
this  achievement  the  North  Carolina  con- 
vention authorized  the  regiment  to  in- 
scribe on  their  colors  the  word  "  Bethel." 
General  Butler,  writing  before  the  returns 
were  in,  mentions  his  loss  at  perhaps  forty 
to  fifty.  It  was  afterwards  ascertain- 
ed to  be  fourteen  killed  and  forty-five 
wounded  and  missing.  The  rebels,  we 
have  seen  it  stated,  admitted  a  loss  of 
seventeen  killed.  On  the  night  after  the 
battle  they  abandoned  Great  Bethel  and 
retired  to  Yorktown. 

In  his  summing  up  of  the  affair,  Gen- 
eral Butler  certainly  put  the  best  face 
upon  the  matter  in  the  assertion :  "I 
think,  in  the  unfortunate  combination 
of  circumstances,  and  the  result  which 
we  experienced,  we.  have  gained  more 
than  we  lost.  Our  troops  have  learned 
to  have  confidence  in  themselves  under 
fire,  the  enemy  have  shown  that  they 
will  not  meet  us  in  the  open  field,  and 
our  officers  have  learned  wherein  their 
organization  and  drill  are  inefficient." 
If  the  last,  indeed,  had  been  thoroughly 
taught  the  day  of  Great  Bethel,  dear  as 
it  was,  would  have  had  its  consolations  ; 
but  other  lessons  of  that  kind  must  share 
with  it  the  uncomplimentary  ad vantage^'f 

The  affair  at  Great  Bethel,  of  course, 
checked  any  further  immediate  advance 
into  the  country  from  the  neighborhood 


*  D.  H.  Hill,  Colonel  1st  Regiment  North  Carolina  Vol- 
unteers, to  Governor  J.  W.  Ellis.  Yorktown,  Va.,  Juno 
11,  1861. 

\  General  Butler  to  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  June  10, 
1861.  Brigadier-General  Fierce's  orders,  June  9,  1861. 
Colonel  Duryee's  report  to  General  Pierce,  June  11,  1861. 
Captain  Fitzpatrick's  report  to  Colonel  Duryee,  June  11, 
1861.  Letter  of  Henry  J.  Raymond  to  the  New  York 
Times,  Fortress  Monroe,  July  1, 1861.  General  Pierce's  let- 
ter to  the  editor  of  the.  Boston  Journal,  Freetown,  Mass., 
Aug.  3, 1861. 


RETIREMENT  FROM  HAMPTON. 


265 


of  Fortress  Monroe.  It  was  necessary 
to  wait  for  reinforcements  and  proceed 
with  a  due  respect  for  the  resources  of  the 
enemy,  which  from  inexperience  of  the 
art  of  war,  or  an  unwillingness  to  realize 
the  thoroughly  hostile  position  of  the  foe, 
there  had  been  a  disposition  to  lose  sight 
of  or  depreciate.  It  began  now  to  be 
seen  that  the  contest  must  be  pursued 
on  military  principles,  and  that,  so  far  as 
the  operations  on  the  field  were  concern- 
ed, we  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
dealing  with  a  foreign  enemy.  As  the 
struggle,  too,  assumed  a  greater  magni- 
tude it  became  evident  that  the  strength 
of  our  forces  must  be  reserved  for  com- 
bined movements  of  importance  produc- 
tive of  proportionate  results.  The  ad- 
vance of  small  parties  into  a  hostile 
country,  always  hazardous,  could  be  at- 
tended with  little  benefit,  even  if  suc- 
cessful, unless  there  were  a  force  at  hand 
to  occupy  the  territory  and  follow  up  the 
advantage.  The  public,  looking  at  the 
matter  in  detail  were  disposed  to  com- 
plain of  the  sufferance  of  annoyances  and 
ask  why  one  neighboring  position  and 
another  of  the  enemy  which  seemed  with- 
in our  grasp  was  not  occupied  ;  but  it 
was  soon  understood  that  the  war  to  be 
successful  must  be  planned  and  pursued 
on  a  large  scale,  and  that  we  must  be 
content  with  inconveniences  for  a  time 
for  victory  in  the  end.  So  the  troops  at 
Fortress  Monroe  were  content  to  hold 
their  ground  and  strengthen  their  posi- 
tions, until  the  time  when  the  position 
should  become  the  base  of  important 
operations. 

On  the  1st  of  July  the  village  of 
Hampton  which,  since  the  first  advance 
of  General  Butler  from  the  Fort,  had 
been  under  the  control  of  his  forces,  was 
formally  taken  possession  of  and  an  en- 
34 


cainpment  formed  there,  commanded  by 
Brigadier-General  Pierce.  Entrench- 
ments were  thrown  up,  the  "  contra- 
bands" who  had  come  within  the  lines  for 
protection  busily  engaging  in  the  work, 
and  everything  looked  to  the  permanent 
occupation  of  the  town.  Before  the  end 
of  the  month,  a  heavy  draft  having  been 
made  upon  the  troops  of  the  department 
by  General  Scott  for  the  military  opera- 
tions about  Washington,  General  Butler 
was  compelled  to  weaken  the  garrison  at 
Newport  News,  and  entirely  withdraw 
the  force  at  Hampton.  The  immediate 
effect  of  this  evacuation  of  the  town  was 
to  throw  upon  his  hands  within  the  lines 
around  the  Fort  the  large  body  of  negro 
fugitives  who  had  escaped  from  theii 
rebel  masters  and,  as  we  have  just  stated, 
been  employed  in  accordance  with  the 
decision  of  the  Secretary  of  War  upon 
the  works.  The  departure  of  the  negroes 
following  the  retiring  regiments  is  de- 
scribed a.s  a  singular  spectacle.  A  rumor 
of  the  near  approach  of  the  enemy  and 
the  sight  of  the  removal  of  the  govern- 
ment stores  had  created  an  alarm  among 
them,  sending  them  in  a  mass  out  of  the 
town  in  a  precipitate  flight.  An  eye 
witness  thus  pictures  that  scene  of  the 
evening  of  the  26th  of  July.  "An  in- 
describable panic  ensued  among  the  col- 
ored population,  which  all  at  once  ap- 
peared to  swell  beyond  all  previous  cal- 
culation. The  streets  swarmed  with  the 
terrified  people.  In  less  than  half  an 
hour  the  exodus  commenced.  The  tide 
for  hours  poured  over  Hampton  Bridge 
toward  the  Fortress.  The  moon  made 
the  night  almost  as  light  as  day.  Be- 
tween 8  and  9  o'clock,  the  long  wagon 
train  of  the  Albany  regiment  turned  into 
the  main  road  leading  from  the  Fortress 
to  Hampton,  which  already  swarmed 


266 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


with  fugitives.  They  were  principally 
on  foot, — the  men  and  the  women,  the 
latter  greatly  preponderating,  carrying 
bundles  big  as  hogsheads,  containing  the 
entire  household  effects  of  a  family.  Some 
with  wheel-barrows  containing  a  wagon 
load.  Children  were  straggling  ;  those 
that  were  capable  of  carrying  anything 
had  some  article  or  other  of  economic 
housekeeping ;  all  fleeing  as  if  from  in- 
stant peril.  Women  were  shouting  to 
men  heavily  laden  to  hurry  up,  and  men 
urging  women  similarly  encumbered  not 
to  lag  behind  the  grotesque  cavalcade 
that  stretched  the  entire  distance  from 
Hampton  to  the  Fortress,  their  place  of 
refuge."* 

The  scene  made  a  strong  impression 
upon  General  Butler.  Reciting  the  ser- 
vices that  had  been  rendered  by  these 
people  in  the  work  of  the  entrenchments, 
and  the  relief  they  had  afforded  to  the 
soldiers,  who  would  without  their  assist- 
ance have  been  required  to  perform  this 
labor  under  a  burning  summer  sun,  he 
says  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of 
War  : — "  Indeed  it  was  a  most  interest- 
ing sight  to  see  these  poor  creatures  who 
trusted  to  the  protection  of  the  arms  of 
the  United  States,  and  who  aided  the 
troops  of  the  United  States  in  their  en- 
terprise, to  be  thus  obliged  to  flee  from 
their  homes,  and  the  homes  of  the  mas- 
ters who  had  deserted  them,  and  become 
fugitives  from  fear  of  the  return  of  the 
rebel  soldiery,  who  had  threatened  to 
shoot  the  men  who  had  wrought  for  us, 
and  to  carry  off  the  women  who  had 
served  us,  to  a  worse  than  Egyptian 
bondage." 

An  interesting  sketch  of  the  labors 
performed  by  the  negroes  at  Hampton 

*  Fortress  Monroe  Correspondent  N.  Y.  Tribune,  July 
27,  1861. 


was  subsequently  published  by  Mr.  Ed- 
ward L.  Pierce,  entitled  "The  Contra- 
bands at  Fortress  Monroe."  Mr.  Pierce, 
who  afterward  became  widely  known  to 
the  community  by  his  official  duties  in 
charge  of  the  black  population  in  South 
Carolina,  came  to  Fortress  Monroe  a 
private  in  the  3d  Massachusetts  regi- 
ment, and  was,  on  the  occupation  of 
Hampton,  appointed  by  General  Butler 
"  to  collect  the  contrabands,  record  their 
names,  ages,  and  the  names  of  their  mas- 
ters, provide  their  tools,  superintend 
their  labor,  and  procure  their  rations." 
He  entered  upon  the  work  in  a  pains- 
taking, conscientious  spirit,  and  pursued 
it  with  firmness  and  kindness.  The  re- 
sult of  the  experiment  was  that  with  sys- 
tematic arrangement,  cheerful  encourage- 
ment, and  the  prospect  of  a  moderate 
reward,  in  this  case  at  least,  a  vast  deal 
of  solid  substantial  work  was  performed 
thoroughly  and  without  reluctance.  The 
negroes  were  assembled  to  work  on  the 
entrenchments  at  half-past  4  in  the 
morning,  toiled  till  7  ;  resumed  their 
task  at  8,  continued  it  till  11,  when  they 
were  dismissed  till  3,  and  then  were  em- 
ployed till  6,  when  they  were  released 
till  the  morrow,  having  given  8£  hours 
labor  to  the  State — a  sufficient  share  of 
any  man's  day  for  heavy  labor,  especially 
under  the  summer  sun  of  Southern  Vir- 
ginia. 

"  The  contrabands,"  says  Mr.  Pierce, 
"  worked  well,  and  in  no  instance  was  it 
found  necessary  for  the  superintendents 
to  urge  them.  There  was  a  public  opin- 
ion among  them  against  idleness,  which 
answered  for  discipline.  Some  days 
they  worked  with  our  soldiers,  and  it 
was  found  that  they  did  more  work,  and 
did  the  nicer  parts — the  facings  and 
dressings  —  better.  Colonels  Packard 


THE  "CONTRABANDS"   AT   WORK. 


267 


and  Wardrop,  under  whose  direction  the 
breastworks  were  constructed,  and  Gen- 
eral Butler,  who  visited  them,  expressed 
satisfaction  at  the  work  which  the  con- 
trabands had  done.  On  the  14th  of 
July,  Mr.  Russell,  of  the  London  Times, 
and  Dr.  Bellows,  of  the  Sanitary  Com- 
mission, came  to  Hampton  and  mani- 
fested much  interest  at  the  success  of  the 
experiment.  The  result  was,  indeed, 
pleasing.  A  subaltern  officer,  to  whom 
I  had  insisted  that  the  contrabands 
should  be  treated  with  kindness,  had 
sneered  at  the  idea  of  applying  philan- 
thropic notions  in  time  of  war.  It  was 
found  then,  as  always,  that  decent  per- 
sons will  accomplish  more  when  treated 
at  least  like  human  beings.  The  same 
principle,  if  we  will  but  credit  our  own 
experience  and  Mr.  Rarey,  too,  may 
with  advantage  be  extended  to  our  rela- 
tions with  the  beasts  that  serve  us."* 

On  the  30th  of  July  General  Butler 
reported  within  the  peninsula,  this  side 
of  Hampton  Court,  900  negroes,  300  of 
whom  were  able-bodied  men,  30  of  whom 
were  men  substantially  past  hard  labor, 
175  women,  225  children  under  the  age 
of  10  years,  and  1*70  between  10  and  18 
years,  and  many  more  coming  in.  Here 
was  a  new  state  of  facts  going  quite  be- 
yond the  handful  of  refugee  laborers  for 
whom  he  had  invented  the  term  "con- 
trabands." How  should  it  be  met  ?  The 
proposition,  with  his  views  of  its  solu- 
tion, was  thus  presented  by  General  But- 
ler to*  the  Secretary  of  War  : — ^  First, 
What  shall  be  done  with  them?  and, 
Second,  What  is  their  state  and  condi- 
tion? Upon  these  questions  I  desire 
the  instructions  of  the  Department.  The 
first  question,  however,  may  perhaps  be 

*  The  Contrabands  at  Fortress  Monroe.  Atlantic  Month- 
ly, November,  1861. 


answered  by  considering  the  last.  Are 
these  men,  women,  and  children,  slaves  ? 
Are  they  free  ?  Is  their  condition  that 
of  men,  women,  and  children,  or  of  prop- 
erty, or  is  it  a  mixed  relation  ?  What 
their  status  was  under  the  Constitution 
and  laws,  we  all  know.  What  has  been 
the  effect  of  rebellion  and  a  state  of  war 
upon  that  status  ?  When  I  adopted  the 
theory  of  treating  the  able-bodied  negro 
fit  to  work  in  the  trenches  as  property 
liable  to  be  used  in  aid  of  rebellion,  and 
so  contraband  of  war,  that  condition  of 
things  was  in  so  far  met,  as  I  then  and 
still  believe,  on  a  legal  and  constitutional 
basis.  But  now  a  new  series  of  ques- 
tions arises.  Passing  by  women,  the 
children,  certainly,  cannot  be  treated  on 
that  basis  ;  .if  property,  they  must  be 
considered  the  incumbrance  rather  that 
the  auxiliary  of  an  army,  and,  of  course, 
in  no  possible  legal  relation  could  be 
treated  as  contraband.  Are  they  prop- 
erty ?  If  they  were  so,  they  have  been 
left  by  their  masters  and  owners,  de- 
serted, thrown  away,  abandoned,  like 
the  wrecked  vessel  upon  the  ocean. 
Their  former  possessors  and  owners 
have  causelessly,  traitorously,  rebellious- 
ly,  and,  to  carry  out  the  figure,  practi- 
cally abandoned  them  to  be  swallowed 
up  by  the  winter  storm  of  starvation. 
If  property,  do  they  not  become  the 
property  of  the  salvors?  but  we,  their 
salvors,  do  not  need  and  will  not  hold 
such  property,  and  will  assume  no  such 
ownership :  has  not,  therefore,  all  pro- 
prietary relation  ceased  ?  Have  they 
not  become,  thereupon,  men,  women 
and  children  ?  No  longer  under  owner- 
ship of  any  kind,  the  fearful  relicts  of 
fugitive  masters,  have  they  not  by  their 
masters'  acts,  and  the  state  of  war,  as- 
sumed the  condition,  which  we  hold  to 


268 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


be  the  normal  one,  of  those  made  in 
God's  image.  It  is  not  every  constitu- 
tional, legal,  and  moral  requirement,  as 
well  to  the  runaway  master  as  their  re- 
linquished slaves,  thus  answered  ?  I 
confess  that  my  own  mind  is  compelled 
by  this  reasoning  to  look  upon  them  as 
men  and  women.  If  not  free  born,  yet 
free,  manumitted,  sent  forth  from  the 
hand  that  held  them  never  to  be  re- 
,  claimed. 

"  Of  course,  if  this  reasoning,  thus  im- 
perfectly set  forth,  is  correct,  my  duty, 
as  a  humane  man,  is  very  plain.  I  should 
take  the  same  care  of  these  men,  women 
and  children,  houseless,  homeless,  and 
unprovided  for,  as  I  would  of  the  same 
number  of  men,  women  and  children, 
who,  for  their  attachment  to  the  Union, 
had  been  driven  or  allowed  to  flee  from 
the  Confederate  States.  I  should  have 
no  doubt  on  this  question,  had  I  not  seen 
it  stated  that  an  order  had  been  issued 
by  General  McDowell  in  his  department, 
substantially  forbidding  all  fugitive  slaves 
from  coming  within  his  lines,  or  being 
harbored  there.  Is  that  order  to  be  en- 
forced in  all  the  military  departments  ? 
If  so,  who  are  to  be  considered  fugitive 
slaves  ?  Is  a  slave  to  be  considered  fu- 
gitive whose  master  runs  away  and  leaves 
him  ?  Is  it  forbidden  to  the  troops  to 
aid  or  harbor  within  their  lines  the  negro 
children  who  are  found  therein,  or  is  the 
soldier,  when  his  march  has  destroyed 
their  means  of  subsistence,  to  allow  them 
to  starve  because  he  has  driven  off  the 
rebel  masters?  Now,  shall  the  com- 
mander of  a  regiment  or  battalion  sit  in 
judgment  upon  the  question,  whether  any 
given  black  man  has  fled  from  his  master, 
or  his  master  fled  from  him?  Indeed, 
how  are  the  free  born  to  be  distinguished  ? 
Is  any  one  more  or  less  a  fugitive  slave 


because  he  has  labored  upon  the  rebel 
intrenchments  ?  If  he  has  so  labored,  if 
I  understand  it,  he  is  to  be  harbored. 
By  the  reception  of  which,  are  the  rebels 
most  to  be  distressed,  by  taking  those 
who  have  wrought  all  their  rebel  masters 
desired,  masked  their  battery,  or  those 
who  have  refused  to  labor  and  left  the 
battery  unmasked  ?  <*t n 

"I  have  very  decided  opinions  upon 
the  subject  of  this  order.  It  does  not 
become  me  to  criticise  it,  and  I  write  it 
in  no  spirit  of  criticism,  but  simply  to 
explain  the  full  difficulties  that  surround 
the  enforcing  it.  If  the  enforcement  of 
that  order  becomes  the  policy  of  the 
Government,  I,  as  a  soldier,  shall  be 
bound  to  enforce  it  steadfastly,  if  not 
cheerfully.  But  if  left  to  my  own  dis- 
cretion, as  you  may  have  gathered  from 
my  reasoning,  I  should  take  a  widely 
different  course  from  that  which  it  indi- 
cates. In  a  loyal  State  I  would  put  down 
a  servile  insurrection.  In  a  state  of  re- 
bellion I  would  confiscate  that  which  was 
used  to  oppose  my  arms,  and  take  all 
that  property,  which  constituted  the 
wealth  of  that  State,  and  furnished  the 
means  by  which  the  war  was  prosecuted, 
beside  being  the  cause  of  the  war  ;  and 
if,  in  so  doing  it  should  be  objected  that 
human  beings  were  brought  to  the  free 
enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  such  objection  might  not 
require  much  consideration." 

The  reply  of  Secretary  Cameron  to 
these  pertinent  interrogatories,  still  avoid- 
ing the  general  considerations  so  forcibly 
presented,  showed  the  continued  dispo- 
sition of  the  Government  to  adhere  as 
closely  as  possible  to  the  preservation  of 
the  old  Constitutional  rights  of  the  Slates, 
notwithstanding  their  attitude  of  rebel- 
lion. "The  important  question,"  he 


SECRETARY  CAMERON  TO  GENERAL  BUTLER. 


269 


wrote,  "of  the  proper  disposition  to  be 
made  of  fugitives  from  service  in  the 
States  in  insurrection  against  the  Federal 
Government,  to  which  you  have  again 
directed  my  attention,  in  your  letter  of 
July  20,  has  received  my  most  attentive 
consideration.  It  is  the  desire  of  the 
President  that  all  existing  rights  in  all 
the-  States  be  fully  respected  and  main- 
tained. The  war  now  prosecuted  on  the 
part  of  the  Federal  Government  is  a  war 
for  the  Union,  for  the  preservation  of  all 
the  constitutional  rights  of  the  States  and 
the  citizens  of  the  States  in  the  Union  ; 
hence  no  question  can  arise  as  to  fugi- 
tives from  service  within  the  States  and 
Territories  in  which  the  authority  of  the 
Union  is  fully  acknowledged.  The  ordi- 
nary forms  of  judicial  proceedings  must 
be  respected  by  the  military  and  civil 
authorities  alike  for  the  enforcement  of 
legal  forms.  But  in  the  States  wholly  or 
in  part  under  insurrectionary  control, 
where  the  laws  of  the  United  States  are 
so  far  opposed  and  resisted  that  they  can- 
not be  effectually  enforced,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  rights  dependent  upon  the  exe- 
cution of  these  laws  must  temporarily 
fail,  and  it  is  equally  obvious  that  the 
rights  dependent  on  the  laws  of  the 
States  within  which  military  operations 
are  conducted  must  necessarily  be  subor- 
dinate to  the  military  exigencies  created 
by  the  insurrection,  if  not  wholly  forfeit- 
ed by  the  treasonable  conduct  of  the 
parties  claiming  them.  To  this  the  gen- 
eral rule  of  the  right  to  service  forms  an 
exception.  The  act  of  Congress  approv- 
ed August  6,  1861,  declares  that  if  per- 
sons held  to  service  shall  be  employed  in 
hostility  to  the  United  States,  the  right 
to  their  services  shall  be  discharged 
therefrom.  It  follows  of  necessity,  that 
no  claim  can  be  recognized  by  the  mili- 


tary authority  of  the  Union  to  the  serv- 
ices of  such  persons  when  fugitives. 

"  A  more  difficult  question  is  presented 
in  respect  to  persons  escaping  from  the 
service  of  loyal  masters.  It  is  quite  ap- 
parent that  the  laws  of  the  State  under 
which  only  the  service  of  such  fugitives 
can  be  claimed  must  needs  be  wholly  or 
almost  wholly  superseded,  as  to  the  rem- 
edies, by  the  insurrection  and  the  milita- 
ry measures  necessitated  by  it ;  arid  it  is 
equally  apparent  that  the  substitution  of 
military  for  judicial  measures  for  the  en- 
forcement of  such  claims  must  be  attend- 
ed by  great  inconvenience,  embarrass- 
ments and  injuries.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, it  seems  quite  clear  that  the  sub- 
stantial rights  of  loyal  masters  are  still 
best  protected  by  receiving  such  fugi- 
tives, as  well  as  fugitives  from  disloyal 
masters,  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  and  employing  them  under  such 
organizations  and  in  such  occupations  as 
circumstances  may  suggest  or  require. 
Of  course  a  record  should  be  kept  show- 
ing the  names  and  descriptions  of  the  fu- 
gitives, the  names  and  characters,  as  loy- 
al or  disloyal,  of  the  masters,  and  such 
facts  as  may  be  necessary  to  a  correct 
understanding  of  the  circumstances  of 
each  case. 

"After  tranquillity  shall  have  been 
restored  upon  the  return  of  peace,  Con- 
gress will  doubtless  properly  provide  for 
all  the  persons  thus  received  into  the 
service  of  the  Union,  and  for  a  just  com- 
pensation to  loyal  masters.  In  this  way 
only,  it  would  seem,  can  the  duty  and 
safety  of  the  Government  and  just  rights 
of  all  be  fully  reconciled  and  harmonized. 
You  will  therefore  consider  yourself  in- 
structed to.  govern  youF  future  action  in 
respect  to  fugitives  from  service  by  the 
premises  herein  stated,  and  will  report 


270 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


from  time  to  time,  and  at  least  twice  in 
each  month,  jour  action  in  the  premises 
to  this  Department.  You  will,  however, 
neither  authorize  nor  permit  any  inter- 
ference by  the  troops  under  your  com- 
mand with  the  servants  of  peaceable  cit- 
izens in  a  house  or  field,  nor  will  you  in 
any  manner  encourage  such  citizens  to 
leave  the  lawful  service  of  their  masters, 
nor  will  you,  except  in  cases  where  the 
public  good  may  seem  to  require  it.  pre- 
vent the  voluntary  return  of  any  fugitive 
to  the  service  from  which  he  may  have 
escaped."* 

On  the  2d  of  August,  to  check  an  in- 
creasing evil,  which  was  feared  at  the 
outset  as  one  of  the  greatest  dangers  of 
the  service,  General  Butler  issued  a  strin- 
gent order  regulating,  or  rather  forbid- 
ding, the  introduction  of  intoxicating  li- 
quors into  his  department.  The  charac- 
teristic phraseology  of  the  writer,  and 
certain  peculiarities  of  the  edict  in  its 
thoroughness,  and  the  impress  which  it 
bore,  in  the  unusual  application  to  the 
officers  of  a  "self-denying  ordinance," 
render  the  document  an  interesting  me- 
morial of  its  author's  rule  in  Virginia. 
The  order  read  thus:  —  "The  General 
commanding  was  informed  on  the  first 
day  of  the  month,  from  the  books  of  an 
unlicensed  liquor-dealer  near  this  post, 
and  by  the  effect  on  the  officers  and  sol- 
diers under  his  command,  that  use  of  intox- 
icating liquors  prevailed  to  an  alarming 
extent  among  the  officers  of  his  command. 
He  had  already  taken  measures  to  pre- 
vent its  use  among  the  men,  but  had  pre- 
sumed that  officers  and  gentlemen  might 
be  trusted  ;  but  he  finds  that,  as  a  rule,  in 
some  regiments  that  assumption  is  ill- 


*  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  to  Major-General 
Butler,  commanding  Department  of  Virginia,  August  8, 
1861. 


founded,  while  there  are  many  honorable 
exceptions  to  this  unhappy  state  of  facts  •, 
yet,  for  the  good  of  all,  some  stringent 
measures  upon  the  subject  are  necessary. 
Hereafter,  all  packages  brought  into  this 
department  for  any  officer,  of  whatever 
grade,  will  be  subjected  to  the  most  rigid 
inspection,  and  all  spirituous  and  intoxi- 
cating liquors  therein  will  be  taken  and 
turned  over  to  the  use  of  the  medical  de- 
partment. Any  officer  who  desires  may 
be  present  at  the  inspection  of  his  own 
packages.  No  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor 
will  be  allowed  in  this  department,  and 
any  citizen  selling  it  will  be  immediately 
sent  out.  If  any  officer  finds  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquor  necessary  for  his 
health,  or  the  health  of  any  of  his  men, 
a  written  application  to  the  medical  di- 
rector will  be  answered  ;  and  the  Gener- 
al is  confident  that  there  is  a  sufficient 
store  for  all  necessary  purposes.  The 
medical  director  will  keep  a  record  of  all 
such  applications,  the  name  of  the  appli- 
cant, date  of  application,  amount  and  kind 
of  liquor  delivered,  to  be  open  at  all 
times  for  public  inspection.  In  view  of 
the  alarming  increase  in  the  use  of  this 
deleterious  article,  the  General  earnestly 
exhorts  all  officers  and  soldiers  to  use 
their  utmost  exertions,  both  of  influence 
and  example,  to  prevent  the  wasting 
effects  of  this  scourge  of  all  armies.  The 
General  commanding  does  not  desire  to 
conceal  the  fact  that  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  the  use  of  wine  and  liquors  in 
his  own  quarters,  and  to  furnish  them  to 
his  friends  ;  but  as  he  desires  never  to 
ask  either  officers  or  men  to  undergo  any 
privation  which  he  will  not  share  with 
them,  he  will  not  exempt  himself  from 
the  operation  of  this  order,  but  will  not 
use  it  in  his  own  quarters,  as  he  would 
discourage  its  use  in  the  quarters  of  any 


L 


THE  BURNING  OF  HAMPTON. 


271 


other  officer.  Amid  the  many  sacrifices 
of  time,  property,  health,  and  life  which 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  his  command 
are  making  in  the  service  of  their  coun- 
try, the  General  commanding  feels  confi- 
dent that  this,  so  slight,  but  so  necessary 
a  sacrifice  of  a  luxury  and  pandering  to 
appetite,  will  be  borne  most  cheerfully, 
now  that  its  evil  is  seen  and  appreciated. 
This  order  will  be  published  by  reading 
at  the  head  of  every  battalion  at  their 
several  evening  parades." 

The  next  incident  of  interest  in  Gene- 
ral Butler's  department  was  the  destruc- 
tion of  Hampton  by  a  marauding  expe- 
dition of  the  rebels,  led  by  General  Ma- 
gruder.  The  town,  after  its  evacuation 
by  the  Union  forces,  was  not  occupied  by 
the  enemy,  though  they  were  free  to  visit 
it,  and  occasionally  came  in  parties,  har- 
assing the  few  negro  inhabitants  who 
lingered  about  the  place.  The  Union 
position,  meanwhile,  was  strongly  main- 
tained at  Newport  News,  and  the  lines 
extended  from  Fortress  Monroe  to  the 
vicinity  of  Hampton.  In  this  state  of 
affairs,  when  General  Butler  was  expect- 
ing reinforcements  for  further  operations, 
word  was  brought,  on  the  7th  of  August, 
of  the  appearance,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  town,  of  a  considerable  body  of 
troops  from  Yorktown.  The  rumors  were 
confirmed  in  the  afternoon  by  an  intelli- 
gent deserter  from  the  rebels,  Mr.  Ma- 
hew,  a  native  of  Maine,  who  had  been 
impressed  into  the  service  in  Georgia, 
who  reported  at  the  Fortress  that  Gener- 
al Magruder  was  at  Back  Eiver,  three 
miles  from  Hampton,  in  command  of  sev- 
eral regiments  of  Tennesseeans,  Georgi- 
ans, and  Alibamians,  with  two  hundred 
cavalry,  and  eight  pieces  of  artillery — a 
force  in  all  of  five  or  six  thousand  men, 
which  he  had  brought  out  with  the  view 


of  attacking  the  Union  position.  Meas- 
ures were  immediately  taken  to  prepare 
the  camps  for  the  conflict.  General 
Phelps,  at  Newport  News,  was  put  on 
his  guard,  and  Colonel  Max  Weber's 
German  regiment  at  Camp  Hamilton, 
between  the  Fortress  and  Hampton,  sup- 
plied with  extra  ammunition,  and  charged 
with  the  repulse  of  the  enemy  should 
he  present  himself.  The  bridge  across 
Hampton  River  was*  protected  midway 
by  a  barricade  of  boards,  at  which  a 
picket  was  stationed,  a  portion  of  the 
timbers  from  the  further  end  having  been 
removed.  About  midnight,  a  party  of 
several  hundred  of  the  rebels  made  their 
appearance  at  Hampton,  surrounded  and 
entered  the  town,  and  without  notice  to 
the  inhabitants,  immediately  began  to 
set  fire  to  the  buildings.  A  high  wind 
from  the  south  prevailing  at  the  time, 
and  the  houses  being  generally  of  wood 
the  conflagration  spread  with  rapidity. 
At  its  height,  the  line  of  flame  extended 
a  distance  of  two  miles,  illuminating  the 
country  round  about  with  its  brilliancy. 
It  was  a  spectacle  watched  with  fearful 
interest  by  the  anxious  observers  at 
Newport  News  and  Fortress  Monroe, 
who  may  well  have  regarded  the  desper- 
ate act  as  the  prelude  to  a  further  ruth- 
less onset  of  the  enemy.  Before  morn- 
ing the  whole  town,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  buildings  on  the  creek,  was  in 
smoking  ruins.  St.  John's  Episcopal 
Church,  the  second  oldest  church  in  the 
State — a  venerable  relic  of  the  past,  dat- 
ing from  the  early  part  of  the  last  cen- 
tury —  the  Court-House,  the  Presbyte- 
rian and  Baptist  churches,  the  military 
academy,  post-office,  and  all  the  public 
buildings  of  this  town  of  1,500  inhabit- 
ants were  consumed. 

Most  of  the  buildings  being  empty,  in 


272 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


consequence  of  the  abandonment  of  the 
town,  there  were  comparatively  few  per- 
sons left  to  experience  the  horrors  of  this 
barbarous  act  of  destruction.  There  were 
some,  however,  who  lingered  in  their  old 
homes,  a  score  or  so  of  whites  and  a 
larger  number  of  negroes,  upon  whom 
the  calamity  fell  with  all  its  terrors. 
Hastily  roused  from  their  beds,  these 
remaining  occupants  were  driven  out  to 
wander  through  the  nightr  seeking  a 
place  of  safety,  or,  spell  bound  and  un- 
able to  escape,  remained  to  witness  the 
burning  of  their  property.  To  add  to 
the  dangers  and  alarm  of  the  scene,  a 
sharp  firing  was  going  on  between  the 
Union  defenders  of  the  bridge  and  the 
rebels  on  the  shore. 

The  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Tribune  at  Fortress  Monroe,  writing  the 
next  day,  mentions  several  cases  of  pecu- 
liar hardship.  "  One  old,  half-dying, 
speechless,  and  utterly  helpless  man,  Mr. 
George  L.  Massenberg,  one  of  the  oldest 
inhabitants  of  the  place,  surrounded  by 
a  few  devoted  servants,  was  taken  by 
them  from  his  house,  near  the  bridge, 
and,  while  the  fight  was  going  on,  the 
flames  raging,  the  stifling  smoke  surging, 
and  bullets  whizzing  all  around,  was  re- 
moved on  a  wheelbarrow  to  a  point  on 
the  creek,  where  a  small  boat  was  found, 
in  which  he  was  taken  in  safety  to  our 
side.  To-day  he  found  security  and  at- 
tention in  the  fortress  hospital.  He  is 
an  undisguised  secessionist,  and,  though 
the  fact  was  as  well  known  as  any  other, 
he  received  neither  mercy  nor  the  mani- 
festation of  human  feelings  from  the  reb- 
els. But  for  the  devotion  of  his  servants 
he,  no  doubt,  would  have  perished  in  the 
flames  that  were  the  legitimate  conse- 
quences of  his  own  doctrines. 

"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  Jones,  two  old 


and  highly  respectable  people,  known  to 
sympathize  with  the  rebellion,  and  about 
the  only  couple  who  could  but  did  not 
flee  when  Hampton  was  deserted  three 
months  since,  and  who,  notwithstanding 
the  well-understood  views  of  Mr.  Jones, 
lived  in  undisturbed  quiet,  were  roused 
from  their  slumbers  and  scarcely  given 
time  to  dress.  They  did  take  out  a  very 
few  things  that  were  sacred  in  the  house- 
hold so  long  maintained,  and  now  so 
rudely  and  suddenly  set  in  flames,  and 
retreated  to  the  rear  of  the  yard  ;  and 
there  they  stood  all  night  silent,  solitary 
spectators  amid  the  glare  of  conflagra- 
tion, barely  escaping  the  flames  that  al- 
most lapped  them  in  their  folds.  This 
morning,  two  gentlemen,  old  acquaint- 
ances, solicitous  for  their  fate,  set  out 
from  the  fortress,  and,  at  their  own  risk, 
went  into  the  village  and  found  the  aged 
couple  standing  there  still  under  the  rays 
of  the  sun  that  were  scarcely  less  scorch- 
ing than  the  flames  that  all  night  had 
raged  around  them.  The  protection 
which  was  due  to  them  from  the  rebels, 
but  was  worse  than  denied  them,  was 
given  by  the  two  loyal  citizens,  who  by 
their  acts  evinced  that  fidelity  to  the 
Government  was  but  humanity  to  man. 
Certain  features  of  Mr.  Jones7  case  are 
peculiarly  aggravating.  In  the  after- 
noon, a  relative,  holding  an  office  in  the 
Secession  army,  came  to  his  house,  and 
after  enjoying  his  hospitalities,  informed 
him  that  the  order  was  out  to  burn  the 
village.  So  absurd  was  the  statement 
that  he  did  not  credit  it.  In  the  evening 
he  went  into  the  streets,  where  all  was 
quiet,  and  no  evidence  of  such  a  purpose. 
Rebel  guards  were  stationed ;  besides 
this,  there  was  nothing  unusual.  About 
ten  o'clock  he  returned  to  his  house  and 
retired.  Scarcely  had  the  aged  couple 


-Frvm,  tha  onainaZ  pai^itin^  fry  Chappd, 

Johnson,  Pry  fe  C?  Publishers,  ITerwTbfk. 


AC'viDu.  c&ib*  offla»ofl**ibjfm£courtciftj'r.  svuAem.  diftrusc  tr 


THE  REBEL  ACCOUNT. 


273 


fallen  asleep  when  they  were  aroused  by 
a  knock  at  the  door,  where  a  former 
neighbor,  and,  I  believe,  relative  of  Mr. 
Jones,  awaited  him,  and  informed  Jiim 
that  he  had  been  detailed  speciall^  to 
set  fire  to  his  dwelling.  Hurrying  back 
to  the  chamber  of  his  wife  and  informing 
her  of  the  message,  they  had  barely  time 
to  dress  themselves  and  flee  to  the  yard 
with  a  few  articles,  when  the  flames  burst 
through  the  house." 

It  was  at  first  thought  that  the  town 
had  been  burnt  under  some  military  ne- 
cessity by  the  orders  of  General  Butler, 
since  it  could  hardly  be  supposed  that 
the  enemy  would  thus  destroy  their  own 
homes  and  property.  But  the  fact  was 
soon  established  on  their  own  avowal. 
"The  town,"  said  the  Eichmond  Exam- 
iner of  the  12th,  in  an  account  of  the 
movement,  "was  burned  to  the  ground 
by  the  order  of  General  Magruder.  The 
expedition  for  its  destruction  was  com- 
posed of  the  Mecklenburg  Cavalry,  Cap- 
tain Goode  ;  Old  Dominion  Dragoons, 
Captain  Phillips  ;  York  Rangers,  Cap- 
tain Sinclair  ;  Warwick  Beauregards; 
Captain  Custis  ;  and  six  companies  of 
the  14th  Virginia  regiment,  the  whole 
force  being  under  the  command  of  Colo- 
nel James  J.  Hodges,  of  the  14th.  The 
town  was  most  effectually  fired.  But  a 
single  house  was  left  standing.  The  vil- 
lage church  was  intended  to  be  spared, 
but  caught  fire  accidentally,  and  was 
consumed  to  the  ground.  Many  of  the 
members  of  the  companies  were  citizens 
of  Hampton,  and  set  fire  to  their  own 
houses — among  others,  Captain  Sinclair 
fired  his  own  home.  It  was  supposed 
that  a  man  of  the  name  of  Paschal  Lati- 
mer  had  perished  in  one  of  the  burnt 
35 


houses  of  Hampton.  There  was  no  other 
casualty  known  to  have  occurred." 

The  only  explanation  given  by  the 
perpetrators  of  this  wanton  act  was  that 
the  place  might  be  occupied  by  the 
Union  troops,  who  were  understood  to 
be  on  the  way,  and  that  it  was  best  to 
destroy  it  to  deprive  them  of  such  a 
convenience.  If  there  was  any  signifi- 
cance to  be  attached  to  the  proceeding 
other  than  as  an  unaccountable  military 
blunder,  it  was  to  be  found  in  the  risinp" 

CD 

spirit  of  fanaticism  of  which  it  might  be 
taken  as  an  indication — a  fanaticism  en- 
couraged by  the  more  violent  of  the  rebel 
leaders  and  the  secession  journalists,  with 
the  same  motives  with  which  they  after- 
wards incited  their  deluded  followers 
to  the  burning  of  cotton  and  other  pro- 
ducts of  the  Southern  soil.  Courting  ruin 
as  a  means  of  gaining  independence,  it 
would  appear  that  the  conspirators  were 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  more 
desperate  the  cause  was  rendered  the 
more  persistent  would  be  the  rebellion  ; 
that  the  less  their  dupes  had  to  lose  the 
more  regardless  would  they  be  of  final 
consequences. 

A  few  days  after  the  destruction  of 
Hampton,  General  "Wool  was  ordered 
to  the  command  of  the  South  Eastern 
District  of  Yirginia,  with  his  headquar- 
ters at  Fortress  Monroe.  Immediately 
after  his  arrival  at  that  place,  on  the 
18th  of  August,  he  assigned  the  com- 
mand of  the  volunteer  forces  in  the  De- 
partment outside  the  fortress  to  General 
Butler,  who  presently  embarked,  with  a 
detachment  from  the  regiments  in  the 
joint  naval  and  military  expedition,  to 
Hatteras,  the  incidents  of  which  will  be 
related  in  a  future  chapter. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 


WESTERN    VIRGINIA. 


THE  vote  for  secession  cast  in  the 
Virginia  State  Convention  was  88  in 
favor  of  the  measure,  55  against  it. 
After  the  confirmation  of  the  act  by  the 
people,  the  Convention  again  assembled 
formally  to  complete  the  work  of  dis- 
union, when  there  were  but  91  of  the 
previous  143  members  present  to  sign 
the  ordinance.  The  recusants  in  the 
first  instance,  the  missing  names  after- 
ward, represented  the  dissent  of  the 
western  part  of  the  State.  The  divided 
vote  answered  generally  to  the  propor- 
tions of  the  separate  portions  of  the 
country,  whether  by  the  number  of  coun- 
ties or  their  population — the  western 
having  about  one-third  of  the  whole. 
There  was,  however,  one  important  ex- 
ception to  be  made  in  comparing  the 
number  of  inhabitants.  Whilst  the  slaves 
in  the  50  western  counties  were  counted 
at  15,000,  in  the  remaining  98  middle 
and  eastern  counties  they  numbered  more 
than  480,000  ;  and  of  the  last,  nine-tenths 
were  east  of  the  Blue  Eidge.  It  was  no- 
ticed also  that  of  the  increase  of  white 
population  in  the  whole  State  in  the  ten 
years,  from  1850  to  1860,  more  than 
one-half  belonged  to  the  western  region, 
a  striking  evidence  of  the  advances  mak- 
ing in  that  district  in  the  development 
of  its  agricultural  and  industrial  resources 
in  comparison  with  the  stagnation  in  the 
counties  more  favored  in  many  respects 
on  the  seaboard.  That  extensive  west- 
ern region,  bounded  by  the  Alleghany 


mountains  and  the  Ohio  river,  and  bor- 
dering on  the  north  upon  Pennsylvania, 
had  little  indeed  in  common  with  the 
slaveholding,  slavetrading  interests  and 
Southern  s3Tmpathies  of  the  eastern  di- 
vision. Thus  socially  and  industrially, 
as  well  as  geographically,  separated  from 
their  brethren,  and  complaining  morn- 
over  of  an  unequal  burden  of  taxation, 
which,  in  consequence  of  the  immunities 
secured  in  the  legislature  by  the  slave- 
holders, they  were  compelled  to  bear  for 
the  great  works  of  improvement  under- 
taken for  the  benefit  of  the  other  portions 
of  the  State,*  it  was  hardly  to  be  expect- 
ed that  when  the  paramount  question 
was  raised  of  union  or  disunion  they 
would  patiently  submit  to  an  evil  which 
•would  throw  all  others  into  the  shade,  in 
the  severance  of  the  State  from  that  na- 
tional government  under  the  protection 
of  which  they  had  their  greatest  hopes 
of  prosperity. 

Accordingly,  when  by  the  act  of  the 
17th  of  April  the  State  Convention  had 
declared  its  purpose  of  disunion,  and  the 
western  members,  unable  to  stem  the 
torrent,  had  fled  or  were  driven  igno- 
miniously  from  the  capital,  it  required 
but  little  agitation  to  array  Virginia  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Alleghanies,  in  op- 
position to  the  usurping  authority  at 
Eichmond.  The  people  consulted  to- 


*  See  Henry  C.  Carey's  letter  to  an  English  economist 
on  the  Rights  of  Southern  Freemen,  Philadelphia,  Auguat 
12,  1861. 


THE   CONVENTION  RESOLUTIONS. 


275 


gether,  assemblies  were  held  in  the  coun- 
ties, and  the  course  taken  by. Governor 
Letcher  and  the  seceding  members  of  the 
Convention  was  generally  condemned. 
At  a  meeting  at  Clarksburg,  an  import- 
ant central  position  in  Harrison  county, 
on  the  22d  of  April,  when  the  country 
was  in  the  first  flush  of  popular  excite- 
ment consequent  on  the  fall  of  Sumter, 
the  initial  step  was  taken  for  the  separa- 
tion of  Western  Virginia  from  the  evil 
counsels  which  prevailed  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  State.  With  a  full  deter- 
mination of  maintaining  their  old  alle- 
giance to  the  Union,  delegates  were  on 
that  occasion  appointed  to  meet  others 
recommended  to  be  chosen  by  the  north- 
western counties,  in  a  Convention  at 
Wheeling  on  the  13th  May,  to  take  such 
action  as  might  be  thought  necessary  at 
this  imminent  crisis.  The  suggestion 
was  generally  adopted,  and  on  the  desig- 
nated day  the  representatives  of  35 
counties  assembled  at  the  appointed 
place.  A  strong  disposition  was  mani- 
fested by  a  number  of  its  members, 
among  whom  John  S.  Carlile,  who  had 
resolutely  withstood  the  secession  move- 
ment in  the  Richmond  Convention  was 
prominent,  to  dissolve  all  political  con- 
nection with  the  State,  and  adopt  a  new 
organization  under  the  title  of  the  State 
of  New  Virginia.  There  were  obstacles, 
however,  in  the  way  of  so  simple  a  solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty,  both  in  principle 
and  practice.  The  separation  project 
seemed  to  favor  the  Southern  doctrine 
of  secession,  and  it  would  not  be  easy  to 
adjust  the  boundaries  or  responsibilities 
of  the  new  State. 

For  the  present  the  Convention  con- 
tented itself  with  declaring  the  ordinance 
of  secession  "  unconstitutional,  null  and 
void  ;"  the  agreement  which  had  been 


made  at  Richmond,  placing  the  whole 
military  power  of  the  Slate  under  the 
direction  of  the  confederate  President 
Jefferson  Davis,  "  a  plain  and  palpable 
violation  of  the  Constitution  of  our  State, 
and  utterly  subversive  of  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  good  people  thereof," 
whilst  it  was  earnestly  recommended  to 
their  fellow  citizens  of  the  State  at  the 
approaching  election  "  to  vindicate  their 
rights  as  Virginia  freemen,  by  voting 
against  said  ordinance  of  secession,  and 
all  other  measures  of  like  character,  so 
far  as  they  may  be  made  known  to  them." 
The  people  were  also  urged  to  vote  for 
members  of  Congress  of  the  United  States 
in  their  several  districts,  in  the  exercise 
of  the  rights  secured  to  them  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of 
Virginia,  the  prohibition  of  such  election 
attached  to  the  secession  ordinance  being 
pronounced  "  a  manifest  usurpation  of 
power,  to  which  we  as  Virginia  freemen 
ought  not,  cannot,  and  will  not  submit." 
Members,  it  was  advised,  should  be 
elected  as  usual  to  the  Virginia  House 
of  Delegates.  In  deference  to  the  desire 
for  an  independent  administration  of  their 
affairs,  and  with  an  eye  perhaps  to  the 
professions  of  the  confederate  constitu- 
tion in  its  lax  theory  of  secession,  it  was 
resolved,  "  that  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  con- 
ceded political  axiom  that  government  is 
founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
and  is  instituted  for  their  good,  and  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  course  pur- 
sued by  the  ruling  power  in  the  State  is 
utterly  subversive  and  destructive  of  our 
interests,  we  believe  we  may  rightfully 
and  successfully  appeal  to  the  proper  au- 
thorities of  B  Virginia  to  permit  us  peace- 
fully and  lawfully  to  separate  from  the 
residue  of  the  State,  and  form  ourselves 
into  a  government  to  give  effect  to  the 


276 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


wishes,  views  and  interests  of  our  con- 
stituents." Adopting  the  language  of 
Washington,  it  was  resolved  to  "keep 
steadily  in  our  view  that  which  appears 
to  us  the  greatest  interest  of  every  true 
American,  the  consolidation  of  our  Union, 
in  which  is  involved  our  property,  felici- 
ty, safety,  and  perhaps  our  national  ex- 
istence." As  a  practical  illustration  of 
this  far-seeing  injunction  of  the  Father 
of  his  Country,  it  was  declared  that  "in 
view  of  the  geographical,  social,  com- 
mercial and  industrial  interests  of  north- 
western Virginia,  the  Virginia  Conven- 
tion,, in  assuming  to  change  the  relations 
of  the  State  of  Virginia  to  the  Federal 
Government,  have  not  only  acted  un- 
wisely and  unconstitutionally,  but  have 
adopted  a  policy  utterly  ruinous  to  our 
section,  severing  all  our  social  ties  and 
drying  up  all  the  channels  of  our  trade 
and  prosperity."  In  case  the  ordinance 
of  secession,  which  it  will  be  remembered 
was  to  be  submitted  to  the  people  on  the 
23d  May,*  should  be  ratified  by  a  vote, 
the  people  were  recommended  to  send 
delegates  to  a  general  Convention  to  be 
held  on  the  llth  of  June,  "to  devise 
such  measures  and  take  such  action  as 
the  safety  and  welfare  of  the  people  they 
represent  may  demand." 

These  resolutions  of  their  representa- 
tives were  recommended  to  the  people 
by  a  well  enforced  appeal,  prepared  by 
a  special  committee  of  the  Convention, 
of  which  Mr.  Carlile  was  placed  at  the 
head.  The  address  presented  the  inter- 
ests at  stake  in  a  manner  admirably  cal- 
culated to  arrest  attention,  as  it  dwelt 
upon  the  heartless  efforts  of  the  conspira- 
tors to  drag  a  people  content  with  their 
liberties  and  their  prosperity  into  a  re- 
bellion which  would  deprive  them  of  "  a 

*  Ante,  p.  151-2. 


title  more  honored,  respected  and  re- 
vered, than  that  of  king  or  potentate — 
the  title  of  American  citizen."  The 
darkness  and  secrecy  with  which  the 
work  of  secession  was  arrayed  and  con- 
summated, were  pointed  out  as  just 
proofs  of  its  iniquity,  and  the  inevitable 
consequences  of  the  act  to  its  perpetrators 
were  exhibited  in  "  bankruptcy,  ruin, 
civil  war,  ending  in  military  despotism." 
Virginians  were  appealed  to  while  yet  it 
was  in  their  power  to  rescue  themselves 
from  a  tyranny  "  worse  many  times  than 
that  from  which  the  war  of  '76  delivered 
us — not  the  tyranny  of  one  man  but  of 
many."  A  point  was  made  in  a  spirited 
reply  to  the  more  candid  than  judicious 
declaration  of  Howell  Cobb,  late  of  Presi- 
dent Buchanan's  cabinet,  now  president 
of  the  rebel  Congress,  in  one  of  his  South- 
ern speeches,  that  "the  people  of  the 
Grulf  States  need  have  no  apprehensions  ; 
they  might  go  on  with  their  planting  and 
other  business  as  usual ;  the  war  would 
not  come  to  their  section  ;  its  theatre 
would  be  along  the  borders  of  the  Ohio 
river  and  in  Virginia."  By  the  side  of 
this  not  altogether  prudent  anticipation, 
as  it  turned  out,  was  placed  the  more 
thoughtful  appeal  of  Daniel  Webster  to 
the  citizens  of  Virginia,  uttered  at  the 
laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  addition 
to  the  capitol  in  1851.  "Ye  men  of 
the  Blue  Eidge,"  said  the  far-seeing 
statesman  on  that  occasion,  "  many  thou- 
sands of  whom  are  nearer  to  this  capital 
than  the  seat  of  government  of  your  own 
State,  what  dp  you  think  of  breaking  up 
this  great  association  into  fragments  of 
States  and  of  people  ?  I  know  that  some 
of  you  and  I  believe  that  you  all  would 
be  almost  as  much  shocked  at  the  an- 
nouncement of  such  a  catastrophe  as  if 
you  were  informed  that  the  Blue  Ridge 


SENATOR  MASON'S  LETTER. 


277 


itself  would  soon  totter  from  its  base— 
and  ye,  men  of  Western  Virginia,  who 
occupy  the  slope  from  the  Alleghanies  to 
Ohio  and  Kentucky,  what  benefit  do  you 
propose  to  yourselves  by  disunion  ?  If 
you  secede,  what  do  you  '  secede  '  from, 
and  what  do  you  '  secede  '  to  ?  Do  you 
look  for  the  current  of  the  Ohio  to  change 
and  to  bring  you  and  your  commerce  to 
the  tide-waters  of  eastern  rivers  ?  What 
man  in  his  senses  can  suppose  that  one 
would  remain  part  and  parcel  of  Vir- 
ginia  in  a  month  after  Virginia  had 
ceased  to  be  a  part  and  parcel  of  the 
United  States  ?"  Thus  ten  years  before 
the  event,  when  the  word  '  secede '  was 
so  new  to  our  every-day  language  that 
it  was  printed  with  quotation  marks,  did 
Webster  in  this  truly  remarkable  proph- 
ecy, arguing  from  the  testimony  of  the 
mountains  and  rivers,  predict  the  neces- 
sity thrown  upon  Western  Virginia  in 
1861. 

The  occasion  for  the  assembly  of  the 
new  Convention  of  the  people  of  that 
region  arose  as  was  foreseen.  The  ef- 
forts of  the  Union  people  to  gain  a  hear- 
ing for  their  cause  previous  to  the  ratify- 
ing secession  vote  ordered  on  the  23d  of 
May  were  futile.  When  the  actual  vote 
was  announced  it  stood  128,884  for  se- 
cession, to  32,134  against.  How  that 
melancholy  result,  so  discreditable  to  the 
honor  of  Virginia  as  a  State  once  the 
keystone  of  the  Union,  was  in  some 
measure  at  least,  spite  of  the  prevailing 
Southern  fanaticism,  brought  about,  we 
may  gather  from  an  extraordinary  letter 
written  a  few  days  before  the  vote  was 
taken,  by  Senator  Mason — a  document 
quite  too  significant  ever  to  be  omitted 
from  the  history  of  Virginia.  It  was  a 
species  of  circular  reply  to  the  pressing 
interrogatories  of  the  day,  and  was  ad- 


dressed to  the  editor  of  the  Winchester 
Virginian,  May  16,  ai.d  read  as  fol- 
lows :—  "  The  question  has  been  fre- 
quently put  to  me,  What  position  will 
Virginia  occupy,  should  the  ordinance  of 
secession  be  rejected  by  the  people  at 
the  approaching  election  ?  And  the  fre- 
quency of  the  question  may  be  an  excuse 
for  giving  publicity  to  the  answer.  The 
ordinance  of  secession  withdrew  the  State 
of  Virginia  from  the  Union,  with  all  the 
consequences  resulting  from  the  separa- 
tion. It  annulled  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  within  the 
limits  of  this  State,  and  absolved  the  citi- 
zens of  Virginia  from  all  obligations  and 
obedience  to  them.  "Hence  it  follows,  if 
this  ordinance  be  rejected  by  the  people, 
the  State  of  Virginia  will  remain  in  the 
Union,  and  the  people  of  the  State  will 
remain  bound  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  obedience  to  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  will  be  fully  and  rightfully  en- 
forced against  them.  It  follows,  of  course, 
that  in  this  war  now  carried  on  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  against 
the  seceding  States,  Virginia  must  imme- 
diately change  sides,  and,  under  the  or- 
ders of  that  Government,  turn  her  arms 
against  her  Southern  sisters.  From  this 
there  can  be  no  escape.  As  a  member 
of  the  Union,  all  her  resources  of  men 
and  money  will  be  at  once  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  Government  of  the  Union. 
Again  :  For  mutual  defence,  immediately 
after  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  passed, 
a  treaty,  or  '  military  league '  was  formed 
by  the  Convention,  in  the  name  of  the 
people  of  Virginia,  with  the  Confederate 
States  of  the  South,  by  which  the  latter 
were  bound  to  march  to  tho  aid  of  our 
State,  against  the  invasion  of  the  Federal 
Government,  And  we  have  now  in  Vir- 


278 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


ginia,  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  at  Norfolk, 
in  face  of  the  common  foe,  several  thou- 
sand of  the  gallant  sons  of  South  Caro- 
lina, of  Alabama,  of  Louisiana,  Georgia, 
and  Mississippi,  who  hastened  to  fulfil 
the  covenant  they  made,  and  are  ready 
and  eager  to  lay  down  .their  lives,  side 
by  side,  with  our  sons  in  defence  of  the 
soil  of  Yirginia.  If  the  Ordinance  of  Se- 
cession is  rejected,  not  only  will  this 
'  military  league '  be  annulled,  but  it  will 
have  been  made  a  trap  to  inveigle  our 
generous  defenders  into  the  hands  of 
their  enemies.  Virginia  remaining  in 
the  Union,  duty  and  loyalty  to  her  obli- 
gations to  the  Union  will  require  that 
those  Southern  forces  shall  not  be  per- 
mitted to  leave  the  State,  but  shall  be 
delivered  up  to  the  Government  of  the 
Union  ;  and  those  who  refuse  to  do  so, 
will  be  guilty  of  treason,  and  be  justly 
dealt  with  as  traitors.  Treason  against 
the  United  States  consists,  as  well  '  in 
adhering  to  its  enemies  and  giving  them 
aid,7  as  in  levying  war.  If  it  be  asked, 
what  are  those  to  do  who  in  their  con- 
sciences cannot  vote  to  separate  Virginia 
from  the  United  States,  the  answer  is 
simple  and  plain  :  honor  and  duty  alike 
require  that  they  should  not  vote  on  the 
question  ;  if  they  retain  such  opinions, 
they  must  leave  the  State.  None  can 
doubt  or  question  the  truth  of  what  I 
have  written,  and  none  can  vote  against 
the  Ordinance  of  Secession  who  do  not 
thereby  (whether  ignorantly  or  other- 
wise) vote  to  place  himself  and  his  State 
in  the  position  I  have  indicated." 

Thus,  under  the  false  plea  of  honor, 
one  who  should  have  been  the  guardian 
of  the  welfare  of  the  State,  used  his 
position  and  influence  to  draw  her  on  to 
inevitable  ruin.  It  is  not  to  be  denied, 
however,  that,  under  the  prevailing  in- 


fluences of  the  day  of  pride,  prejudice, 
misconception,  love  of  independence,  or 
whatever  may  have  been  the  motive  of 
action,  there  were  calmer  voices  in  Vir- 
ginia than  those  of  the  politicians  of  the 
school  of  Mason,  in  favor  of  the  separa- 
tion movement.  The  venerable  Bishop 
Meade,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  the 
fullness  of  years,  beloved  and  respected 
through  a  long  and  amiable  career  of 
ministerial  duty,  in  a  charge  to  the  Con- 
vention of  his  church,  sitting  at  Rich- 
mond in  May  —  the  last  which  he  was 
destined  thus  to  address — uttered  this 
word  of  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  dis- 
union and  prophecy  of  its  final  success. 
"  It  has  pleased  God,"  said  he,  "to  permit 
a  great  calamity  to  come  upon  us.  Our 
whole  country  is  preparing  for  war.  Our 
own  State,  after  failing  in  her  earnest 
effort  for  the  promotion  of  peace,  is,  per- 
haps, more  actively  engaged  in  all  need- 
ful measures  for  maintaining  the  position 
which  she  has,  after  much  consideration, 
deliberately  assumed,  than  any  portion 
of  the  land.  A  deeper  and  more  honest 
conviction  that,  if  war  should  actually 
come  upon  us,  it  will  be,  on  our  part, 
one  of  self-defence,  and  therefore  justi- 
fiable before  God,  seldom  if  ever  ani- 
mated the  breasts  of  those  who  appealed 
to  arms.  From  this  consideration,  and 
from  my  knowledge  of  the  character  of 
our  people,  I  believe  that  the  object 
sought  for  will  be  most  perseveringly  pur- 
sued, whatever  sacrifice  of  life,  and  com- 
fort, and  treasure  may  be  required.  Nor 
do  I  entertain  any  doubt  as  to  the  final 
result,  though  I  shudder  at  the  thought 
of  what  may  intervene  before  that  result 
is  secured.  May  God,  in  his  great  mercy 
and  with  his  mighty  power,  interpose,  and 
grant  us  speedy  peace  instead  of  pro- 
tracted war.  But  can  it  be,  that  at  this 


SENTIMENTS   OF  BISHOP  MEADE. 


279 


period  of  the  world,  when  so  many 
prayers  are  offered  up  for  the  establish- 
ment of  Christ's  kingdom  in  all  the  earth, 
and  such  high  hopes  are  entertained  that 
the  zealous  efforts  put  forth  will  be  suc- 
cessful, and  our  country  be  one  of  the 
most  effective  and  honored  instruments 
for  producing  the  same,  that  the  great 
work  shall  be  arrested  by  such  a  fratri- 
cidal war  as  that  which  is  now  so  seri- 
ously threatened?  Is  there  not  room 
enough  for  us  all  to  dwell  together  in 
peace  in  this  widely  extended  country, 
so  large  a  portion  of  which  is  not  yet 
settled,  and  may  not  be  until  the  world 
that  now  is  shall  be  no  more  ?  The  fam- 
ilies or  nations  which  sprung  from  two 
venerable  patriarchs  of  old,  could  find 
room  enough  in  the  little  pent  up  land 
of  Judea  to  live  in  peace,  by  going  the 
one  to  one  hand,  and  the  other  to  the 
opposite.  At  a  later  period,  when  Israel 
and  Judah  separated,  and  the  latter, 
having  the  city  and  temple  in  possession, 
and  the  supremacy  according  to  prophe- 
cy, was  preparing  to  go  up  against  the 
former,  and  reduce  the  people  to  sub- 
mission and  bjring  them  back  to  Union, 
the  Lord  himself  came  down  and  forbade 
it,  saying,  '  Thou  shalt  not  go  up,  nor 
fight  against  your  brethren,  the  children 
of  Israel.  Return  every  man  to  his 
house,  for  this  thing  is  of  me.'  And 
they  hearkened  unto  the  Lord,  and  ever 
after  the  history  of  the  two  kingdoms  is 
written  in  the  same  sacred  volume  in 
which  are  also  recorded  the  evidence  of 
God's  favor  to  both,  and  though  some- 
times at  controversy,  yet  how  often  were 
they  found  side  -by  side  defending  the 
ancient  boundaries  of  Judea  against  sur- 
rounding nations.  God  grant  that  our 
country  may  learn  a  lesson  from  this 
sacred  narrative.  Let  none  think  that  I 


am  unmindful  of  law  and  order,  and  of 
the  blessings  of  Union.  I  was  trained  in 
a  different  school.  I  have  clung  with 
tenacity  to  the  hope  of  preserving  the 
Union  to  the  last  moment.  If  I  know 
my  own  heart,  could  the  sacrifice  of  the 
poor  remnant  of  my  life  have  contributed 
in  any  degree  to  its  maintenance,  such 
sacrifice  would  have  been  cheerfully 
made.  But  the  developments  of  public 
feeling  and  the  course  of  our  rulers  have 
brought  me  slowly,  reluctantly,  sorrow- 
fully, yet  most  decidedly,  to  the  painful 
conviction  that,  notwithstanding  attend- 
ant dangers  and  evils,  we  shall  consult 
the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  whole 
land  by  separation.  And  who  can  de- 
sire to  retain  a  Union  which  has  now 
become  so  hateful,  and  by  the  application 
of  armed  force,  which,  if  successful, 
would  make  it  tenfold  more  hateful,  and 
soon  lead  to  the  repetition  of  the  same 
bloody  contests  ?  I  trust,  therefore,  that 
the  present  actual  separation  of  so  many 
and  such  important  portions  of  our  coun- 
try may  take  place  without  further  col- 
lision, which  might  greatly  hinder  the 
establishment  of  the  most  friendly  and 
intimate  relations  which  can  consist  with 
separate  establishments.  I  trust  that 
our  friends  at  a  distance,  and  now  in 
opposition  to  us,  will  most  seriously  re- 
view their  judgment,  and  inquire  whether 
the  evils  resulting  from  a  war  to  sustain 
their  wishes  and  opinions  as  to  a  single 
Confederacy,  will  not  far  exceed  those 
apprehended  from  the  establishment  of  a 
second — an  event  far  more  certain  than 
the  result  of  the  American  Revolution  at 
the  time  of  its  occurrence." 

On  the  llth  June,  delegates  from  forty 
counties  of  Virginia — thirty-five  to  the 
west  and  five  to  the  east  of  the  Allegha- 
nies,  met  pursuant  to  the  recomrnenda- 


280 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tion  which  had  been  issued,  at  Wheeling. 
In  the  deliberations  which  ensued,  the 
separation  theory  of  the  previous  con- 
vention was  dropped,  and  another  of  a 
more  plausible  and  less  objectionable 
character  adopted  in  its  place.  It  was 
now  maintained  that  the  government  at 
Richmond,  having  violated  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  State,  its  authority  was  there- 
by annulled,  and  that  the  offices  of  all 
who  adhered  to  the  usurping  convention 
and  executive  were,  ipso  facto,  vacant. 
After  a  few  days'  discussion,  this  view 
was  found  to  prevail,  and  a  Declaration, 
setting  forth  the  motives  of  the  decision, 
and  an  Ordinance  for  the  Reorganization 
of  the  State  Government  were  passed  by 
a  nearly  unanimous  vote.  The  Declara- 
tion, brief  and  well-written,  in  simple 
and  forcible  words,  exhibited  the  situa- 
tion to  which  the  State  had  been  brought 
and  which  seemed  fully  to  demand  this 
extraordinary  action.  It  read  as  follows : 
"The  true  purpose  of  all  government 
is  to  promote  the  welfare  and  provide  for 
the  protection  and  security  of  the  gov- 
erned, and  when  any  form  of  organization 
of  government  proves  inadequate  for,  or 
subversive  of  this  purpose,  it  is  the  right, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  latter  to  alter  or 
abolish  it.  The  Bill  of  Rights  of  Virgi- 
nia, framed  in  1776,  reaffirmed  in  1830, 
and  again  in  1851,  expressly  reserves 
this  right  to  the  majority  of  her  people, 
and  the  existing  Constitution  does  not 
confer  upon  the  General  Assembly  the 
power  to  call  a  Convention  to  alter  its 
provisions,  or  to  change  the  relations  of 
the  Commonwealth,  without  the  pre- 
viously expressed  consent  of  such  a 
majority.  The  act  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, calling  the  Convention  which 
assembled  at  Richmond  in  February  last, 
was  therefore  a  usurpation  ;  a/id  the  Con- 


vention thus  called  has  not  only  abused 
the  powers  nominally  entrusted  to  it, 
but,  with  the  connivance  and  active  aid 
of  the  Executive,  has  usurped  and  exer- 
cised other  powers,  to  the  manifest  injury 
of  the  people,  which,  if  permitted,  will 
inevitably  subject  them  to  a  military 
despotism. 

"The  Convention,  by  its  pretended 
ordinances,  has  required  the  people  of 
Virginia  to  separate  from  and  to  wage 
war  against  the  Government  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  and  against  the  citizens  of  the 
neighboring  States,  with  whom  they  have 
heretofore  maintained  friendly,  social, 
and  business  relations.  It  has  attempted 
to  subvert  the  Union  founded  by  Wash- 
ington and  his  co-patriots  in  the  purer 
days  of  the  Republic,  which  has  confer- 
red unexampled  prosperity  upon  every 
class  of  citizens  and  upon  every  section 
of  the  country.  It  has  attempted  to 
transfer  the  allegiance  of  the  people  to  an 
illegal  confederacy  of  rebellious  States, 
and  required  their  submission-to  its  pre- 
tended edicts  and  decrees.  It  has  at- 
tempted to  place  the  whole  military 
force  and  military  operations  of  the 
Commonwealth  under  the  control  and 
direction  of  such  Confederacy,  for  offen- 
sive as  well  as  defensive  purposes.  It 
has,  in  conjunction  with  the  State  Execu- 
tive, instituted  wherever  their  usurped 
power  extends,  a  reign  of  terror,  intend- 
ed to  suppress  the  free  expression  of  the 
will  of  the  people,  making  elections  a 
mockery  and  a  fraud.  The  same  combi- 
nation, even  before  the  passage  of  the 
pretended  Ordinance  of  Secession,  insti- 
tuted war  by  the  seizure  and  appropria- 
tion of  the  property  of  the  Federal 
Government,  and  by  organizing  and 
mobilizing  armies,  with  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  capturing  or  destroying  the 


GOVERNOR  PIERPONTS  ADDRESS. 


281 


Capital  of  the  Union.  They  have  at- 
tempted to  bring  the  allegiance  of  the 
United  States  into  direct  conflict  with 
their  subordinate  allegiance  to  the  State, 
thereby  making  obedience  to  their  pre- 
tended Ordinance  treason  against  the 
former. 

"  We,  therefore,  the  delegates  here 
assembled  in  Convention  to  devise  such 
measures  and  take  such  action  as  the 
safety  and  welfare  of  the  loyal  citizens 
of  Virginia  may  demand,  having  mutual- 
ly considered  the  premises,  and  viewing 
with  great  concern  the  deplorable  condi- 
tion to  which  this  once  happy  Common- 
wealth must  be  reduced,  unless  some 
regular  adequate  remedy  is  speedily 
adopted,  and  appealing  to  the  Supreme 
Ruler  of  the  Universe  for  the  rectitude 
of  our  intentions,  do  hereby  in  the  name 
and  on  behalf  of  the  good  people  of  Vir- 
ginia, solemnly  declare,  that  the  preser- 
vation of  their  dearest  rights  and  liber- 
ties, and  their  security  in  person  and 
property,  imperatively  demand  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  Government  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  that  all  acts  of  said 
Convention  and  Executive,  tending  to 
separate  this  Commonwealth  from  the 
United  States,  or  to  levy  or  carry  on 
war  against  them,  are  without  authority 
and  void  ;  and  the  offices  of  all  who  ad- 
here to  the  said  Convention  and  Execu- 
tive, whether  legislative,  executive,  or 
judicial,  are  vacated." 

The  ordinance  for  the  reorganization 
of  the  State  government,  carrying  out 
the  intentions  of  the  Declaration,  pro- 
vided for  the  appointment  by  the  present 
Convention  of  a  Governor  and  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor  for  the  State  of  Virginia, 
in  place  of  the  disloyal  functionaries  at 
Richmond,  an  Executive  Council,  and  a 
Legislature  composed  of  the  delegates  to 
36 


the  General  Assembly  chosen  in  May, 
and  the  Senators  entitled  under  existing 
laws  to  seats  in  the  next  General  As- 
sembly who  should  qualify  themselves 
by  taking  a  prescribed  oath  pledging 
their  support  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  the  laws  made  in  pur- 
suance thereof  as  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land,  anything  in  the  ordinances  of  the 
Richmond  Convention  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding,  and  to  uphold  and  de- 
fend the  government  ordained  by  the 
Convention  at  Wheeling.  On  the  20th 
June,  the  day  after  the  passage  of  the 
ordinance,  the  Convention  elected  under 
its  sanction  Francis  H.  Pierpont,  of  Marion 
County,  Provisional  Governor,  and  Dan- 
iel Paesly,  of  the  same  county,  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Virginia. 

In  the  remarks  delivered  by  Governoi 
Pierpont  to  the  Convention  in  accepting 
the  office  which  had  been  thus  conferred 
upon  him,  a  passage  occurs  evidently  in- 
dicating a  prevailing  state  of  feeling  in 
the  people  of  the  north-western  region, 
in  reference  to  the  character  of  the  re- 
bellion in  its  relations  to  the  democracy 
of  the  country.  "A  new  doctrine,"  said 
he,  "  has  been  introduced  by  those  who 
are  at  the  head  of  the  revolution  in  our 
Southern  States — that  the  people  are  not 
the  source  of  all  power.  Those  promul- 
gating this  doctrine  have  tried  to  divide 
the  people  into  two  classes  ;  one  they 
call  the  laboring  class,  the  other  the 
capital  class.  They  have  for  several 
years  been  industriously  propagating 
the  idea  that  the  capital  of  the  country 
ought  to  represent  the  legislation  of  the 
country,  and  guide  it  and  direct  it  ; 
maintaining  that  it  is  dangerous  for  the 
labor  of  the  country  to  enter  into  the 
legislation  of  the  country.  This  is  the 
principle  that  has  characterized  the  revo- 


282 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


lution  that  has  been  inaugurated  in  the 
South  ;  they  maintaining  that  those  who 
are  to  have  the  privilege  of  voting  ought 
to  be  of  the  educated  class,  and  that  the 
legislation  ought  not  to  be  represented 
by  the  laboring  classes.  We  in  Western 
Virginia,  and,  as  I  suppose,  in  the  whole 
of  Virginia,  adopted  the  great  doctrine 
of  the  fathers  of  the  Republic,  that  in 
the  people  resides  all  power ;  and  that 
embraced  all  people.  This  revolution 
has  been  inaugurated  upon  the  principle 
of  making  a  distinction  upon  the  princi- 
ples that  I  have  indicated.  We  of  West- 
ern Virginia  have  not  been  consulted 
upon  that  subject.  The  large  body  of 
your  citizens  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State  have  not  been  consulted  upon  that 
subject.  American  institutions  lie  near 
to  the  breast  of  the  masses  of  the  people 
all  over  this  country,  from  one  end  of  it 
to  the  other,  though  not  as  nearly  per- 
haps in  Louisiana,  Georgia  and  Texas, 
as  in  some  of  the  western  and  northern 
States.  This  idea  has  been  advanced 
only  in  portions  of  Virginia.  She  has 
stood  firm  by  the  doctrines  of  the  Fath- 
ers of  the  Revolution,  up  to  within  a 
very  short  period.  Its  propagators  have 
attempted  to  force  it  upon  us  by  terror, 
and  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  We 
have  been  driven  into  the  position  we 
occupy  to-day,  by  the  usurpers  at  the 
South,  who  have  inaugurated  this  war 
upon  the  soil  of  Virginia,  and  have  made 
it  the  great  Crimea  of  this  contest.  We, 
representing  the  loyal  citizens  of  Vir- 
ginia, have  been  bound  to  assume  the 
position  we  have  assumed  to-day,  for 
the  protection  of  ourselves,  our  wives, 
our  children  and  our  property.  We,  I 
repeat,  have  been  driven  to  assume  this 
position  ;  and  now  we  are  but  recurring 
to  the  great  fundamental  principle  of 


our  fathers,  that  to  the  loyal  people  of  a 
State  belongs  the  law-making  power  of 
that  State.  The  loyal  people  are  en- 
titled to  the  government  and  govern- 
mental authority  of  the  State.  And, 
fellow-citizens,  it  is  the  assumption  of 
that  authority  upon  which  we  are  now 
about  to  enter.  It  will  be  for  us  by 
firmness  and  by  prudence,  by  wisdom, 
by  discretion  in  all  our  acts,  to  inaugur- 
ate every  step  we  take  for  the  purpose 
of  restoring  law  and  order  to  this  an- 
cient Commonwealth  ;  to  mark  well  our 
steps,  and  to  implore  the  divine  wisdom 
and  direction  of  Him  that  ruleth  above, 
who  has  every  hair  of  our  heads  num- 
bered, and  who  suffereth  not  a  sparrow 
to  fall  unnoticed  to  the  ground,  and  His 
guidance  and  direction  in  enabling  us  to 
carry  out  the  great  work  we  have  under- 
taken here,  in  humility,  but  with  deci- 
sion and  determination." 

The  Wheeling  Convention  having  done 
its  work  adjourned.  It  had,  as  was 
claimed  by  Governor  Pierpont,  in  a  sub- 
sequent message  to  the  Legislature,  "at- 
tempted no  change  of  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  State,  for  light  and  transient 
causes.  The  alterations  adopted  were 
such  only  as  were  imperatively  required 
by  the  necessity  of  the  case,  to  give  vi- 
tality and  force  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
State  and  enable  it  to  operate  in  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  we  are  placed. 
It  attempted  no  revolution.  Whatever 
others  may  have  done,  we  remain,  as  we 
were,  citizens  of  Virginia,  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  recognizing  and  obeying 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  both."* 
The  wheels  of  the  new  government  being 
thus  set  in  motion,  according  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  reorganization  ordinance, 
Governor  Pierpont  called  the  Delegates 

*  Message  of  Governor  Pierpont,  July,  1861. 


REPLY   OF  THE   ADMINISTRATION. 


283 


to  the  General  Assembly  and  the  Sena- 
tors who  had  been  chosen  under  the  laws 
in  May,  to  meet  as  the  new  Legislature 
on  the  first  of  July.  The  new  govern- 
ment was  recognized  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  an  election  was  held 
for  members  of  Congress,  according  to 
the  apportionment  under  the  recent  Cen- 
sus, and  two  senators,  John  S.  Carlile 
and  Waitman  T.  Willey,  were  chosen  by 
the  Legislature,  at  its  meeting,  to  take 
the  places  of  the  seceding  James  M. 
Mason  and  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter. 

One  of  the  first  official  acts  of  Gover- 
nor Pierpont  was  to  announce  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  on  the 
21st  of  June,  that  large  numbers  of  evil- 
minded  persons  have  banded  together  in 
military  organization,  with  intent  to  over- 
throw the  Government  of  the  State,  and 
for  that  purpose  have  called  to  their  aid 
like-minded  persons  from  other  States, 
who,  in  pursuance  of  such  call  have  in- 
vaded this  commonwealth.  They  are 
now  making  war  on  the  loyal  people  of 
the  State.  They  are  pressing  citizens 
against  their  consent  into  their  military 
organization,  and  seizing  and  appropriat- 
ing their  property  to  aid  in  the  rebellion. 
I  have  not  at  my  command  sufficient 
military  force  to  suppress  this  rebellion 
and  violence.  The  Legislature  cannot  be 
convened  in  time  to  act  in  the  premises  ; 
it  therefore  becomes  my  duty  as  Gover- 
nor of  this  Commonwealth  to  call  on  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  for  aid 
to  repress  such  rebellion  and  violence. 
I  therefore  earnestly  request  that  you 
will  furnish  a  military  force  to  aid  in 
suppressing  the  rebellion  and  to  protect 
the  good  people  of  this  Commonwealth 
from  domestic  violence."  To  this  com- 
munication the  Secretary  of  War  sent 
the  following  answer,  dated  the  25th  : — 


"  In  reply  to  your  application  for  the  aid 
of  the  Federal  Government  to  repel  from 
Virginia  the  lawless  invaders  now  per- 
petrating every  species  of  outrage  upon 
persons  and  property,  throughout  a  large 
portion  of  the  State,  the  President  directs 
me  to  say  that  a  large  additional  force 
will  soon  be  sent  to  your  relief.  The 
full  extent  of  the  conspiracy  against  pop- 
ular rights,  which  has  culminated  in  the 
atrocities  to  which  you  refer,  was  not 
known  when  its  outbreak  took  place  at 
Charleston.  It  now  appears  that  it  was 
matured  for  many  years  by  secret  organ- 
izations throughout  the  country,  especial- 
ly in  the  slave  States.  By  this  means, 
when  the  President  called  upon  Virginia, 
in  April,  for  its  quota  of  troops  then 
deemed  necessary  to  put  down  in  the 
States  in  which  it  had  shown  itself  in 
arms,  the  call  was  responded  to  by  an 
order  from  the  chief  confederate  in  Vir- 
ginia to  his  armed  followers,  to  seize  the 
Navy  Yard  of  Gosport ;  and  the  author- 
ities of  the  State,  who  had  till  then  shown 
repugnance  to  the  plot,  found  themselves 
stripped  of  all  actual  power,  and  after- 
wards were  manifestly  permitted  to  retain 
the  empty  forms  of  office  only  because 
they  consented  to  use  them  at  the  bid- 
ding of  the  invaders.  The  President, 
however,  never  supposed  that  a  brave 
and  free  people,  though  surprised  and 
unarmed,  could  long  be  subjugated  by  a 
class  of  political  adventurers  always  ad- 
verse to  them ;  and  the  fact  that  they 
have  already  rallied,  reorganized  their 
government  and  checked  the  march  of 
these  invaders,  demonstrates  how  justly 
he  appreciated  them.  The  failure,  hith- 
erto, of  the  State  authorities,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  circumstances  to  which  I 
have  adverted,  to  organize  its  quota  of 
troops  called  for  by  the  President,  im- 


284 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


posed  upon  him  the  necessity  of  provid- 
ing himself  for  their  organization  ;  and 
this  has  been  done  to  some  extent.  But 
instructions  have  now  been  given  to  the 
agents  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
proceed  hereafter  under  your  directions, 
and  the  company  and  field  officers  will 
be  commissioned  by  you." 

The  proceedings  in  Northwestern  Vir- 
ginia were  not  allowed  to  pass  without  a 
Proclamation  on  the  part  of  Governor 
Letcher  addressed  to  the  people  of  that 
region,  appealing  to  them  by  various 
considerations  of  the  vote  in  favor  of  se- 
cession, to  which,  as  good  citizens,  they 
should  submit,  and  to  their  pride  to 
maintain  their  State  against  the  attempts 
of  the  Government  at  Washington  "  to 
coerce  our  people  to  abject  submission  to 
their  authority."  With  these  persuasions 
were  also  insinuated  an  unmistakable 
hint  of  his  military  preparations  for  the 
occupation  of  the  region.  "  Virginia, " 
said  he,  "  has  asserted  her  independence. 
She  will  maintain  it  at  every  hazard. 
She  is  sustained  by  the  power  of  ten  of 
her  sister  Southern  States,  ready  and 
willing  to  uphold  her  cause.  Can  any 
true  Virginian  refuse  to  render  assistance. 
Men  of  the  Northwest,  I  appeal  to  you, 
by  all  the  considerations  which  have 
drawn  us  together  as  one  people  hereto- 
fore, to  rally  to  the  standard  of  the  Old 
Dominion.  By  all  the  sacred  ties  of  con- 
sanguinity, by  the  intermixtures  of  the 
blood  of  East  and  West,  by  common  pa- 
ternity, by  friendships  hallowed  by  a 
thousand  cherished  recollections  and  me- 
mories'of  the  past,  by  the  relics  of  the 
great  men  of  other  days,  come  to  Vir- 
ginia's banner,  and  drive  the  invader 
from  your  soil.  There  may  be  traitors 
in  the  midst  of  you,  who,  for  selfish  ends, 
have  turned  against  their  mother,  and 


would  permit  her  to  be  ignommiously 
oppressed  and  degraded.  But  I  cannot, 
will  not,  believe  that  a  majority  of  you 
are  not  true  sons,  who  will  not  give  your 
blood  and  your  treasure  for  Virginia's 
defence.  I  have  sent  for  your  protection 
such  troops  as  the  emergency  enabled  me 
to  collect,  in  charge  of  a  competent  com- 
mander. I  have  ordered  a  large  force  to 
go  to  your  aid,  but  I  rely  with  the  ut- 
most confidence  upon  your  own  strong 
arms  to  rescue  your  firesides  'and  altars 
from  the  pollution  of  a  reckless  and  ruth- 
less enemy.  The  State  is  invaded  at 
several  points,  but  ample  forces  have 
been  collected  to  defend  her." 

The  war  was  in  fact  already  com- 
menced in  Western  Virginia.  Simul- 
taneously with  the  first  advance  of  the 
United  States  troops  across  the  Potomac 
on  the  formal  ratification  of  the  act 
of  secession,  Major-General  George  B. 
McClellan,  who  had  only  a  few  days 
before  been  appointed  to  that  high  rank, 
and  who  was  then  in  command  of  the 
Department  of  the  Ohio,  was  ordered  to 
take  charge  of  the  military  operations 
west  of  the  Alleghanies.  As  this  is  the 
first  prominent  appearance  upon  the 
stage  of  the  war  of  this  General,  who 
was  destined  to  play  so  conspicuous  a 
part  in  the  national  drama,  we  may 
pause  to  notice  his  earlier  history.  He 
was  born  in  Philadelphia  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1826,  and  was  consequently 
now  only  in  his  thirty-fifth  year,  the 
youngest  officer  of  his  rank  in  the  ser- 
vice. His  father,  an  eminent  surgeon, 
was  noted  for  the  boldness  and  success 
of  his  operations,  and  it  was  confidently 
predicted  that  the  son  would  carry  a 
similar  energy  into  the  field.  He  was 
educated  at  West  Point  and  graduated 
with  honor  in  1846,  with  the  rank  of 


GENERAL  McCLELLAN. 


285 


Brevet  Second  Lieutenant  of  Engineers. 
In  the  Mexican  war  he  was  distinguished 
in  the  battles  of  Contreras  and  Churu- 
busco,  of  Molino  del  Rey,  and  for  his 
services  at  the  battle  of  Chapultepec  was 
breveted  to  a  captaincy,  and  assigned 
the  command  of  a  company  of  sappers  and 
miners.  When  the  army  returned  home 
we  find  him  at  West  Point  diligently 
employed  in  the  study  of  military  tactics, 
the  results  of  which  he  embodied  in  a 
manual,  which  was  adopted  in  the  service. 
In  the  next  few  years  he  was  engaged  in 
the  multifarious  duties  of  engineering  and 
military  command,  which  give  to  the 
officers  of  the  American  service  so  large 
a  practical  experience.  He  superintend- 
ed the  construction  of  Fort  Delaware, 
was  with  Major  Marcy  in  the  expedition 
for  the  exploration  of  the  Red  River, 
took  part  in  the  river  and  harbor  survey 
in  Texas,  and  in  1853,  in  cooperation 
with  Governor  Stevens,  commanded  the 
western  division  of  the  North  Pacific 
Railroad  route.  In  1855,  holding  the 
rank  of  Captain  in  the  First  Regiment 
of  Cavalry,  he  was  selected  by  the  War 
Department,  one  of  the  three  commis- 
sioners who  were  sent  to  Europe  to 
investigate  the  extended  field  of  military 
operations  and  devices  opened  by  the 
Crimean  war.  His  coadjutors  were  Ma- 
jor Richard  Delafield  and  Major  A.  Mor- 
decai  of  the  Ordnance  Department.  The 
commission  was  signed  and  the  direc- 
tions were  drawn  up  by  Jefferson  Davis, 
at  that  time  Secretary  of  War.  Cap- 
tain McClellan  presented  to  the  Depart- 
ment the  results  of  his  observations  abroad 
in  an  elaborate  quarto  volume  on  the  "  Or- 
ganization of  European  Armies  and  the 
Operations  of  the  War,"  which  was 
printed  by  order  of  Congress,  and  which 
has  been  accepted  in  a  new  popular  edi- 


tion as  a  standard  authority  on  the  sub- 
jects of  which  it  treats. 

The  army  now  presenting  no  active 
field  of  duty  to  the  engineering  ability  of 
Captain  McClellan,  in  1857  he  resigned  his 
military  rank  to  enter  into  the  more  pro- 
fitable service  of  the  great  corporation 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  of  which  he 
was  created  Vice  President  and  Engin- 
eer. At  the  end  of  three  years  he  left 
this  position  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Railroad,  being  at 
the  same  time  General  Superintend- 
ent. He  was  still  engaged  in  these  occu- 
pations when  the  rebellion  of  the  South 
turned  the  eyes  of  the  authorities  of  the 
North  upon  him  as  one  who  could  not  be 
spared  from  the  national  service.  He 
was  appointed  at  once  by  the  Governor 
of  Ohio  a  Major-General  of  the  Yolunteer 
forces  of  that  State,  and  had  barely  en- 
tered upon  his  new  duties  when  he  was 
recalled  to  the  United  States  Army, 
his  new  commission  as  Major-General 
bearing  date  May  14,  1861.  The  mili- 
tary department  of  the  Ohio  to  which  he 
was  assigned  comprised  all  of  the  States 
of  Illinois,  Indiana  and  Ohio  and  that 
part  of  Virginia  north  of  the  Kanawha 
river  and  the  Maryland  line,  with  part 
of  Pennsylvania.  « 

His  appearance  on  the  field  in  Vir- 
ginia was  heralded  by  a  stirring  procla- 
mation to  the  people  of  Western  Virginia, 
dated  at  Cincinnati,  May  26th.  "  Virgin- 
ians," was  its  language,  "  the  General 
Government  has  long  enough  endured 
the  machinations  of  a  few  factious  rebels 
in  your  midst !  Armed  traitors  have  in 
vain  endeavored  to  deter  you  from  ex- 
pressing your  loyalty  at  the  polls.  Hav- 
ing failed  in  this  infamous  attempt  to 
deprive  you  of  the  exercise  of  your  dear- 
est rights,  they  now  seek  to  inaugurate  a 


286 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


reign  of  terror,  and  thus  force  you  to 
yield  to  their  schemes  and  submit  to  the 
yoke  of  the  traitorous  conspiracy,  digni- 
fied by  the  name  of  Southern  Confeder- 
acy. They  are  destroying  the  property 
of  citizens  of  your  State,  and  ruining  your 
magnificent  railways.  The  General  Gov- 
ernment has  heretofore  carefully  abstain- 
ed from  sending  troops  across  the  Ohio, 
or  even  from  posting  them  along  its 
banks,  although  frequently  urged  by  many 
of  your  prominent  citizens  to  do  so.  It 
determined  to  await  the  result  of  the 
State  election,  desirous  that  no  one  might 
be  able  to  say  that  the  slightest  effort 
had  been  made  from  this  side  to  influence 
the  expression  of  your  opinion,  although 
the  many  agencies  brought  to  bear  upon 
you  by  the  rebels  were  well  kaown.  You 
have  now  shown  under  the  most  adverse 
circumstances,  that  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  of  Western  Virginia  are  true  and 
loyal  to  the  beneficent  Government 
under  which  we  and  our  fathers  have 
lived  so  long.  As  soon  as  the  result  of 
the  election  was  known,  the  traitors  com- 
menced their  work  of  destruction.  The 
General  Government  cannot  close  its 
ears  to  the  demand  you  have  made  for 
assistance.  I  have  ordered  troops  to 
cross  the  river.  They  come  as  your 
friends  and  brothers — as  enemies  only  to 
the  armed  rebels  who  are  preying  upon 
you.  Your  homes,  your  families  and 
property  are  safe  under  our  protection. 
All  your  rights  shall  be  religiously  pro- 
tected. Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been 
said  by  the  traitors  to  induce  you  to  be- 
lieve that  our  advent  among  you  will  be 
signalized  by  interference  with  your 
slaves,  understand  one  thing  clearly : 
not  only  will  we  abstain  from  all  inter- 
ference, but  we  will,  on  the  contrary, 
with  an  iron  hand,  crush  any  attempt  at 


insurrection  on  their  part.  Now  that  we 
are  in  your  midst,  I  call  upon  you  to  fly 
to  arms  and  support  the  General  Govern- 
ment ;  sever  the  connection  that  binds 
you  to  traitors  ;  proclaim  to  the  world 
that  the  faith  and  loyalty  so  long  boasted 
of  by  the  Old  Dominion  are  still  pre- 
served in  Western  Virginia,  and  that  you 
remain  true  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes." 

In  similar  energetic  phrase  was  his  ad- 
dress to  the  soldiers  of  the  advancing 
column  : — "  You  are  ordered  to  cross  the 
frontier  and  enter  upon  the  soil  of  Vir- 
ginia. Your  mission  is  to  restore  peace 
and  confidence,  to  protect  the  majesty  of 
the  law  and  to  rescue  our  brethren  from 
the  grasp  of  armed  traitors.  You  are  to 
act  in  concert  with  the  Virginia  troops 
and  support  their  advance.  I  place  under 
the  safeguard  of  your  honor  the  persons 
and  property  of  the  Virginians.  I  know 
that  you  will  respect  their  feelings  and 
all  their  rights.  Preserve  the  strictest 
discipline — remember  that  each  one  of 
you  holds  in  his  keeping  the  honor  of 
Ohio  and  the  Union.  If  you  are  called 
upon  to  overcome  armed  opposition,  I 
know  that  your  courage  is  equal  to  the 
task,  but  remember  that  your  only  foes 
are  the  armed  traitors  and  show  mercy 
even  to  them  when  they  are  in  your 
power,  for  many  of  them  are  misguided. 
When  under  your  protection  the  loyal 
men  of  Western  Virginia  have  been  en- 
abled to  organize  and  arm,  they  can  pro- 
tect themselves,  and  you  can  then  return 
to  your  homes  with  the  proud  satisfaction 
of  having  preserved  a  gallant  people  from 
destruction."  The  respect  inculcated  for 
"  the  peculiar  institution"  of  the  South  is 
very  noticeable  in  both  these  manifestoes. 
Nothing  could  be  clearer  or  more  explicit 
than  the  strong  language  which  was  em- 
ployed. It  might  have  satisfied  the 


ROUT   OF  THE  REBELS  AT  PHILIPPI. 


289 


ance  was  naturally  apprehended,  and 
pursuit  of  the  enemy  through  its  streets, 
were  conducted  with  great  gallantry. 
"  Both  parties,"  says  Colonel  Dumont, 
"  being  upon  the  full  run,  and  the  dis- 
tance between  them  being  quite  consid- 
erable, but  little  execution  could  be 
done.  I  pursued  the  enemy  from  the 
bridge  through  the  town,  and  for  several 
miles  beyond.  At  one  time  I  thought  I 
should  be  able  to  capture  his  entire  bag- 
gage train  ;  but  the  horses,  to  prevent 
this,  were  cut  from  many  of  the  wagons 
and  mounted,  and  the  wagons  and  con- 
tents left  as  our  booty.  The  wagons 
were  filled  with  munitions  of  war,  blank- 
ets, knapsacks,  clothing,  baggage  of  offi- 
cers and  men,  and  with  a  considerable 
amount  of  flour  and  forage."  Colonel 
Steedman  captured  a  large  amount  of 
tents,  and  a  number  of  muskets  and 
rifles.  A  few  prisoners  were  taken, 
among  them  Captain  J.  W.  Willey  of  the 
rebel  army.  Colonel  Dumont  states  that 
the  enemy's  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
was  "not  certainly  known,  as  he  succeed- 
ed in  carrying  oft  many  of  his  dead.  It 
was  inconsiderable,  perhaps  not  to  ex- 
ceed forty  ;"  but  this  may  have  been  an 
exaggerated  estimate.  The  Union  loss, 
he  tells  us,  was  two  missing  and  two 
wounded.*  Unhappily,  one  of  the  latter 
was  Colonel  Kelley,  who,  in  the  pursuit 
at  the  close  of  the  engagement,  was 
struck  by  a  pistol  ball  in  the  breast ;  it 
was  thought  at  the  time  fatally.  The 
first  impression  among  Colonel  Kelley's 
men  was,  that  he  had  been  treacherously 
shot,  and  a  determination  had  been 
evinced  to  execute  summary  vengeance 
upon  the  suspected  person — one  Simms, 
a  clerk  of  the  rebel  quartermaster.  Cap- 

*  CoL  E.  Dumont's  Report  to  Brig.-General  Thomas  A. 
Morris.     Philippi,  June  4,  1861. 

37 


tain  Benham  of  the  Engineers,  who,  on 
the  reception  of  the  news  at  Grafton  by 
Colonel  Lander,  who  returned  in  the 
afternoon,  had  been  sent  forward  by 
General  Morris,  to  take  the  command  at 
Philippi,  on  his  arrival  made  a  dispas- 
sionate examination  of  the  attack  upon 
Colonel  Kelley,  which  satisfied  him  that, 
while  it  was  probable  Simms  had  inflicted 
the  wound,  it  had  been  done  in  fair  and 
open  fight.  Among  the  property  cap- 
tured, including  six  hundred  rifles,  Cap- 
tain Benham  found  a  portion  of  the  bag- 
gage of  Colonel  Porterfield  and  his  field 
and  staff,  which  he  returned  to  that 
officer.  Colonel  Porterfield  had  former- 
ly been  in  the  employ  of  the  United 
States  Coast  Survey,  and  in  that  capacity 
it  had  happened  that  he  had  served  un- 
der Captain  Benham  at  Washington. 

When  word  of  the  victory  and  the 
disaster  to  Colonel  Kelley  was  brought 
to1  General  McClellan,  at  Cincinnati,  he 
sent  the  following  dispatch,  which  was 
read  to  the  apparently  dying,  man,  who 
awaited  his  expected  fate  with  patriotic 
resignation.  "I  expect  I  shall  have  to 
die,"  said  he,  "I  would  be  glad  to  live, 
if  it  might  be  that  I  might  do  something 
for  my  country  ;  but  if  it  cannot  be,  I 
shall  have  at  least  the  consolation  of 
knowing  that  I  fell  in  a  just  cause."* 
Under  these  circumstances  came  General 
McClellan 's  cheering  word: — "Say  to 
Colonel  Kelley  that  I  cannot  believe  it 
possible  that  one  who  has  opened  his 
career  so  brilliantly  can  be  mortally 
wounded.  In  the  name  of  the  country 
I  thank  him  for  his  conduct,  which  has 
been  the  most  brilliant  episode  of  the  war 
thus  far.  If  it  can  cheer  him  in  his  last 
moments,  tell  him  I  cannot  repair  his 
loss,  and  that  I  only  regret  that  I  cannot 

*  Wheeling  Intelligencer,  June  6,  1861. 


290 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


be  by  his  side  to  thank  him  in  person. 
God  blest  him."*  Happily  the  opening- 
augury  of  the  message  was  realized. 
The  formidable  wound  was  healed  and, 
after  a  few  months'  retirement,  the  pa- 
tient, promoted  by  a  grateful  country, 
was  again  enabled  to  lead  his  troops  to 
victory. 

Brigadier-General  Morris,  from  his 
headquarters  at  Grafton,  announced  the 
rout  at  Philippi,  in  a  proclamation. 
"Virginians,  the  secessionist  forces  are 
demoralized,  desertions  are  numerous 
and  the  panic-stricken  remnant  has  taken 
refuge  in  the  passes  of  the  mountains. 
Western  Virginia  is  free  from  enemies  to 
her  freedom  and  peace.  In  full  confi- 
dence of  your  ability  and  desire  to  pro- 
tect yourselves,  I  now  call  upon  you  to 
come  to  the  support  of  your  constitutional 
government.  I  am  empowered  to  mus- 
ter you  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  to  serve  only  in  defence  of  your 
own  soil."  There  was,  notwithstanding 
this  hopeful  declaration  in  reference  to 
the  peace  of  Western  Virginia,  some 
work  before  the  defenders  of  the  Union 
in  that  quarter,  more  serious  than  the 
easy  victory  at  Philippi, — work  which  it 
happened  to  be  the  lot  of  the  forces  of 
General  Morris  to  have  their  full  share 
of  performing. 

The  next  military  incident  in  Virginia 
west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  was  a  spirited 
dash  of  the  llth  Indiana  Zouave  Regi- 
ment, 800  in  number,  led  by  Colonel 
Lewis  Wallace,  in  a  rapid  march  across 
Hampshire  County,  to  disperse  a  consid- 
erable body  of  secessionists  who  were 
assembled  at  Romney.  The  expedition 
set  out  from  Cumberland  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  llth  of  June,  taking  the 

*  G.  B.  McClellan  to  Gen.  T.  A.  Morris.    Cincinnati, 
June  3.  1861. 


route  by  railway  to  New  Creek  Station, 
and  then  by  a  forced  night  march  of 
twenty-three  miles  to  their  place  of  des- 
tination. The  road  being  "very  fatigu- 
ing and  rough,  leading  along  high  bluffs 
and  narrow  passes,  which  required  great 
caution  in  passing,"  it  was  with  "  the  ut- 
most industry  that  the  regiment  reached 
Romney  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
"  In  a  pass  a  mile  and  a  half  this  side  of 
the  town,"  continues  Colonel  Wallace,  in 
his  interesting  official  report  of  the  affair 
to  the  commander  of  the  department, 
Major-General  Patterson,  at  Chambers- 
burg,  "  my  advance  guard  was  fired 
upon  by  a  mounted  picket  of  the  enemy, 
who  dashed  ahead  and  alarmed  the  reb- 
els. In  fact,  I  afterwards  learned  that 
they  had  notice  of  my  coming  full  an 
hour  before  my  arrival.  In  approaching 
the  place  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  cross 
a  bridge  over  the  South  Branch  of  the 
Potomac.  A  reconnoissance  satisfied  me 
that  the  passage  of  the  bridge  would  be 
the  chief  obstacle  in  my  way,  although  I 
could  distinctly  see  the  enemy  drawn  up  on 
the  bluff,  which  is  the  town  site,  supporting 
a  battery  of  two  guns,  planted  so  as  to 
sweep  the  road  completely.  I  directed 
my  advance  guard  to  cross  the  bridge  on 
a  run,  leap  down  the  embankment  at 
the  further  entrance,  and  observe  the 
windows  of  a  large  brick  house  not  fur- 
ther off  than  seventy-five  yards.  Their 
appearance  was  the  signal  for  an  assault. 
A  warm  fire  opened  from  the  house, 
which  the  guard  returned,  with  no  other 
loss  than  the  wounding  of  a  sergeant. 
The  firing  continued  several  minutes.  I 
led  a  second  company  across  the  bridge, 
and  by  following  up  a  ravine  got  them 
into  a  position  that  soon  drove  the  enemy 
from  the  house  and  into  a  mountain  to  its 
rear.  My  attention  was  then  turned  to 


COLONEL  WALLACE  AT  ROMNEY. 


291 


the  battery  over  the  hill.  Instead  of  fol- 
lowing the  road,  as  the  rebels  expected, 
I  pushed  five  companies  in  skirmishing 
order,  and  at  double-quick  time  up  a  hill 
to  the  right,  intending  to  get  around  the 
left  flank  of  the  enemy,  and  cut  off  their 
retreat.  Hardly  had  my  companies  de- 
ployed and  started  forward,  and  got 
within  rifle's  range,  before  the  rebels 
limbered  up  and  got  off  over  the  bluffs 
in  the  hottest  haste.  Between  their  po- 
sition and  that  of  my  men  was  a  deep, 
precipitous  gorge,  the  crossing  of  which 
occupied  about  ten  minutes.  When  the 
opposite  ridge  was  gained,  we  discovered 
the  rebels,  indiscriminately  blent  with  a 
mass  of  women  and  children,  flying  as  for 
life  from  the  town.  Having  no  horse, 
pursuit  of  the  cannoniers  was  out  of  the 
question,  as  the}'-  went  off  under  whip 
and  spur.  After  that  I  quietly  marched 
into  the  place,  and  took  possession  of  the 
empty  houses  and  a  legion  of  negroes, 
who  alone  seemed  unscared  at  our  pres- 
ence. After  searching  the  town  for 
arms,  camp  equippage,  etc.,  I  returned 
to  Cumberland  by  the  same  road,  reach- 
ing camp  at  11  o'clock  at  night.  My  re- 
turn was  forced,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
there  was  not  a  mile  on  the  road  that  did 
not  offer  half  a  dozen  positions  for  the 
ruin  or  rout  of  my  regiment  by  a  much 
smaller  force. 

"  The  loss  of  the  rebels  we  have  not 
been  able  to  accurately  ascertain.  A 
citizen  of  Eomney  admitted  two  killed  ; 
my  own  surgeon  dressed  the  wound  of 
one  man.  A  number  of  tents  were  taken  ; 
quite  a  number  of  guns  were  destroyed  ; 
and,  among  others,  we  have  a  major, 
Isaac  Yandever,  prisoner — a  gentleman 
who,  from  accounts,  has  been  very  active 
in  exciting  rebellion,  organizing  troops, 
and  impressing  loyal  citizens.  I  have 


also  an  excellent  assortment  of  surgical 
stores,  which,  with  the  tents,  I  have 
taken  the  liberty  to  convert.  My  regi- 
ment behaved  admirably,  attacking  cool- 
ly and  in  excellent  order.  When  all 
behaved  gallantly,  I  cannot  single  out 
officers  for  praise.  Sufficient  to  say, 
they  conducted  themselves  like  veterans, 
and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  entitle  them 
to  your  confidence  in  any  field.  I  beg 
to  call  your  attention  to  the  length  of 
our  inarch,  87  miles  in  all,  46  of  which 
was  on  foot,  over  a  continuous  succession 
of  mountains,  made  in  24  hours,  without 
rest,  and  varied  by  a  brisk  engagement, 
without  leaving  a  man  behind  ;  and  what 
is  more,  my  men  are  ready  to  repeat  it 
to-morrow.  I  have  already  received 
your  approval  of  my  enterprise,  for 
which  I  am  very  much  obliged.  One 
good  result  has  come  of  it.  The  loyal 
men  in  that  region  have  taken  heart. 
Very  shortly,  I  think,  you  will  hear  of 
another  Union  company  from  that  dis- 
trict. Moreover,  it  has  brought  home  to 
the  insolent  'chivalry'  a  wholesome  re- 
spect for  Northern  prowess." 

This  success  was  followed  up  a  fort- 
night afterwards  by  a  brilliant  raid  into 
Virginia  by  a  small  detachment  of  the 
same  Indiana  regiment,  who  in  these  ac- 
tions were  gallantly  redeeming  the  prom- 
ise alluded  to  in  the  inscription  on  their 
flag,  "Remember  Buena  Vista!"  to  ob- 
literate the  memory  of  a  retreat  of  Indi- 
anians  on  that  battle  field.  The  contest, 
in  itself  a  remarkable  one,  became  more 
memorable  from  the  subsequent  fortunes 
of  the  parties  engaged.  Ashby's  rebel 
cavalry,  then  for  the  first  time  brought 
into  view,  were  often  heard  of  in  the 
progress  of  the  war.  "  I  have  been  ac- 
customed," wrote  Colonel  Wallace  on 
the  27th  of  Jun?  *he  day  after  the  skir- 


292 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


mish,  in  his  official  report,  "to  sending 
my  mounted  pickets,  thirteen  men  in  all, 
to  different  posts  along  the  several  ap- 
proaches to  Cumberland.  Finding  it 
next  to  impossible  to  get  reliable  inform-  • 
ation  of  the  enemy  yesterday,  I  united 
the  thirteen,  and  directed  them,  if  possi- 
ble, to  proceed  to  Frankfort,  a  town 
midway  between  this  place  and  Romney, 
to»  see  if  there  were  rebel  troops  there. 
They  went  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
the  place,  and  found  it  full  of  cavalry. 
Returning  they  overtook  forty  horsemen, 
and  at  once  charged  on  them,  routing 
and  driving  them  back  more  than  a  mile, 
killing  eight  of  them,  and  securing  seven- 
teen horses.  Corporal  Hayes,  in  com- 
mand of  my  men,  was  desperately  wound- 
ed with  sabre  cuts  and  bullets.  Taking 
him  back  they  halted  about  an  hour,  and 
were  then  attacked  by  the  enemy,  who 
were  reinforced  to  about  seventy-five 
men.  The  attack  was  so  sudden  that 
they  abandoned  the  horses  and  crossed 
to  a  small  island  at  the  mouth  of  Patter- 
son's Creek.  The  charge  of  the  rebels 
was  bold  and  confident,  yet  twenty-three 
fell  under  the  fire  of  my  pickets,  close 
about  and  on  the  island.  My  fellows 
were  finally  driven  off,  and,  scattering 
each  man  for  himself,  they  are  all  in 
camp  now.  One.  Corporal  Hayes,  'of 
Company  A,  was  wounded,  but  is  re- 
covering. One,  John  C.  Holdingbrook, 
of  Company  B,  is  dead.  The  last  was 
taken  prisoner,  and  brutally  murdered. 


Three  companies  went  to  the  ground  this 
morning,  and  recovered  every  thing  be- 
longing to  my  picket,  except  a  few  of  the 
horses.  The  enemy  were  engaged  all 
night  long  in  boxing  up  their  dead. 
Two  of  their  officers  were  killed.  They 
laid  out  twenty-three  on  the  porch  of  a 
neighboring  farm  house.  I  will  bury  my 
poor  fellow  to-morrow.  The  report  of 
the  skirmish  sounds  like  fiction,  but  it  is 
not  exaggerated.  The  fight  was  really 
one  of  the  most  desperate  on  record,  and 
abounds  with  instances  of  wonderful  dar- 
ing and  coolness."* 

From  a  letter  written  from  the  rebel 
camp  at  Romney  to  Senator  Mason,  it 
would  appear  that  the  party  met  by 
Hayes  in  the  first  encounter  was  a  de- 
tachment from  Captain  Ashby's  com- 
pany, led  by  his  brother  Dick  Ashby, 
who  is  represented  as  "  terribly  cut  up, 
one  of  his  eyes  being  shot  out  and  his 
head  and  neck  badly  cut  by  balls." 
Captain  Ashby,  it  is  also  stated,  "had 
40  shots  fired  at  him,  and  his  escape 
was  miraculous.  His  horse  was  shot 
twice  and  killed  under  him,  and  he  was 
wounded  slightly  in  the  leg,  which  has 
not  prevented  him  from  pursuing  the 
enemy."  This,  adds  the  writer,  "  is  a 
fighting  regiment,  the  chaplain  and  sur- 
geon fighting  first  and  praying  and  doc- 
toring afterwards.^f 

*  Colonel  Lewis  Wallace  to  Major-General  McClellan, 
June  27,  1861.  General  Order  of  Major-General  Patter 
son,  Hagerstown,  June  30,  1861 

f  Moore's  Rebellion  Record,  I* ,  242, 


CHAPTER  XX. 


EASTERN    TENNESSEE. 


EASTERN  TENNESSEE,  it  was  confident- 
ly expected,  would  rank  herself  by  the 
side  of  Western  Virginia  in  opposition  to 
the  measures  taken  to  alienate  the  State 
from  the  Union.  There  was  a  certain 
similarity  in  the  position  and  interests  of 
the  two  districts  which  would  place  them 
in  the  same  relation  to  the  other  por- 
tions of  their  respective  States  and  to 
the  Southern  Confederacy.  In  both  the 
influences  of  the  same  mountain  range 
of  the  Alleghanies  were  impressed  upon 
the  character  and  fortunes  of  the  inhab- 
itants. For  the  most  part  a  simple,  in- 
dustrioug;  agricultural  people,  owning 
the  lands  which  they  cultivated,  with 
comparatively  few  slaves  among  them, 
the  dwellers  on  the  Holston  like  the 
Virginians  on  the  Ohio,  were  ardently 
attached  to  the  democratic  privileges 
and  institutions  which  had  been  guaran- 
teed to  them  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. While  both  regions  had  to  con- 
tend with  a  hostile  dominant  power  in 
their  States,  and  while  both  were  in  like 
manner  betrayed  by  the  arts  and  treach- 
ery of  their  local  rulers,  the  situation  of 
Eastern  Tennessee  was  in  some  important 
respects  less  advantageous  for  the  pre- 
servation of  the  liberties  of  the  people 
than  that  of  her  northern  neighbor. 
Each  had  that  foe  to  loyalty  to  contend 
with,  a  bold,  unscrupulous,  intriguing 
Governor  and  an  inimical  legislature, 
ready  to  deliver  the  State  bound  hand 
and  foot  to  the  cruel  purposes  of  the 


Southern  Confederacy.  If  one  had  a 
Letcher  in  the  chair  versed  in  all  the 
dangerous  arts  of  political  intrigue,  the 
other  had  an  equally  reckless  conspirator 
in  Harris — "King  Harris,"  as  he  was 
popularly  called,  in  consequence  of  his 
assumption  of  authority  and  tyrannical 
proceedings.  In  both  States  there  was 
indeed  a  show  of  submitting  the  ^question 
of  secession  to  a  popular  vote,  but  in 
both  instances  a  treaty  was  formed  with 
the  rebel  government,  and  the  military 
resources  of  the  State  were  placed  at 
the  command  of  Jefferson  Davis  before 
the  vote  was  taken.  Of  course  coercion 
and  terrorism  prevailed  alike,  with  a 
deeper  shade  of  malignity  however  in 
Tennessee,  in  proportion  to  the  nearness 
of  that  State  to  the  seat  of  the  rebel  gov- 
ernment. The  ties  of  Eastern  Virginia 
to  the  South  were  those  of  imperfect- 
sympathy  and  doubtful  interests  ;  for 
though  a  great  portion  of  her  wealth 
was  derived  from  raising  and  selling 
slaves  to  the  cotton  planters,  yet  the 
great  capacities  of  the  country  demanded 
northern  skill  and  labor  for  their  devel- 
opment j  while  Western  Tennessee  was 
not  simply  related  to  the  South  in  man- 
ners and  culture,  but  might  be  consid- 
ered an  integral  part  of  the  South  itself. 
It  was  consequently  a  much  harder  task 
for  the  mountaineers  of  the  Cumberland 
to  contend  with  the  wealthy  slave  pro- 
prietors on  the  Mississippi,  tha.i  for  a 
vigorous  rural  population  bordering  on 


294 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


Pennsylvania  to  hold  their  own  against 
the  occupants  of  the  worn  out,  delapidated 
estates  on  the  James  and  the  Bappahan- 
nock.  If  the  chances  in  both  cases  had 
been  equal  within  their  borders,  the  con-' 
tiguity  of  the  more  Southern  State  to  the 
desperadoes  of  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  refugee  enemies  of  the  Union  in 
Kentucky,  wo  aid  have  turned  the  scale 
against  the  efforts  of  the  patriots  of  East 
Tennessee. 

The  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Tennessee  to  submit  to  the  people  of  the 
State  the  so-called  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, passed  on  the  6th  of  May, 
named  Jhe  8th  day  of  June  for  the  vote 
to  be  taken.*  The  loyal  citizens  of  East 
Tennessee,  fully  impressed  with  the  dan- 
ger of  the  impending  calamity  to  their 
political  privileges,  and  disapproving  of 
' '  the  hasty  and  inconsiderate  action  "  of 
the  legislature,  immediately  called  a 
Convention  of  delegates  of  the  people 
of  that  region  to  assemble  at  Knoxville, 
the  metropolis  of  the  district,  on  the  30th 
of  May,  to  take  such  counsels  as  might 
protect  the  liberties  of  the  population, 
and  promote  peace  and  harmony  among 
them.  At  the  appointed  day,  so  great 
was  the  interest  manifested  that  more 
than  a  thousand  representatives  assem- 
bled, of  the  counties  from  the  western 
declivities  of  the  Cumberland  mountains 
to  the  ascending  range  of  the  Alleghanies 
bordering  on  North  Carolina  ;  from  the 
whole  extent  of  the  valley  watered  by 
the  Holston  and  its  numerous  tributaries, 
and  the  sources  of  the  Tennessee  from 
Kentucky  and  Virginia  to  Georgfa.  The 
Hon.  Thomas  A.  R.  Nelson,  a  represent- 
ative from  the  extreme  north-eastern 
part  of  the  State  to  the  recent  36th 

*  Ante,  p.  192. 


Congress,  was  chosen  President  of  the 
Convention,  addresses  were  delivered  by 
General  T.  D.  Arnold  and  Senator  An- 
drew Johnson,  and  an  address  and  series 
of  resolutions  submitted  to  the  people, 
denouncing  the  ruinous  and  heretical 
doctrine  of  secession  as  the  parent  of  the 
evils  afflicting  the  country,  and  condemn- 
ing in  particular  the  "pertinacity  with 
which  those  in  authority  have  labored  to 
override  the  judgment  of  the  people," 
and  the  inconsiderate  and  unconstitu- 
tional legislation  of  the  State  Assembly 
in  entering  into  the  military  league  with 
the  Confederate  States,  and  the  accom- 
panying proceedings  in  raising  and  equip- 
ping troops,  thereby  burdening  the  peo- 
ple with  increased  and  insupportable 
taxation.  "  In  the  spirit  of  freemen," 
was  the  language  of  one  of  the  resolu- 
tions, "with  an  anxious  desire  to  avoid 
the  waste  of  the  blood  and  the  treasure 
of  our  State,  we  appeal  to  the  people  of 
Tennessee,  while  it  is  yet  in  their  power, 
to  come  up  in  the  majesty  of  their  strength 
and  restore  Tennessee  to  her  true  posi- 
tion." 

These  moderate  resolves  were  second- 
ed by  the  glowing  popular  appeal  of  the 
President  of  the  Convention.  "It  is 
said,"  were  his  words,  "this  is  a  war 
between  the  North  and  the  South,  arid 
we  are  compelled  to  take  sides.  I  do 
not  so  regard  it.  It  is  a  war  between 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
rebellious  citizens  who  have  committed 
treason  against  that  government.  Neither 
is  it  a  war  between  Lincoln  and  the  South. 
It  is  a  war  between  the  Constitution  and 
those  who  have  violated  it ;  a  war  be- 
tween law  and  no  law — between  order 
and  anarchy — between  freedom  and  des- 
potism— between  right  and  wrong.  It 
is  a  war  in  which  the  odds  are  fearfully 


SECESSION   IN  TENNESSEE. 


295 


against  us  ;  but  this  should  have  no 
weight  were  justice  on  our  side.  It  is  a 
war  the  end  of  which  no  man  can  foresee. 
Thus  far  the  South  has  bragged  and 
boasted  and  bantered.  The  sluggish 
North  has  at  last  aroused,  and  difficulties 
and  dangers  beset  us  on  every  hand.  In 
the  depreciation  of  property,  the  en- 
hanced prices  of  goods,  increased  taxa- 
tion, lawless  violence,  the  threats  against 
free  speech  and  a  free  press,  a  military 
array  in  every  civil  district,  a  wild,  reck- 
less end  unprincipled  legislation,  we  ca-n 
scarcely  see  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
'  The  end  is  not  yet.7 

"  Freemen  of  Tennessee !  if  you  are 
allowed  to  vote  on  the  8th  of  June,  it  is 
yet  in  your  power  to  arrest  the  despot- 
ism of  '  King  Harris'  and  retrieve  the 
blunders  of  a  misguided  legislature.  It  is 
yet  in  your  power  to  prevent  a  war  in 
our  midst ;  to  save  the  lives  of  our  citi- 
zens ;  to  preserve  our  cities,  towns  and 
villages,  and  to  secure  the  blessings  which 
heaven  has  promised  to  the  peacemaker. 
It  may  be  yet  in  your  power  to  rescue 
the  Union  itself,  and  preserve  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  as  a  priceless  legacy  to  pos- 
terity. If  a  fair  election  is  held  and 
Tennessee  is  voted  out  of  the  Union,  it 
behooves  us  all  to  act  together  to  avoid 
civil  war  among  ourselves.  If  the  elec- 
tion is  carried  by  force  or  fraud,  then  let 
every  friend  of  the  Union  throughout  the 
State  cry  '  Every  man  to  ..his  tents,  0 
Israel !'  Should  that  dreadful  alternative 
be  forced  upon  you, 

"  Snatch  from  the  ashes  of  your  sires 
The  embers  of  their  former  fires, 
And  he  who  in  the  strife  expires, 
Will  add  to  theirs  a  name  of  fear, 
That  Tyranny  will  quake  to  hear." 

When  the  vote  ratifying  the  act  of  se- 
cession was  taken,  it  was  found  that  the 
people  of  the  eastern  counties,  at  least, 


had  not  disregarded  the  appeal.  Spite 
of  the  hostile  legions  encamped  upon  her 
soil  and  all  attempts  at  intimidation,  East 
Tennessee  stood  manfully  to  her  princi- 
ples. In  February  she  had  given  34,000 
votes  against  calling '  a  convention  ;  in 
June,  when  the  rest  of  the  State  had  fallen 
off  from  a  like  devotion  to  the  Union,  the 
vote  of  her  29  counties  reached  32,923. 
The  secession  vote,  which  had  stood  in 
that  region  in  February  7,550,  in  June 
was  raised  to  14,780,  but  the  difference 
was  accounted  for  by  half  of  that  number 
being  rebel  troops,  having  no  authority 
under  the  Constitution  to  vote  at  any 
election.*  The  vote  of  the  entire  State, 
as  proclaimed  by  Governor  Harris,  stood 
104,019  for  separation  ;  47,238,  against. 
In  the  larger  number  were  included  ii. 
this  official  return  6,241  voting  in  the 
camps.  The  entire  vote  in  February 
had  been  for  no  convention  70,000, 
against  50,000,  and  but  three  secession- 
ists had  been  elected  in  the  State.  Such, 
in  four  months,  was  the  change  brought 
about  in  Tennessee,  against  the  better 
judgment  of  the  people,  by  the  acts  of 
designing  politicians,  and  the  excitement 
consequent  on  the  aggressive  measures  of 
the  cotton  States,  at  Sumter  and  else- 
where, stirring  up  prejudices  and  strife, 
and  precipitating  the  country  into  ruin- 
ous, devastating  war. 

The  loyal  men  of  East  Tennessee  were 
not  to  endure  this  result  with  complacen- 
cy. The  Knoxville  Convention,  which 
had  adjourned  subject  to  the  call  of  its 
officers,  after  the  decision  of  the  State 
had  been  pronounced  by  the  popular 
vote,  was  summoned  to  meet  at  the  north- 
eastern frontier  town  of  Greenville,  on 
the  17th  June.  The  delegates  assembled 

*  Brownlow's  "Rise,  Progress   and    Decline  of  Seces- 
sion," p.  222. 


296 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


at  the  appointed  place  and,  on  the  fourth 
day  of  the  session,  adopted  as  the  result 
of  their  deliberations  a  Declaration  of 
Grievances,  followed  by  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions, looking  to  the  separation  of  East- 
ern Tennessee  as  an  independent  political 
power,  from  the  civil  conflict  into  which 
the  State  was  throwing  itself.  No  more 
instructive  memorial  will  be  handed  down 
to  posterity  of  the  grounds  and  proceed- 
ings of  the  rebellion  in  the  border  States 
won  over  to  participate  in  the  fatal  strife 
than  this  document.  Reviewing  the  re- 
cent election  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  conducted,  it  was  pronounced  free, 
with  but  few  exceptions,  in  no  part  of  the 
State  other  than  East  Tennessee.  In  the 
larger  parts  of  the  Middle  and  West 
Tennessee,  no  speeches  or  discussions  in 
favor  of  the  Union  were  permitted. 
Union  papers  were  not  allowed  to  circu- 
late. Measures  were  taken  in  some  parts 
of  West  Tennessee,  in  defiance  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws,  which  allow  folded 
tickets,  to  have  the  ballot  numbered  in 
such  manner  as  to  mark  and  expose  the 
Union  votes.  A  disunion  paper,  The 
Nashville  Gazette,  in  urging  the  people 
to  vote  an  open  ticket,  declared  that  '  a 
thief  takes  a  pocket-book  or  effects  an 
entrance  into  forbidden  places  by  stealthy 
means — a  Tory,  in  voting,  usually  adopts 
pretty  much  the  same  course  of  proced- 
ure. Disunionists,  in  many  places,  had 
charge  of  the  polls,  and  Union  men,  when 
voting,  were  denounced  as  Lincolnites 
and  Abolitionists.  The  unanimity  of  the- 
votes  in  many  large  counties  where,  but 
a  few  weeks  ago,  the  Union  sentiment 
was  so  strong,  proves  beyond  doubt  that 
Union  men  were  overawed  by  the  tyranny 
of  the  military  power  and  the  still  greater 
tyranny  of  a  corrupt  and  subsidized  press. 
Tn  the  City  of  Memphis,  where  5,613  votes 


were  cast,  but  five  freemen  had  the  cour- 
age to  vote  for  the  Union,  and  these  were 
stigmatized  in  the  public  press  as  '  igno- 
rant traitors,  who  opposed  the  popular 
edict.'  Our  earnest  appeal  to  our  brethren 
in  the  other  divisions  of  the  State  was  pub- 
lished then  only  to  a  small  extent,  and  the 
members  and  names  of  those  who  com- 
posed our  Convention,  as  well  as  the 
counties  they  represented,  were  suppress- 
ed, and  the  effort  made  to  impress  the 
minds  of  the  people  that  East  Tennessee 
was  favorable  to  secession.  The  Mem- 
phis Appeal,  a  prominent  disunion  paper, 
published  a  false  account  of  our  proceed- 
ings, under  the  head,  '  The  Traitors  in 
Council,'  and  styled  us,  who  represented 
every  county  but  two  in  East  Tennessee, 
1  the  little  batch  of  disaffected  traitors 
who  hover  round  the  noxious  atmosphere 
of  Andrew  Johnson's  home.'  Our  meet- 
ing was  telegraphed  to  The  Neiv  Orleans 
Delta,  and  it  was  falsely  said  that  we 
had  passed  a  resolution  recommending 
submission  if  70,000  votes  were  not  cast 
against  secession.  The  despatch  adds 
that  '  The  Southern  Eights  men  are  de- 
termined to  hold  possession  of  the  State, 
though  they  should  "be  in  a  minority.' 
Volunteers  are  allowed  to  vote  in  and 
out  of  the  State  in  flagrant  violation  of 
the  Constitution.  From  the  moment  the 
election  was  over,  and  before  any  detail- 
ed statement  of  the  vote  in  the  different 
counties  had  been  published,  and  before 
it  was  possible  to  ascertain  the  result,  it 
was  exultingly  proclaimed  that  separa- 
tion had  been  carried  by  from  50,000  to 
70,000  votes.  This  was  to  prepare  the 
public  mind  to  enable  '  the  secessionists 
to  hold  possession  of  the  State,  though 
they  should  be  in  a  minority.'  The  final 
result  is  to  be  announced  by  a  disunion 
Governor,  whose  existence  depends  upon 


DECLARATION   OP   GRIEVANCES. 


297 


the  success  of  secession,  and-  no  provision 
is  made  by  law  for  an  examination  of  the 
vote  by  disinterested  persons,  or  even  for 
contesting  the  election. 

"  For  these  and  other  causes,"  the 
Declaration  continued,  "we  do  not  re- 
gard the  result  of  the  election  as  ex- 
pressive of  the  will  of  a  majority  of 
the  freemen  of  Tennessee.  Had  the  elec- 
tion everywhere  been  conducted  as  it 
was  in  East  Tennessee  we  would  enter- 
tain a  different  opinion.  Here  no  effort 
was  made  to  suppress  secession  papers, 
or  prevent  secession  speeches  or  votes, 
although  an  overwhelming  majority  of 
the  people  were  against  secession.  Here 
no  effort  has  been  made  to  prevent  the 
formation  of  military  companies,  or  ob- 
struct the  transportation  of  armies,  or 
to  prosecute  those  who  violated  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  and  of  Tennessee 
against  treason.  The  Union  men  of 
East  Tennessee,  anxious  to  be  neutral 
in  the  contest,  were  content  to  enjoy 
their  own  opinions,  and  allow  the  utmost 
latitude  of  opinion  and  action  to  those 
who  differed  from  them.  Had  the  same 
toleration  prevailed  in  other  parts  of  the 
State,  we  have  no  doubt  that  a  majority 
of  our  people  would  have  voted  to  remain 
in  the  Union.  But,  if  this  view  is  errone- 
ous, we  have  the  same  (and,  as  we  think, 
a  much  better)  right  to  remain  in  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  than 
the  other  divisions  of  Tennessee  have  to 
secede  from  it. 

"  We  prefer  to  remain  attached  to  the 
Government  of  our  fathers.  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  has  done 
us  no  wrong.  The  Congress  of  the  United 
States  has  passed  no  law  to  oppress  us. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  has 
made  no  threat  against  the  law-abiding 
people  of  Tennessee.  Under  the  Govern- 
38 


ment  of  the  United  States  we  have  en- 
joyed, as  a  nation,  more  of  civil  and 
religious  freedom  than  any  other  people 
under  the  whole  heaven.  We  believe 
there  is  no  cause  for  rebellion  or  seces- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Tennes- 
see. None  was  assigned  by  the  Legislature 
in  their  miscalled  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. No  adequate  cause  can  be  as- 
signed. The  Select  Committee  of  that 
body  asserted  a  gross  and  inexcusable 
falsehood  in  their  address  to  the  people 
of  Tennessee,  when  they  declared  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  had 
made  war  upon  them.  The  secession 
cause  has  thus  far  been  sustained  by  de- 
ception and  falsehood  ;  by  falsehoods  as 
to  the  action  of  Congress  ;  by  false  de- 
spatches as  to  the  battles  that  were  never 
fought,  and  victories  that  were  never 
won ;  by  false  accounts  as  to  the  pur- 
poses of  the  President ;  by  false  repre- 
sentations as  to  the  views  of  Union  men  ; 
and  by  false  pretences  as  to  the  facility 
with  which  the  secession  troops  would 
take  possession  of  the  capital  and  capture 
the  highest  officers  of  the  Government. 
The  cause  of  secession  or  rebellion  has 
no  charms  for  us,  and  its  progress  has 
been  marked  by  the  most  alarming  and 
dangerous  attacks  upon  the  public  liber- 
ty. In  other  States  as  well  as  our  own, 
its  whole  course  threatens  to  annihilate 
the  last  vestige  of  freedom." 

The  enumeration  of  the  results  of  the 
rebellion,  which  had  even  then  followed 
in  the  infancy  of  its  career,  is  sufficiently 
striking  : — "  While  peace  and  prosperity 
have  blessed  us  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  the  following  may  be 
enumerated  as  some  of  the  fruits  of  seces- 
sion :  It  was  urged  forward  by  members 
of  Congress,  who  were  sworn  to  support 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 


298 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


were  themselves  supported  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. It  was  effected  without  con- 
sultation with  all  the  States  interested  in 
the  Slavery  question,  and  without  ex- 
hausting peaceable  remedies.  It  has 
plunged  the  country  into  civil  war,  par- 
alyzed our  commerce,  interfered  with  the 
whole  trade  and  business  of  our  country, 
lessened  the  value  of  our  property,  de- 
stroyed many  of  the  pursuits  of  life,  and 
bids  fair  to  involve  the  whole  nation  in 
irretrievable  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  It 
has  changed  the  entire  relations  of  States, 
and  adopted  constitutions  without  sub- 
mitting them  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  and 
where  suok  a  vote  has  been  authorized, 
it  has  been  upon  the  condition  prescribed 
by  Senator  Mason  of  Virginia,  that  those 
who  voted  the  Union  ticket  '  must  leave 
the  State.'  It  has  advocated  a  constitu- 
tional monarchy,  a  king  and  a  dictator, 
and  is,  through  The  Richmond  Press, 
at  this  moment,  recommending  to  the 
Convention  in  Virginia  a  restriction  of 
the  right  of  suffrage,  and  '  in  severing 
connection  with  the  Yankees  to  abolish 
every  vestige  of  resemblance  to  the  in- 
stitutions of  that  detested  race.'  It  has 
formed  military  leagues,  passed  military 
bills,  and  opened  the  door  for  oppressive 
taxation,  without  consulting  the  people, 
and  then,  in  mockery  of  a  free  election, 
has  required  them,  by  their  votes,  to 
sanction  its  usurpations  under  the  penal- 
ties of  moral  proscription,  or  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet.  It  has  offered  a  pre- 
mium for  crime,  in  directing  the  discharge 
of  volunteers  from  criminal  prosecutions, 
and  in  recommending  the  Judges  not  to 
hold  their  courts.  It  has  stained  our 
statute-book  with  the  repudiation  of 
Northern  debts,  and  has  greatly  violated 
the  Constitution  by  attempting,  through 
its  unlawful  extension,  to  destroy  the 


right  of  suffrage.  It  has  called  upon  the 
people  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  may 
soon  require  the  people  of  Tennessee,  to 
contribute  all  their  surplus  cotton,  corn, 
wheat,  bacon,  beef,  etc.,  to  the  support 
of  pretended  Governments,  alike  desti- 
tute of  money  and  credit.  It  has  at- 
tempted to  destroy  the  accountability  of 
public  servants  to  the  people  by  secret 
legislation,  and  has  set  the  obligation  of 
an  oath  at  defiance.  It  has  passed  laws 
declaring  it  treason  to  say  or  do  any 
thing  in  the  favor  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and  such  a  law  is  now 
before,  and  we  apprehend  will  soon  be 
passed  by,  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee. 
It  has  attempted  to  destroy,  and  we  fear 
soon  utterly  prostrate,  the  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press.  It  has  involved 
the  Southern  States  in  a  war  whose  suc- 
cess is  hopeless,  and  which  must  ultimate- 
ly lead  to  the  ruin  of  the  people.  Its 
bigoted,  overbearing,  and  intolerant  spirit 
has  already  subjected  the  people  of  East 
Tennessee  to  many  petty  grievances ;  our 
people  have  been  insulted ;  our  flags  have 
been  fired  upon  and  torn  down  ;  our  houses 
have  been  rudely  entered ;  our  families 
subjected  to  insult ;  our  peaceable  meet- 
ings interrupted  ;  our  women  and  children 
shot  at  by  a  merciless  soldiery ;  our  towns 
pillaged  ;  our  citizens  robbed,  and  some 
of  them  assassinated  and  murdered.  No 
effort  has  been  spared  to  deter  the  Union 
men  of  East  Tennessee  from  the  expres- 
sion of  their  free  thoughts.  The  penalties 
of  treason  have  been  threatened  against 
them,  and  murder  and  assassination  have 
been  openly  encouraged  by  leading  se- 
cession journals.  As  secession  has  been 
thus  overbearing  and  intolerant,  while  in 
the  minority  in  East  Tennessee,  nothing 
better  can  be  expected  of  the  pretended 
majority  than  wild,  unconstitutional  and 


ANDREW   JOHNSON. 


299 


oppressive  legislation  ;  an  utter  contempt 
and  disregard  of  law ;  a  determination  to 
force  every  Union  man  in  the  State  to 
swear  to  the  support  of  a  constitution  he 
abhors  to  yield  his  money  and  property 
to  aid  a  cause  he  detests,  and  to  become 
the  object  of  scorn  and  derision,  as  well 
as  the  victim  of  intolerable  and  relentless 
oppression." 

In  view  of  these  considerations,  it  was 
resolved  to  appoint  0.  P.  Temple  of 
Knox,  John  Netherland  of  Hawkins,  and 
James  P.  McDowell  of  Greene,  Commis- 
sioners to  prepare  a  memorial  and  cause 
the  same  to  be  presented  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  Tennessee,  asking  its  con- 
sent that  the  counties  comprising  East 
Tennessee,  and  such  counties  in  Middle 
Tennessee  as  desire  to  cooperate  with 
them,  may  form  and  erect  a  separate 
State.  A  resolution  was  also  adopted 
providing  for  the  choice  of  delegates  to 
a  new  General  Convention,  to  be  held 
in  the  town  of  Kingston,  and  called  to- 
gether when  the  President  or  officers  of 
the  present  Convention  might  deem  ex- 
pedient. Whatever,  under  other  circum- 
stances, might  have  been  the  fate  of 
these  efforts  to  maintain  an  independent 
course,  but  little  could  now  be  expected 
from  them.  In  fact,  it  was  too  late  for 
consideration  or  forbearance.  The  State 
had  abandoned  reason  for  the  work  of 
violence,  and  had  drifted  into  a  vortex 
from  which  nothing  could  rescue  it  but 
the  strong  interposition  of  the  despised 
and  rejected  Old  Government.  So  far 
from  upholding  the  independence  of 
their  mountain  region,  the  loyal  men  of 
Eastern  Tennessee,  after  an  ineffectual 
struggle — betrayed,  hunted,  imprisoned, 
driven  into  exile,  and  oppressed  by  a 
foreign  soldiery — were  compelled  to  wait 
in  sorrow  and  anguish  the  slow  progress 


of  the  months,  while  treason  was  work- 
ing out  its  evil  destiny,  till  the  day  of 
deliverance  came.  Thousands  crossed 
the  mountains  by  stealth  to  serve  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Union  army,  that  they 
might  return  to  their  homes  under  the 
flag  of  the  Republic,  to  rescue  their  fam- 
ilies and  friends  from  the  intolerable 
tyranny  which  oppressed  them. 

But  though  proscribed  and  under  a 
baleful  interdict  for  a  time,  Eastern  Ten- 
nessee, through  her  representative  men, 
was  never  silent  in  the  affairs  of  the 
country.  Driven  from  their  mountain 
homes,  they  found  themselves  introduced 
to  a  larger  theatre  of  action,  and,  from 
the  advisers  of  a  country  or  a  district, 
became  the  eloquent  and  powerful  sup- 
porters of  the  nation.  Thousands  to 
whom  Eastern  Tennessee  had  been  an 
unknown  land,  hidden  away  in  the  unso- 
cial seclusion  of  the  Alleghanies,  now 
for  the  first  time  became  acquainted  with 
her  natural  advantages,  her  resources, 
her  opportunities  for  the  culture  and 
protection  of  an  industrious,  liberty-lov- 
ing people,  as  her  Johnsons,  Nelsons, 
Maynards,  Brownlows,  and  others,  loud- 
ly and  resolutely  raised  their  voices  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union.  Of  these, 
among  the  foremost  was  Andrew  John- 
son, who,  continuing  to  hold  his  seat  in 
the  United  States  Senate  as  the  staunch 
vindicator  of  the  old  loyalty  of  Tennes- 
see, not  only  spoke  for  her  interests,  but 
stood  forth  a  pillar  of  strength  in  uphold^ 
ing  the  cause  of  the  nation.  His  simple 
history  has  some  striking  points  of  inter- 
est, exhibiting  him  as  the  representative 
of  a  new  element  of  industrial  progress 
in  the  culture  and  development  of  the 
South.  His  career,  indeed,  was  struck 
out  on  a  different  path  from  that  of  the 
self-styled  social  aristocracy  of  which  so 


300 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


much  was  said  in  its  relation  to  the  re- 
bellion. Born  in  North  Carolina  about 
1812,  the  son  ;>f  poor  parents,  he  had  in 
early  life  been  denied  the  opportunities 
of  education,  and  without  even  knowing 
how  to  read,  had  been  apprenticed  to  a 
tailor.  His  wife,  it  is  said,  first  taught 
him  his  letters.  Pursuing  the  trade 
which  he  had  acquired,  he  crossed  the 
mountains  to  Tennessee,  where  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  his  home  at  Greenville, 
where,  having  secured  a  competency  by 
his  industry,  he  was  led  by  his  natural 
vigor  and  strength  of  mind,  to  take  part 
in  public  affairs  as  a  politician  and 
speaker.  He  was  elected  to  the  State 
Legislature,  then  to  Congress,  was  chosen 
Governor  of  Tennessee,  and,  in  1857, 
became  Senator  of  the  United  States. 
His  patriotic  course  in  that  body,  in  the 
midst  of  the  seceding  members,  in  the 
last  session  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  adminis- 
tration, is  not  likely  soon  to  be  forgotten. 
To  him  and  to  Judge  Holt  of  Kentucky, 
the  cause  of  the  Union  certainly  owed 
much  in  those  dark  days  of  faithlessness 
and  defection.  He  was  the  expounder 
of  a  sound  nationality  to  the  people,  who 
recognized  in  his  straightforward,  manly 
utterance  and  home-felt  arguments  the 
true  interpretation  of  their  sympathies 
and  interests.  So  lively  an  impression 
did  his  course  make  upon  the  people  of 
the  border  States,  that,  on  his  passage  to 
Tennessee  after  the  adjournment  of  Con- 
gress, he  was  mobbed  and  insulted  by  a 
band  of  secession  sympathizers,  at  a  rail- 
way station,  on  his  way  through  Virginia. 
The  sagacity  of  these  men  went  some 
way  to  relieve  their  brutality.  They 
knew  the  danger  to  their  infamous  cause 
of  the  words  and  influence  of  the  patriot- 
ic man  whom  they  assaulted. 

When  Congress  again  met  in  extra 


session,  and  the  acts  of  the  President  in 
the  work  of  arresting  the  rebellion,  were 
passed  in  review,  by  no  one  were  they 
more  warmly  upheld  than  by  Senator 
Johnson,  whose  speech  of  the  27th  of 
July,  in  the  Senate,  is  one  of  the  endur- 
ing records  of  the  season.  Whatever 
doubts  there  might  be  of  others — for  it 
was  not  always  easy  to  define  the  opin- 
ions of  border  State  Democrats  —  there 
could  be  no  mistaking  his  position,  as  he 
dwelt  upon  the  elements  of  the  rebellion 
and  the  means  necessary  to  be  taken  for 
its  suppression.  The  key-note  of  his 
speech  was  the  assertion  of  the  right  of 
the  people  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  gov- 
ernment which  they  had  founded.  "  It 
is  a  contest,"  said  he,  "  for  the  existence 
of  the  Government  against  internal  foes 
and  traitors.  It  is  a  contest  whether  a 
people  are  capable  of  governing  them- 
selves or  not.  We  have  reached  that 
crisis  in  our  country's  history,  and  the 
time  has  arrived  when,  if  the  Govern- 
ment has  the  power,  if  the  people  are 
capable  of  self-government,  and  can 
establish  this  great  truth,  that  it  should 
be  done."  In  pursuance  of  this  train  of 
thought,  he  reviewed  the  indications 
which  had  made  their  appearance  in  the 
South,  in  the  progress  of  the  rebellion, 
of  a  desire  or  intention  to  change  the 
form  of  that  Republican  government 
which  the  Constitution  had  guaranteed 
to  all  the  States.  He  cited  the  declara- 
tions of  Southern  editors1 — of  Toombs 
of  Georgia,  of  the  social  circles  of 
Charleston,  as  reported  by  the  Times' 
correspondent,  Mr.  Russell,  of  an  ar- 
dent admiration  or  decided  preference 
for  monarchical  institutions  in  compari- 
son with  the  simple  democracy  of  the 
United  States.  Coming,  in  the  course  of 
these  citations,  upon  a  passage  of  the 


UNHALLOWED  AMBITION. 


301 


Memphis  Bulletin  suggesting  the  neces- 
sity of  a  powerful  dictatorship  to  keep 
the  State  in  the  interest  of  the  rebellion, 
and  ending  with  the  round  assertion, 
only  saved  from  ridicuie  by  the  tragedy 
behind  it,  "  Let  Governor  Harris  be 
a  king,  if  need  be,  and  Baugh  a  despot," 
he  exclaimed,  "  Who  is  Baugh  ?  The 
Mayor  of  Memphis.  The  mock  reign  of 
terror  gotten  up  under  this  doctrine  of 
secession  is  so  great,  that  we  find  that 
they  are  appealing  to  the  one-man  pow- 
er. They  are  even  willing  to  make  the 
Mayor  of  the  city  a  despot,  and  Isham 
G.  Harris,  a  little  petty  Governor  of 
Tennessee,  a  king.  He  is  to  be  made 
king  over  the  State  that  contains  the 
bones  of  the  immortal,  the  illustrious 
Jackson.  Isham  G.  Harris  a  king  !  Or 
Jeff.  Da-vis  a  Dictator,  and  Isham  G. 
Harris  one  of  his  satraps.  He  a  king 
over  tfce  free  and  patriotic  people  of 
Tennessee  !  Isham  G.  Harris  to  be  my 
king  ?  Yes,  sir,  my  king  !  I  know  the 
man.  I  know  his  elements.  I  know  the 
ingredients  that  constitute  the  compound 
called  Isham  G.  Harris.  King  Harris 
to  be  my  master  and  the  master  of  the 
people  that  I  have  the  proud  and  con- 
scious satisfaction  of  representing  on  this 
floor  !  Mr.  President,  he  should  not  be 
my  slave '" 

It  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  here 
pursue  Senator  Johnson's  animated  ex- 
posure of  the  intrigues  in  which  the  con- 
spiracy was  born,  and  of  the  desperate 
designs  which  had  been  avowed  and 
acted  upon  by  the  rebel  leaders  in  its 
prosecution.  One  passage,  however,  may 
be  given  as  a  striking  example  of  his 
manner.  Speaking  of  the  conspirators 
and  their  motives,  he  asked,  "  What  is 
the  real  cause?  Disappointed  ambition; 
an  unhallowed  ambition.  Certain  men 


could  not  wait  any  longer,  and  they 
seized  this  occasion  to  do  what  they  had 
been  wanting  to  do  for  a  long  time — 
break  up  the  Government.  If  they  could 
not  rule  a  large  country,  they  thought 
they  might  rule  a  small  one.  Hence  one 
of  the  prime  movers  in  the  Senate  ceased 
to  be  a  Senator,  and  passed  out  to  be 
President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
Another,  that  was  bold  enough  on  this 
floor  to  proclaim  himself  a  rebel,  retired 
as  a  Senator,  and  became  Secretary  of 
State.  All  perfectly  disinterested,  no 
ambition  about  it !  Another,  Mr,  Ben- 
jamin of  Louisiana — one  that  understands 
something  about  the  idea  of  dividing 
garments  ;  who  belongs  to  that  tribe  that 
parted  the  garments  of  our  Saviour,  and 
for  his  vesture  cast  lots — went  out  of  this 
body  and  was  made  Attorney-General, 
to  show  his  patriotism  and  disinterested- 
ness— nothing  else !  .  Mr.  Slidell,  disin- 
terested altogether,  is  to  go  as  minister 
to  France.  I  might  enumerate  many 
such  instances.  This  is  all  patriotism, 
pure  disinterestedness  !  Do  we  not  see 
where  it  all  ends  ?  Disappointed,  impa- 
tient, unhallowed  ambition.  There  has 
been  no  cause  for  breaking  up  this  Gov- 
ernment ;  there  have  been  no  rights 
denied,  no  privileges  trampled  upon 
under  the  Constitution  and  Union,  that 
might  not  have  been  remedied  more 
effectually  in  the  Union  than  outside  of 
it.  What  rights  are  to  be  attained  out- 
side of  the  Union  ?  The  seceders  have 
violated  the  Constitution,  trampled  it 
under  foot ;  and  what  is  their  condition 
now  ?  Upon  the  abstract  idea  that  they 
had  a  right  to  secede,  they  have  gone 
out ;  and  what  is  the  consequence  ?  Op- 
pression, taxation,  blood 'and  civil  war. 
They  reasoned  upon  the  principle  of  a 
madman,  who  happened  to  discover 


302 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


somehow  that  man  had  dominion  over 
the  beasts  of  the  forest ;  .and  because  he 
had,  he  said  he  had  a  right  to  shear  a 
wolf.  A  friend  remonstrated  with  him, 
and  asked  him  if  he  had  considered  the 
danger  and  the  difficulty  of  the  attempt 
to  shear  a  wolf ;  and  after  the  shearing 
was  over,  what  would  it  be  worth  ?  '  Oh 
no,'  Baid  he,  in  the  midst  of  his  frenzy 
and  madness,  '  I  have  a  right  to  shear  a 
wolf,  and  therefore  I  will  shear  a  wolf.' 
Yes,  they  have  sheared  the  wolf,  and 
what  has  come  ?  They  have  gone  out  of 
the  Union  ;  and,  I  repeat  again,  they 
have  got  taxes,  usurpations,  blood  and 
civil  war." 

In  reference  to  his  own  State,  and 
especially  to  that  portion  of  it,  Eastern 
Tennessee,  which  looked  more  immedi- 
ately to  his  protection,  he  said  of  the 
wrongs  endured  by  his  .people  at  the 
hands  of  the  rebels  : — "Since  I  left  my 
home,  having  only  one  way  to  leave  the 
State  through  two  or  three  passes  coming 
out  through  Cumberland  Gap,  I  have  been 
advised  that  they  had  even  sent  their 
armies  to  blockade  these  passes  in  the 
mountains,  as  they  say,  to  prevent  John- 
son from  returning  with  arms  and  muni- 
tions to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  people 
to  vindicate  their  rights,  repel  invasion, 
and  put  down  domestic  insurrection  and 
rebellion.  Yes,  sir,  there  they  stand  in 
arms  environing  a  population  of  three 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  loyal, 
brave,  patriotic,  and  unsubdued  people  ; 
but  yet  powerless,  and  not  in  a  condition 
to  vindicate  their  rights.  Hence  I  come 
to  the  Government,  and  I  do  not  ask  it  as 
a  suppliant,  but  I  demand  it  as  a  consti- 
tutional right,  that  you  give  us  protection, 
give  us  arms  arid  munitions ';  and  if  they 
cannot  be  got  there  in  any  other  way,  to 
them  there  with  an  invading  army, 


and  deliver  the  people  from  the  oppres- 
sion to  which  they  are  now  subjected. 
We  claim  to  be  the  State.  The  other 
divisions  may  have  seceded  and  gone 
off;  and  if  this  Government  will  stand 
by  and  permit  those  portions  of  the  State 
to  go  off,  and  not  enforce  the  laws  and 
protect  the  loyal  citizens  there,  we  can- 
not help  it ;  but  we  still  claim  to  be  the 
State,  and  if  two-thirds  have  fallen  off, 
or  have  been  sunk  by  an  earthquake,  it 
does  not  change  our  relation  to  this 
Government.  If  the  Government  will 
let  them  go,  and  not  give  us  protection 
the  fault  is  not  ours  ;  but  if  you  will  give 
us  protection  we  intend  to  stand  as  a 
State,  as  a  part  of  this  Confederacy,  hold- 
ing to  the  flag  that  was  borne  by  Wash- 

o  «/ 

ington  through  a  seven  years'  struggle  for 
independence  and  separation  from  the 
mother  country.  We  demand  it  accord- 
ing to  law  ;  we  demand  it  upon  the  guar- 
antees of  the  Constitution.  You  are 
bound  to  guaranty  to  us  a  republican 
form  of  government,  and  we  ask  it  as  a 
constitutional  right.  We  do  not  ask  you 

<_?  «/ 

to  interfere  as  a  party,  as  your  feelings 
or  prejudices  may  be  one  way  or  other 
in  reference  to  the  parties  of  the  coun- 
try ;  but  we  ask  you  to  interfere  as  a 
Government  according  to  the  Constitu- 
tion. Of  course  we  want  your  sympathy, 
and  your  regard,  and  your  respect ;  but 
we  ask  your  interference  on  constitutional 
grounds. 

"  The  amendments  to  the  Constitution, 
which  constitute  the  bill  of  rights,  declare 
that  '  a  well  regulated  militia  being  ne- 
cessary to  the  security  of  a  free  State,  the 
right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms 
shall  not  be  infringed.'  Our  people  are 
denied  this  right  secured  to  them  in  their 
own  constitution  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  ;  yet  we  hear  no  com- 


A   PLEA  FOR  TENNESSEE. 


303 


plaints  here  of  violations  of  the  Constitu- 
tion in  this  respect.  We  ask  the  Gov- 
ernment to  interpose  to  secure  us  this 
constitutional  right.  We  want  the  passes 
in  our  mountains  opened,  we  want  de- 
liverance and  protection  for  a  downtrod- 
den and  oppressed  people  who  are  strug- 
gling for  their  independence  without 
arms.  If  we  had  had  ten  thousand  stand 
of  arms  and  ammunition  when  the  con- 
test commenced,  we  should  have  asked 
no  further  assistance.  We  have  not  got 
them.  We  are  a  rural  people  ;  we  have 
villages  and  small  towns — no  large  cities. 
Our  population  is  homogenous,  industri- 
ous, frugal,  brave,  independent ;  but 
harmless  and  powerless,  and  rode  over 
by  usurpers.  You  may  be  too  late  in 
coming  to  our  relief ;  or  you  may  not  come 
at  all,  though  I  do  not  doubt  that  you 
will  come  ;  they  may  trample  us  under 
foot ;  they  may  convert  our  plains  into 
graveyards,  and  the  caves  of  our  moun- 
tains into  sepulchres  ;  but  they  will  never 
take  us  out  of  this  Union,  or  make  us  a 
land  of  slaves — no,  never.  We  intend 
to  stand  as  firm  as  adamant,  and  as  un- 
yielding as  our  own  majestic  mountains 
that  surround  us.  Yes,  we  will  profit  by 
their  example,  resting  immovably  upon 
their  basis.  We  will  stand  as  long  as 
we  can  ;  and  if  we  are  overpowered,  and 
liberty  shall  be  driven  from  the  land,  we 
intend  before  she  departs,  to  take  the 
flag  of  our  country,  with  a  stalwart  arm, 
and  a  patriotic  heart,  and  an  honest 
tread,  and  place  it  upon  the  summit  of 
the  loftiest  and  most  majestic  mountain. 
We  intend  to  plant  it  there,  and  leave  it, 
to  indicate  to  the  inquirer  who  may  come 
in  after  times,  the  spot  where  the  Goddess 
of  Liberty  lingered  and  wept  for  the  last 
time,  before  she  took  her  flight  from  a 
people  once  prosperous,  free  and  happy. 


We  ask  the  Government  to  come  to  our 
aid.  We  love  the  Constitution  as  made 
by  our  fathers.  We  have  confidence  in 
the  integrity  and  capacity  of  the  people 
to  govern  themselves.  We  have  lived 
entertaining  these  opinions ;  we  intend  to 
die  entertaining  them.  The  battle  has 
commenced.  The  President  has  placed 
it  upon  the  true  ground.  It  is  an  issue 
on  the  one  hand  for  the  people's  Govern- 
ment, and  its  overthrow  on  the  other. 
We  have  commenced  the  battle  of  free- 
dom. It  is  freedom's  cause.  We  are 
resisting  usurpation  and  oppression.  We 
will  triumph  ;  we  must  triumph.  Right 
is  with  us.  A  great  and  fundamental 
principle  of  right,  that  lies  at  the  found- 
ation of  all  things,  is  with  us.  We  may 
meet  with  impediments,  and  may  meet 
with  disasters,  and  here  and  there  a  de- 
feat ;  but  ultimately  freedom's  cause  must 
triumph,  for— 

'  Freedom's  battle  once  begun, 
Bequeathed  from  bleeding  sire  tc  sou, 
Though  baffled  oft,  is  ever  won.' 

Yes,  we  must  triumph.  Though  some- 
times I  cannot  see  my  way  clear  in  mat- 
ters of  this  kind,  as  in  matters  of  religion, 
when  my  facts  give  out,  when  my  reason 
fails  me,  I  draw  largely  upon  my  faith. 
My  faith  is  strong,  based  on  the  eternal 
principles  of  right,  that  a  thing  so  mon- 
strously wrong  as  this  rebellion  is,  cannot 
triumph.  Can  we  submit  to  it  ?  Can 
bleeding  justice  submit  to  it?  Is  the 
Senate,  are  the  American  people,  pre- 
pared to  give  up  the  graves  of  Washing- 
ton and  Jackson,  to  be  encircled  and 
governed  and  controlled  by  a  combina- 
tion of  traitors  and  rebels  ?  I  say  let  the 
battle  go  on — it  is  freedom's  cause — un  - 
til  the  Stars  and  Stripes  (God  bless  them) 
shall  again  be  unfurled  upon  every  cross 
road,  and  from  every  house  top  through- 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


out  the  Confederacy,  North  and  South. 
Let  the  Union  be  reinstated  ;  let  the  law 
be  enforced  ;  let  the  Constitution  be  su- 
preme. If  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  were  to  give  up  the  tombs  of 
Washington  and  Jackson,  we  should  have 
rising  in  our  midst  another  Peter  the 
Hermit,  in  a  much  more  righteous  cause — 
for  ours  is  true,  while  his  was  a  delusion 
— who  would  appeal  to  the  American 
people  and  point  to  the  tombs  of  Wash- 
ington and  Jackson,  in  the  possession  of 
those  who  are  worse  than  the  infidel  and 
the  Turk  who  held  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
I  believe  the  American  people  would 
start  of  their  own  accord,  when  appealed 
to,  to  redeem  the  graves  of  Washington 
and  Jackson  and  Jefferson,  and  all  the 
other  patriots  who  are  lying  within  the 
limits  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  I  do 
not  believe  they  would  stop  the  march, 
until  again  the  flag  of  this  Union  would 
be  placed  over  the  graves  of  those  dis- 
tinguished men.  There  will  be  an  up- 
rising. Do  not  talk  about  Republicans 
now  ;  do  not  talk  about  Democrats  now ; 
do  not  talk  about  Whigs  or  Americans 
now  ;  talk  about  your  country  and  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union.  Save  that ; 
preserve  the  integrity  of  the  Govern- 
ment ;  once  more  place  it  erect  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth  and  then  if  we 
want  to  divide  about  questions  that  may 
arise  in  our  midst,  we  have  a  Govern- 
ment to  divide  it." 

Another  figure  of  some  interest  in  the 
annals  of  Eastern  Tennessee,  at  this  time, 
was  the  Rev.  William  G.  Brownlow,  fa- 
miliarly known  to  the  public  as  Parson 
Brownlow,  a  bold,  vigorous  controver- 
sialist, who,  in  the  columns  of  his  weekly 
newspaper,  the  Knoxville  Whig,  launched 
the  fiercest  thunders  of  his  rhetoric  and 
personal  invective  against  the  secession- 


ists who  beset  him.  Privileged  by  his 
profession  as  a  Methodist  clergyman, 
though  there  were  regions  in  the  South 
where  that  would  have  been  of  but  little 
avail,  and  probably  more  by  the  influ- 
ence of  his  press  and  his  intimacy  with* 
the  public  men  of  the  region,  his  loudest 
denunciations  of  the  disunionists  were  for 
a  long  time  suffered  to  pass  without  in- 
terruption other  than  the  threats  of  the 
faction  he  opposed  ;  but  at  length  with 
other  patriots  he  was  persecuted  and 
prescribed,  compelled  to  hide  himself 
from  the  storm,  to  discontinue  his  news- 
paper, and  then  to  undergo  a  cruel  im- 
prisonment, the  story  of  which,  and  of 
the  sufferings  of  his  associates,  as  it  is 
recorded  in  the  diary  of  these  dark 
hours,  which  he  has  given  to  the  public, 
recalls  some  of  the  bloodiest  scenes  *)f 
the  proscription  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. Mr.  Brownlow,  with  many  other 
occupants  of  Eastern  Tennessee,  was  a 
native  of  Virginia.  His  parents  were 
poor,  and  dying  when  the  son  was  about 
ten  years  of  age,  he  was  left  to  a  life  of 
hard  labor  in  his  youth,  completing  this 
first  stage  of  his  education  in  an  appren- 
ticeship to  the  trade  of  a  house  carpen- 
ter. He  then  applied  himself  to  study, 
and  entered  the  Methodist  Travelling 
Ministry — a  school  of  the  world  by  no 
means  ill  adapted  to  develop  the  quali- 
ties of  an  earnest  manly  nature.  He 
travelled  ten  years  in  this  profession 
without  intermission.  Among  his  cir- 
cuits at  this  period  was  a  ministerial 
journey  through  South  Carolina  at  the 
height  of  the  nullification  discussion,  in 
which  he  took  a  part,  bearing  strong 
and  decided  testimony  to  his  sense  of 
the  value  of  the  services  of  General 
Jackson  in  suppressing  that  incipient  re- 
bellion. "  South  Carolina,"  he  wrote 


MISSOURI. 


305 


and  published  in  a  pamphlet  in  1832,  in 
the  midst  of  the  nullifiers,  "  is  looking  to 
the  formation  of  an  independent  Prov- 
ince, but  will  not  be  allowed  any  such 
privilege,  as  her  leading  men  will  infer 
from  the  proclamation  of  Old  Hickory. 
*  *  This  attempt  by  mob-law  to  nullify 
the  laws  of  the  General  Government  is 
but  the  development  of  a  well-planned 
scheme  for  the  ulterior  wicked  purpose 
of  destroying  our  Government.  It  is  a 
wild,  visionary  and  supremely  ridiculous 
scheme,  and  will  be  put  down,  at  all 
hazards,  by  General  Jackson.  In  fact, 
he  has  now  crushed  it  out,  and  I  rejoice 
in  its  overthrow,  though  it  may  starve 
me  out  and  drive  me  from  your  limits. 
I  shall  fall  back  into  Tennessee,  where 
the  people  appreciate  the  blessings  of 
the  best  Government  in  the  world,  and 
where  the  gospel  is  likely  to  produce 
some  other  effect  than  that  of  arraying 
the  people  against  the  legal  and  consti- 
tuted authorities  of  the  land."  The  man 


who  wrote  thus  in  1832  was  not  to  be 
taken  off  his  guard  by  the  rebellion  of 
1861, — the  full-grown  treason  which  he 
had  known  in  its  cradle.  He  commenced 
the  editorship  of  the  Knoxville  Whig 
about  1840,  and  had  since  that  time  been 
a  devoted  advocate  of  the  political  prin- 
ciples which  the  name  of  the  paper  implied. 
Of  course  in  that  period  he  had  been  in 
opposition  to  the  democrat  Andrew  John- 
son, but  the  present  rebellion,  by  the  sym- 
pathy of  a  common  persecution,  had  re- 
moved all  disagreement  on  that  score.  As 
he  took  occasion  to  say  in  one  of  the 
speeches  in  his  triumphal  progress  to  the 
North  after  his  liberation,  "  I  have  fought 
that  man  for  twenty-five  long  and  terrible 
years  ;  I  fought  him  systematically,  per- 
severingly  and  untiringly ;  but  it  was  up- 
on the  old  issues  of  whiggery  and  democ- 
racy ;  and  now  we  will  fight  for  one 
another.  We  have  merged  in  Tennessee 
all  other  parties  and  predilections  in  this 
great  question  of  the  Union." 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


PROCEEDINGS    IN    MISSOURI. 


NEXT  to  the  situation  of  affairs  on  the 
Potomac,  the  condition  of  Missouri  be- 
came a  subject  of  anxious  solicitude  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion.  The  posi- 
tion of  this  rich  State,  prosperous  and 
everywhere  abounding  in  elements  of 
wealth,  controlling  the  great  highways 
of  western  travel,  influencing  Illinois 
and  Kentucky  on  the  east,  bordered  on 
the  south  by  Arkansas,  a  bulwark  and 
protection  to  Kansas  on  the  west,  ren- 
dered its  possession  of  the  foremost  im- 
portance to  the  contending  parties.  In 
39 


a  national  point  of  view,  to  relinquish 
Missouri  to  the  rebellion  would  be  to 
make  the  Mississippi  the  western  bound- 
ary of  the  United  States,  abandon  at 
once  the  vast  region  of  the  Territories, 
and  surrender  the  very  principle  of  the 
struggle.  There  were  other  States  which 
might  be  left  to  their  folly  to  reap  the 
fruits  of  the  war  and  repent  at  leisure, 
but  there  could  be  no  such  indifference 
toward  Missouri.  To  give  up  the  State 
would  be  fatal  to  the  cause  of  Union  and 
the  Government.  It  must  be  held  at  all 


306 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


hazards  and  by  every  effort.  The  task 
thus  imperative,  it  very  soon  became 
evident,  was  attended  with  no  slight  dif- 
ficulties. A  large  portion  of  the  popu- 
lation, hardened  in  the  rough  manners 
of  frontier  life,  had  already  shown  them- 
selves, in  their  participation  in  the  af- 
fairs of  Kansas,  ready  for  any  deed  of 
violence  or  usurpation  undertaken  in  be- 
half of  slavery.  The  sympathies  also  of 
many  wealthy  slaveholders  throughout 
the  State  were  with  the  South.  The 
Governor,  Claiborne  F.  Jackson,  fully 
represented  the  old  democratic  proslave- 
ry  party,  strongly  imbued  with  Southern 
sympathies  and  in  alliance  with  Southern 
leaders,  which  had  long  held  the  State  in 
subjection.  On  the  other  hand,  through- 
out the  State  north  of  the  Missouri  river, 
and  particularly  in  the  large  German 
population  of  St.  Louis,  there  was  a  nu- 
merous body  of  intelligent  freemen,  de- 
voted to  the  free  soil  principles  of  the 
administration,  animated  with  a  love  of 
the  Union,  and  ready  to  defend  the 
heritage  for  their  children  with  their 
lives.  Nor  were  many  of  the  slave- 
holders themselves  indifferent  to  the 
blessings  of  the  national  government 
under  the  old  flag  of  the  Republic,  as 
was  fully  shown  in  the  result  of  the  elec- 
tion of  representatives  to  the  Convention 
which  had  been  ordered  by  the  Legis- 
lature. When  the  vote  was  taken  the 
unconditional  Union  ticket  was  every- 
where in  the  ascendant. 

Unhappily,  the  Governor  was  thor- 
oughly disaffected  to  the  Government. 
We  have  seen  his  harsh  and  disloyal  re- 
ply to  the  Secretary  of  War  in  answer 
to  the  call  for  troops  for  the  National 
defence.*  A  fortnight  after,  on  the  3d 
of  May,  in  a  message  to  the  Legislature 

*  Ante,  p.  128. 


of  Missouri,  he  denounced  the  Proclama* 
tion  of  the  President  as  unconstitutional, 
and  while  avoiding  a  direct  recommen- 
dation of  the  secession  of  the  State,  de 
clared  its  "  interest  and  sympathies  iden- 
tical with  those  of  the  slaveholding  States, 
and  necessarily  uniting  its  destiny  with 
theirs."  With  a  strange  disregard  of 
the  northern  geographical  position  of  the 
State,  and  the  character  of  its  neighbor? 
on  the  north,  east  and  west,  and  the 
avowed  diversity  of  opinion  of  its  citi- 
zens on  its  domestic  policy,  he  had  the 
hardihood  to  add  that  "  the  similarity  of 
our  social  and  political  institutions,  our 
industrial  interests,  our  sympathies,  hab- 
its and  tastes,  our  common  origin,  terri- 
torial contiguity,  all  concur  in  pointing 
out  our  duty  in  regard  to  the  separation 
now  taking  place  between  the  States  of 
the  old  Federal  Union."  He  therefore 
recommended  the  arming  the  State  im- 
mediately, enjoining  obedience  to  the 
constituted  authorities,  meaning  himself 
and  not  the  Government  of  the  Union, 
and  invited  an  "endeavor  ultimately  to 
unite  all  our  citizens  in  a  cordial  coope- 
ration for  the  preservation  of  our  honor, 
the  security  of  our  property  and  the  per- 
formance of  all  those  high  duties  imposed 
upon  us  by  our  obligations  to  our  fami- 
lies, our  country,  and  our  God."  The 
design  or  tendency  of  all  these  piously 
and  patriotically  worded  inculcations  was 
evidently  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the 
State  in  the  interests  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  Meanwhile  he  set  forth 
a  policy  of  armed  neutrality — a  danger- 
ous proceeding  for  the  liberties  of  the 
country  when  the  use  of  that  army 
depended  upon  his  own  treasonable  in- 
clinations. The  efforts  of  the  Legisla- 
ture were  directly  bent  to  hold  mili- 
tary possession  of  the  State,  which  was 


NATHANIEL  LYON. 


307 


divided  into  districts,  in  which  camps 
of  instruction  were  to  be  formed.  The 
city  of  St.  Louis,  the  stronghold  of  loyalty 
to  the  national  authorities,  was  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  Governor,  by 
assigning  to  him  the  appointment  of  po- 
lice, who  were  to  take  the  place  of  the 
Union  Republican  officers.  The  latter 
#ere  discharged  and  their  places  filled 
by  secessionists.*  While  these  and  the 
like  preparations  were  being  made  under 
the  legislative  sanction,  the  popular  con- 
vention had  met  and  adjourned,  after 
passing  an  ordinance  or  declaration  of 
the  adherence  of  Missouri  to  the.  Union. 
The  protection  of  the  cause  was  left  to 
the  National  Government.  A  President 
from  Illinois  was  not  likely  to  be  insen- 
sible to  the  merits  of  the  situation.  We 
accordingly  find  him  alert  from  the  be- 
ginning, intent  upon  the  preservation  of 
the  national  property  and  ready  to  take 
such  measures  as  might  be  required  for 
the  safety  of  the  State.  .uoo 

Fortunately,  there  were  two  persons 
of  commanding  genius  and  in  positions 
of  influence  at  St.  Louis,  to  second  his 
policy — one  the  eminent  politician,  Fran- 
cis P.  Blair,  Jr.,  the  other  an  officer  of 
the  army,  Captain  Lyon,  in  charge  of 
the  arsenal,  and,  in  the  absence  of  Gen- 
eral Harney,  the  commander  of  the  de- 
partment, the  chief  military  authority  at 
the  place.  No  men  better  understood 
the  demands  of  the  times  and  the  pecu- 
liar exigencies  of  the  State.  Son  of  the 
eminent  editor  of  the  Globe  newspaper, 
brother  to  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  a 
disciple  of  that  keen-sighted  statesman 
and  true  prophet  of  events,  Senator  Ben- 
ton,  a  member  of  Congress,  Mr.  Blair 
stood  forward  eminently  the  bulwark  of 

*  Sketch  of  the  War  in  Missouri.     Continental  Monthly, 
April,  1862. 


the  national  cause  in  Missouri.  Aware 
of  the  dangers  which  threatened  the  loy- 
alty of  the  State,  he  had  early  turned 
his  attention  to  thwart  the  schemes  of 
Governor  Jackson  and  his  fellow  seces- 
sionists. Previously  to  the  action  of  the 
Legislature  and  the  formation  of  the  hos- 
tile camps,  he  had  bent  his  efforts  to  the 
organization  of  a  voluntary  military 
guard,  ready  at  call  to  defend  the  lib- 
erties of  the  State.  These  men,  citizens 
of  St.  Louis,  largely  drawn  from  the  Ger- 
man population,  became  the  nucleus  of 
the  new  national  army  on  the  soil  of  St. 
Louis. 

Captain  Nathaniel  Lyon,  of  the  2d 
United  States  Infantry,  in  command  at 
the  arsenal,  was  a  true  soldier  of  the 
Republic,  single-hearted  in  his  efforts  for 
the  public  good,  solely  animated  by  a 
love  of  country.  A  native  of  Ashford, 
Connecticut,  and  descendant  on  the  moth- 
er's side  from  Colonel  Knowlton,  of  Rev- 
olutionary fame  at  Bunker  Hill  and 
Harlaem  Plains,  he  was  by  instinct  and 
culture  the  model  of  an  American  soldier. 
Brought  up  in  boyhood,  the  son  of  a 
farmer,  in  the  simple  rural  life  of  New 
England,  he  had  received  a  military  edu- 
cation at  West  Point,  and  been  sent 
forth,  2d  Lieutenant  in  the  2d  Infantry, 
to  illustrate  that  institution  in  the  Indian 
war  in  Florida,  and  the  Mexican  cam- 
paigns of  General  Scott,  in  which  he 
greatly  distinguished  himself.  He  was 
at  the  siege  of  Yera  Cruz  and  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Cerro  Gordo,  charged  and  captured 
at  the  head  of  his  company  a  battery  of 
three  cannon.  He  also  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  valor  at  Contreras  and  Chur- 
ubusco,  for  which  he  was  brevetted  Cap- 
tain, and  was  wounded  in  the  assault 
upon  the  city  of  Mexico.  Subsequently 
employed  in  California,  and  particularly 


308 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


in  Kansas,  during  the  season  of  its  in- 
fant trials,  he  had  learnt  in  the  school 
of  experience  the  lesson  of  freedom.  In 
the  canvass  for  the  Presidency,  he  had 
served  the  Republican  cause  by  his  pen, 
advocating  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as 
emphatically  a  man  of  and  for  the  peo- 
ple. 

The  first  active  proceeding  at  St. 
Louis,  under  instructions  from  the  Gov- 
ernment at  Washington,  was  the  remov- 
al, on  the  25th  of  April,  by  a  party  from 
Illinois,  of  a  large  quantity  of  arms  from 
the  United  States  arsenal- — an  important 
establishment,  amply  stored  with  the 
various  munitions  of  war.  With  the 
examples  in  mind  of  the  robbery  of  the 
public  property  in  Virginia,  North  Car- 
olina and  other  States,  and  the  obvious 
purposes  of  the  Missouri  Legislature  to 
control  all  military  movements  in  her 
borders,  the  delivery  of  the  arms  in  the 
presence  of  the  secession  authorities  .of 
St.  Louis  was  considered,  at  the  time, 
a  feat  of  some  nicety,  as  the  reader  may 
gather  from  an  animated  account  of  the 
affair  communicated  from  Springfield  to 
the  Chicago  Tribune  a  few  days  after. 

"  I  am  now,"  says  the  writer,  "  able  to 
give  a  complete  and  accurate  narrative 
of  the  transfer  of  the  21,000  stand  of 
arms  from  St.  Louis  to  Springfield.  Cap- 
tain James  H.  Stokes  of  Chicago,  late  of 
the  regular  army,  volunteered  to  under- 
take the  perilous  mission,  and  Governor 
Yates  placed  in  his  hands  the  requisition 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  for  10,000  mus- 
kets. Captain  Stokes  went  to  St.  Louis 
and  made  his  way  as  rapidly  as  possible 
to  the  arsenal.  He  found  it  surrounded 
by  an  immense  mob,  and  the  postern 
gates  all  closed.  His  utmost  efforts  to 
penetrate  the  crowd  were  for  a  long  time 
unavailing.  The  requisition  was  shown. 


Captain  Lyon  doubted  the  possibility  of 
executing  it.  He  said  the  arsenal  was 
surrounded  by  a  thousand  spies,  and 
every  movement  was  watched  and  re- 
ported at  the  headquarters  of  the  seces- 
sionists, who  could  throw  an  overwhelm- 
ing force  upon  them  at  any  moment. 
Captain  Stokes  represented  that  every 
hour's  delay  was  rendering  the  capture 
of  the  arsenal  more  certain  ;  and  the 
arms  must  be  removed  to  Illinois  now  or 
never.  Major  Callender  agreed  with 
him,  and  told  him  to  take  them  at  his 
own  time  and  in  his  own  way.  This  was 
Wednesday  night.  Captain  Stokes,  had 
a  spy  in  the  camp,  whom  he  met  at  inter- 
vals in  a  certain  place  in  the  city.  On 
Thursday  he  received  information  thai 
Governor  Jackson  had  ordered  two  thou- 
sand armed  men  down  from  Jefferson  City, 
whose  movements  could  only  contemplate 
a  seizure  of  the  arsenal,  by  occupying 
the  heights  around  it,  and  planting  bat- 
teries thereon.  The  job  would  have 
been  an  easy  one.  They  had  already 
planted  one  battery  on  the  St.  Louis 
levee,  and  another  at  Powder  Point,  a 
short  distance  below  the  arsenal.  Cap- 
tain Stokes  immediately  telegraphed  to 
Alton  to  have  the  steamer  City  of  Alton 
drop  down  to  the  arsenal,  landing  about 
midnight.  He  then  returned  to  the  ar- 
senal and  commenced  moving  the  boxes 
of  guns,  weighing  some  three  hundred 
pounds  each,  down  to  the  lower  floor. 
About  TOO  men  were  employed  in  the 
work.  He  then  took  500  Kentucky 
flint-lock  muskets,  which  had  been  sent 
there  to  be  altered,  and  sent  them  to  be 
placed  on  a  steamer  as  a  blind  to  cover 
his  real  movements.  The  secessionists 
nabbed  them  at  once,  and  raised  a  per- 
fect Bedlam  over  the  capture.  A  large 
portion  of  the  outside  crowd  left  the  ar- 


JiEMOVAL   OF  MUSKETS. 


309 


senal  when  this  movement  was  executed  ; 
and  Captain  Lyou  took  the  remainder, 
who  were  lying  around  as  spies,  and 
locked  them  up  in  his  guard-house. 
About  11  o'clock  the  steamer  City  of 
Alton  came  alongside,  planks  were  shov- 
ed out  from  the  windows  to  the  main- 
deck,  and  the  boxes  slid  down.  When 
the  10,000  were  safely  on  board,  Captain 
Stokes  went  to  Captain  Lyon  and  Major 
Callender  and  urged  them,  by  the  most 
pressing  appeals,  to  let  him  empty  the 
arsenal.  They  told  him  to  go  ahead  and 
take  whatever  he  wanted.  Accordingly, 
he  took  11,000  more  muskets,  500  new 
rifle  carbines,  500  revolvers,  110,000 
musket  cartridges,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
cannon  and  a  large  quantity  of  miscella- 
neous accoutrements,  leaving  only  7,000 
muskets  in  the  arsenal  to  arm  the  St. 
Louis  Volunteers.  When  the  whole 
were  on  board,  about  2  o'clock  on  Fri- 
day morning,  the  order  was  given  by  the 
captain  of  the  steamer  to  cast  off.  Judge 
of  the  consternation  of  all  hands  when  it 
was  found  that  she  would  not  move.  The 
arms  had  been  piled  in  great  quantities 
around  the  engines,  to  protect  them 
against  the  battery  on  the  levee,  and  the 
great  weight  had  fastened  the  bows  of 
the  boat  firmly  on  a  rock,  which  was 
tearing  a  hole  through  the  bottom  at 
every  turn  of  the  wheels.  A  man  of 
less  nerve  than  Captain  Stokes  would 
have  gone  crazy  on  the  spot.  He  called 
the  arsenal  men  on  board,  and  com- 
menced moving  the  boxes  to  the  stern. 
Fortunately,  when  about  200  boxes  had 
been  shifted,  the  boat  fell  away  from  the 
shore  and  floated  in  deep  water.  '  Which 
way  ?'  said  Captain  Mitchell  of  the  steam- 
er. '  Straight  to  Alton  in  the  regular 
channel,'  replied  Captain  Stokes.  '  What 
if  we  are  attacked  ?'  said  Captain  Mitch- 


ell. 'Then  we  will  fight!'  said  Captain 
Stokes.  '  What  if  we  are  overpowered  ?' 
said  Captain  Mitchell.  '  Run  her  to  the 
deepest  part  of  the  river  and  sink  her/ 
replied  Captain  Stokes.  '  I'll  do  it,"  was 
the  heroic  answer  of  Captain  Mitchell, 
and  away  they  went  past  the  secession 
battery,  past  the  entire  St.  Louis  leve"e, 
and  on  to  Alton  in  the  regular  channel, 
where  they  arrived  at  5  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  When  the  boat  touched  the 
landing,  Captain  Stokes,  fearing  pursuit 
by  some  two  or  three  of  the  secession 
military  companies  by  which  the  city  of 
St.  Louis  is  disgraced,  ran  to  the  market- 
house  and  rang  the  fire-bell.  The  cit- 
izens came  flocking  pell-mell  to  the  river, 
in  all  sorts  of  habiliments.  Captain 
Stokes  informed  them  of  the  situation  of 
things,  and  pointed  out  the  freighted 
cars.  Instantly  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren boarded  the  steamer,  seized  the 
freight,  and  clambered  up  the  levees  to 
the  cars.  Rich  and  poor  tugged  together 
with  might  and  main  for  two  hours, 
when  the  cargo  was  all  deposited  in  the 
cars,  and  the  train  moved  off,  amid  their 
enthusiastic  cheers,  for  Springfield." 

A  portion  of  the  State  militia,  for 
whose  organization  provision  had  been 
made  by  the  Legislature,  was  presently 
on  the  6th  of  May  assembled  in  camp, 
on  the  western  outskirts  of  St.  Louis, 
under  command  of  General  D.  M.  Frost, 
and  an  active  system  of  drilling  com- 
menced. The  encampment  bore  the  name 
Camp  Jackson,  in  honor  of  the  Governor, 
while  the  secession  purposes  of  its  in- 
mates was  unmistakably  declared  by  the 
titles  pretentiously  given  to  its  streets 
from  the  names  of  the  Confederate  lead- 
ers. On  the  9th,  a  quantity  of  small 
arms  and  several  pieces  of  cannon,  a 
part  of  the  spoil  of  the  United  States 


310 


WAR  FOR   THE  UNION. 


arsenal  at  Baton  Rouge,  which  had  been 
brought  by  the  river  to  St.  Louis,  having 
been  represented  to  the  inspectors  at 
Cairo  as  packages  of  marble  slabs,  were 
smuggled  ashore,  conveyed  to  the  camp, 
and  there  received  in  triumph.  Threats 
were  meanwhile  thrown  out  of  a  speedy 
attack  upon  the  arsenal. 

Captain  Lyon  knew  too  well  the  color 
and  habits  of  treason,  in  its  various  dis- 
guises, to  wait  till  the  enemy  before  his 
eyes,  every  day  gaining  in  confidence 
and  resources,  should  grow  too  powerful 
to  be  opposed  by  the  men  at  his  com- 
mand. He  determined  to  anticipate  the 
blow  intended  for  him.  He  had  been 
armed  with  authority,  by  official  instruc- 
tions from  President  Lincoln,  through  the 
war  department,  dated  April  30,  to  enrol 
in  the  military  service  of  the  United 
States  the  loyal  citizens  of  St.  Louis  and 
vicinity,  not  exceeding  with  those  here- 
tofore enlisted,  10,000  in  number,  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  the  authority  of 
the  United  States  and  for  the  protection 
of  the  peaceable  inhabitants  of  Missouri ; 
and  if  deemed  necessary  for  that  pur- 
pose, he  was  directed  to  proclaim  mar- 
tial law  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis.  It  was 
an  important  trust  to  be  committed  to  a 
captain  of  infantry — this  control  of  the 
military  and  civil  power  of  a  great  city— 
and  in  common  with  the  suspension  of 
the  habeas  corpus  writ  in  Maryland,  by 
the  Executive,  became,  in  certain  quar- 
ters the  subject  of  animadversion  ;*  but 
the  President  knew  to  whom  he  entrusted 
the  power  and  the  necessity  for  its  exer- 
cise. It  was  to  avoid  such  disasters  as 
the  seizure  of  Norfolk  and  its  navy  yard 
that  the  authority  was  given,  and  the 
result  showed  that  it  was  neither  mis- 


*  See  in  particular  the  speech  of  Trusten  Polk  of  Mis- 
souri, in  the  United  States  Senate,  July  11,  1861. 


timed  nor  misplaced.  That  the  power, 
moreover,  might  be  diligently  guarded  in 
its  use  by  the  exercise  of  a  sound  dis- 
cretion, the  President  in  his  orders  had 
named  six  loyal  and  discreet  citizens  of 
St.  Louis,  prominent  among  whom  was 
Colonel  F.  P.  Blair,  as  a  commission  to 
be  consulted  by  Captain  Lyon  in  the 
course  to  be  taken  in  the  management  of 
public  affairs  and  the  proclamation  of 
martial  law.  In  the  multitude  of  coun- 
sellors, however,  spite  of  the  proverb, 
there  is  weakness  as  well  as  safety,  and, 
as  we  learn  from  Colonel  Blair's  narra- 
tive, it  was  by  his  advice  as  Captain 
Lyon's  "  confidential  and  constant  com- 
panion— comrades  in  arms  and  a  unit  in 
counsel" — and,  contrary  to  the  opinions 
of  the  remaining  five,  that  the  decision 
was  formed  to  attack  and  break  up  Camp 
Jackson.  The  entire  night  preceding  the 
movement  of  the  10th  May  was  spent  in 
these  deliberations,  but  the  solid  purpose 
of  Captain  Lyon  was  unalterable.  The 
incipient  treason  in  arms  at  Camp  Jack- 
son, he  had  determined,  must  be  sup- 
pressed. 

With  Captain  Lyon  to  resolve  was  to 
act.  Accordingly,  having  formed  his  re- 
solution, he  lost  no  time  in  carrying  it 
into  effect.  The  midnight  conference  was 
succeeded  by  the  assembly  of  troops  at 
the  arsenal.  Colonel  Blair's  regiment  at 
Jefferson  Barracks,  ten  miles  below,  was 
ordered  up,  and  about  noon  on  that  me- 
morable Friday,  Captain  Lyon  quietly  left 
the  arsenal  gate  at  the  head  of  6,000 
troops,  of  whom  450  were  regulars,  the 
remainder  United  States  Reserve  Corps 
or  Home  Guards,  marched  in  two  col- 
umns to  Camp  Jackson,  and  before  the 
troops  could  recover  from  the  amazement 
into  which  the  appearance  of  the  advanc- 
ing army  threw  them,  surrounded  the 


SURRENDER  OF  CAMP  JACKSON. 


311 


camp,  planted  his  battories  upon  the 
elevations  around,  at  a  distance  of  five 
hundred  yards,  and  stationing  his  infan- 
try in  the  roads  leading  from  the  grove 
wherein  their  tents  were  pitched.  The 
State  troops  were  taken  completely  by 
surprise  ;  for,  although  there  had  been 
vague  reports  current  in  camp  of  an  in- 
tended attack  from  the  arsenal,  the  cry 
of  the  visitors  at  the  grove,  '  They're 
coming !'  '  they're  coming !'  raised  just 
as  the  first  .column  appeared  in  sight, 
found  them  strutting  leisurely  under  the 
trees,  chatting  with  their  friends  from  the 
city,  or  stretched  upon  the  thick  grass, 
smoking  and  reading."* 

Having  thus  surrounded  the  camp, 
Captain  Lyon  sent  the  following  summons 
to  General  Frost  for  its  surrender : — 
"  Sir,  your  command  is  regarded  as  evi- 
dently hostile  toward  the  Government 
of  the  United  States.  It  is,  for  the  most 
part,  made  up  of  those  secessionists  who 
have  openly  avowed  their  hostility  to  the 
General  Government,  and  have  been 
plotting  at  the  seizure  of  its  property  and 
the  overthrow  of  its  authority.  You  are 
openly  in  communication  with  the  so- 
called  Southern  Confederacy,  which  is 
now  at  war  with  the  United  States,  and 
you  are  receiving  at  your  camp,  from  the 
said  confederacy  and  under  its  flag,  large 
supplies  of  the  material  of  war,  most  of 
which  is  known  to  be  the  property  of  the 
United  States.  Those  extraordinary  pre- 
parations plainly  indicate  none  other  but 
the  well-known  purpose  of  the  Governor 
of  the  State,  under  whose  orders  you  are 
acting,  and  whose  purpose,  recently  com- 
municated to  the  Legislature,  has  just 
been  responded  to  by  that  body  in  the 
most  unparalleled  legislation,  having  in 

*  The  War  in  Missouri  The  Continental  Monthly, 
April,  1862. 


direct  view  hostilities  to  the  General 
Government,  and  cooperation  with  its 
enemies.  In  view  of  these  considerations, 
and  of  your  failure  to  disperse  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  proclamation  of  the  President, 
and  of  the  imminent  necessities  of  State 
policy  and  welfare,  and  the  obligations 
imposed  upon  me  by  instructions  from 
Washington,  it  is  my  duty  to  demand, 
and  I  do  hereby  demand  of  you  an  im- 
mediate surrender  of  your  command, 
with  no  other  condition  than  that  all  per- 
sons surrendering  under  this  demand 
shall  be  humanely  and  kindly  treated. 
Believing  myself  prepared  to  enforce  this 
demand,  one  half  hour's  time  before  do- 
in'g  so,  will  be  allowed  for  your  com- 
pliance therewith." 

The  demand  was  answered  in  the  sur- 
render of  the  camp  with  its  force  of 
militia  and  various  material  of  war,  in- 
cluding several  large  howitzers,  10-inch 
mortars,  a  large  number  of  shells  and  a 
large  number  of  United  States  muskets, 
supposed  to  be  a  portion  of  those  which 
had  been  brought  from  the  Baton  Rouge 
arsenal.  The  captured  militia  were  of- 
fered their  release  on  taking  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  United  States.  The 
proposition  was  submitted  to  the  men, 
but  was  accepted  by  very  few,  when  pre- 
parations were  made  to  conduct  the  re- 
mainder, about  eight  hundred,  as  prison- 
ers to  the  arsenal.  A  column  was  formed 
and  the  march  commenced,  when  an 
assault  was  made  upon  the  troops  by 
some  persons  in  the  crowd  which  had 
gathered  to  witness  the  proceedings.  At 
first  the  mob  was  very  abusive,  then 
stones  and  dirt  were  thrown  by  them  and 
finally  a  revolver  was  discharged  at  the 
soldiers  in  front.  Upon  this  several  shots 
were  fired  in  return,  the  people  in  the 
vicinity  were  scattered  and  the  assault  in 


312 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


that  quarter  was  suppressed.  Presently, 
however,  a  similar  scene  of  greater  vio- 
lence occurred  in  the  rear.  Several 
shots  from  a  revolver  were  discharged  at 
Lieutenant  Saxton  of  the  regular  army, 
when  the  assailant  was  thrust  through 
with  a  bayonet  and  shot  down.  Other 
shots  were  tired  at  the  soldiers,  who  fired 
in  return,  putting  the  mob  to  flight,  when 
Captain  Lyon  promptly  arrested  the  con- 
flict. In  this  disastrous  encounter  seven 
of  the  townspeople  were  killed  and  a 
number  wounded.  Senator  Polk  of  Mis- 
souri subsequently,  in  his  seat  in  the 
Senate,  stated  the  number  of  deaths  at 
forty  to  fifty,  the  wounds  by  the  Minie 
ball  proving  particularly  fatal.  As  usual, 
in  a  promiscuous  throng,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, the  innocent  suffered  with 
the  guilty. 

The  greatest  excitement,  'of  course, 
prevailed  in  the  city  and  fears  were  had 
of  a  general  riot,  as  a  tumultuous  crowd 
bearing  banners  of  various  devices  and 
loud  in  their  imprecations  upon  the  Ger- 
man soldiers  who  had  fired  upon  the  un- 
offending population,  roamed  through  the 
streets.  A  gun  store  was  broken  open 
and  a  number  of  guns  removed  before 
the  police  could  assemble  to  arrest  the 
proceedings.  Various  speakers  address- 
ed the  crowd  in  front  of  the  Planters' 
House  and  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  and 
by  this  sedative,  and  the  more  authori- 
tative presence  of  an  armed  police,  the 
night  passed  without  further  disturbance. 
Unhappily,  however,  the  scene  of  tumult 
was  renewed  the  following  night,  when  a 
body  of  the  German  Home  Guards,  re- 
turning from  the  arsenal,  where  they  had 
been  reviewed  'during  the  day  and  fur- 
nished with  arms,  were  encountered  in 
the  city  with  hisses  from  a  crowd  and 
other  more  violent  demonstrations.  Sev- 


eral shots  were  fired  into  the  ranks,  when 
the  head  of  the  column  turned  and  fired 
promiscuously  down  the  street,  wounding 
alike  their  own  rear  ranks  and  the  spec- 
tators on  the  side  walk.  Six  persons 
were  killed  in  this  discharge  and  several 
wounded  ;  four  of  the  former  belonging  t( 
the  regiment. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  day 
following  the  occurrence  just  mentioned, 
General  William  Selby  Harney  returned 
to  his  command  at  St.  Louis.  A  native 
of  Louisiana,  born  in  1798,  he  had  been 
commissioned  a  2d  Lieutenant  of  the  1st 
Infantry  in  the  year  1818,  and  having 
been  constantly  engaged  in  the  service, 
was  now  one  of  the  oldest  officers  of  the 
army — the  defection  of  General  Twiggs 
placing  him  third  on  the  list  —  Generals 
Scott  and  Wool  being  his  only  superiors 
in  rank.  Having  se.rved  as  a  captain  in 
the  Black  Hawk  war,  he  was  appointed 
Lieutenant- Colonel  of  the  2d  Dragoons 
in  1836,  and  brevetted  Colonel  in  1840 
for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in 
several  successive  engagements  in  Flor- 
ida. In  the  Mexican  war  he  was  bre- 
vetted Brigadier-General  for  gallant  ser- 
vices at  Cerro-Gordo.  He  had  of  late 
played  a  conspicuous  part  in  public 
affairs  in  the  bold  stand  which  he  had 
taken  in  1858,  in  his  department  of  the 
Pacific,  in  the  occupation  of  the  island  of 
San  Juan,  in  Vancouver's  Bay,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  claims  of  Great  Britain — a 
course  which  seemed  at  one  time  to 
threaten  hostilities  between  the  two  na- 
tions. The  interposition,  however,  of 
General  Scott,  happily  relieved  the  situ- 
ation of  its  immediate  embarrassment, 
and  General  Harney  was  recalled  to  the 
Atlantic  States. 

The  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  found 
General  Harney  in  command  of  the  mill- 


GENERAL  BARNEY'S  LETTER. 


313 


tary  department  of  the  West,  with  his 
headquarters  at  St.  Louis.  Thence  he 
had  been  called  to  Washington,  in  April, 
to  consult  with  the  Secretary  of  War, 
and  while  on  his  way  from  Wheeling  to 
the  capital,  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
road,  on  the  25th  of  the  month,  was 
arrested  on  the  train  by  the  secessionists 
at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  carried  a  prison- 
er to  Richmond.  He  was  speedily,  how- 
ever, released  by  Governor  Letcher. 
Some  doubts  having  been  expressed  in 
the  newspapers  of  his  devotion  to  the 
Union,  and  the  intimation  having  been 
thrown  out  that  he  was  a  willing  prisoner 
in  Virginia  with  an  intention  of  throwing 
off  his  allegiance  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  joining  the  Confederate  States, 
on  his  arrival,  on  the  1st  of  May,  at 
Washington,  he  took  occasion  to  disa- 
buse the  public  mind  of  these  impressions 
in  a  letter  declaratory  of  his  sentiments, 
addressed  to  his  personal  friend,  Colonel 
John  0.  Fallon,  of  St.  Louis.  In  this  he 
patriotically  cast  aside  the  charge  of  dis- 
loyalty, argued  the  cause  of  the  Union 
against  the  secessionists,  and  especially 
addressed  himself  to  the  people  of  Mis- 
souri, urging  upon  them  the  injury  to 
their  interests  should  they  adopt  the 
fatal  doctrine  of  separation.  "  Forty-two 
years,"  said  he,  "I  have  been  in  the  mil- 
itary service  of  the  United  States,  and 
have  followed  during  all  that  time  but 
one  flag — the  flag  of  the  Union.  I  have 
seen  it  protecting  our  frontiers  and 
guarding  our  coasts  from  Maine  to  Flor- 
ida ;  I  have  witnessed  it  in  the  smoke  of 
battle,  stained  with  the  blood  of  gpllant 
men,  leading  on  to  victory  ;  planted 
upon  the  strongholds  and  waving  in  tri- 
umph over  the  capital  of  a  foreign  foe. 
My  eyes  have  beheld  that  flag  waving 
protection  to  our  States  and  Territories 
_..  40 


on  the  Pacific,  and  commanding  rever- 
ence and  respect  from  hostile  fleets  and 
squadrons  and  from  foreign  governments, 
never  exhibited  to  any  banner  on  the 
globe.  Twenty  stars,  each  representing 
a  State,  have  been  added  to  that  banner 
during  my  service,  and  under  its  folds  I 
have  advanced  from  the  rank  of  Lieu- 
tenant to  that  which  I  now  hold.  The 
Government  whose  honors  have  been 
bestowed  upon  me  I  shall  serve  for  the 
remainder  of  my  days.  The  flag,  whose 
glories  I  have  witnessed,  shall  never  be 
forsaken  by  me  while  I  can  strike  a  blow 
for  its  defence.  I  shall  be  ready  to  serve 
the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  be  its  faithful,  loyal  soldier." 
,  He  had,  he  said,  been  in  favor  of  a 
peaceful,  conciliatory  adjustment  of  the 
matters  at  issue  between  the  North  and 
the  South  ;  "but  when  the  Confederate 
States,  with  seven  thousand  men,  under 
cover  of  strong  fortifications  or  impreg- 
nable batteries,  assailed  a  starving  gar- 
rison of  seventy  men  in  Fort  Surnter, 
compelled  the  banner  of  the  United 
States  to  be  lowered,  and  boasted  of  its 
dishonor  before  the  world,  the  state  of 
the  question  was  immediately  changed. 
Instead  of  the  government  -  coercing 
States  demanding  redress  of  grievances 
by  constitutional  means,  the  case  was 
presented  of  revolutionists  waging  war 
against  their  government,  seeking  its 
overthrow  by  force  of  arms,  assailing 
public  property  by  overwhelming  force, 
laboring  to  destroy  the  lives  of  gallant 
officers  and  soldiers,  and  dishonoring  the 
national  flag.  The  question  now  before 
us  is,  whether  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  with  its  many  blessings 
and  past  glories,  shall  be  overthrown  by 
the  military  dictatorship  lately  planted 
and  bearing  sway  in  the  Confederate 


314 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


States  ?  My  hand  cannot  aid  that 
work." 

Referring  immediately  to  the  interests 
of  Missouri,  where  he  was  a  resident  and 
property-owner,  he  said: — "The  only 
special  interest  of  Missouri  in  common 
with  the  Confederate  States  is  slavery. 
Her  interest  in  that  institution  is  now  pro- 
tected by  the  Federal  Constitution.  But 
if  Missouri  secedes,  that  protection  is 
gone.  Surrounded  on  three  sides  by 
free  States  which  might  soon  become 
hostile,  it  would  not  be  long  until  a  slave 
could  not  be  found  within  her  borders. 
What  interest  could  Missouri,  then,  have 
with  the  Cotton  States  or  a  Confederacy 
founded  on  slavery  and  its  extension  ? 
The  protection  of  her  property,  if  noth- 
ing else,  admonishes  her  never  to  give 
up  the  Union.  Other  interests  of  vast 
magnitude  can  only  be  preserved  by  a 
steadfast  adherence  and  support  of  the 
United  States  Government.  All  hope 
of  a  Pacific  railroad,  so  deeply  interest- 
ing to  St.  Louis  and  the  whole  State, 
must  vanish  with  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. Great  manufacturing  and  com- 
mercial interests,  with  which  the  cotton 
States  can  have  no  sympathy,  must  per- 
ish in  case  of  secession,  and  from  her 
present  proud  condition  of  a  powerful, 
thriving  State,  rapidly  developing  every 
element  of  wealth  and  social  prosperity, 
Missouri  would  dwindle  to  a  mere  ap- 
pendage and  convenience  for  the  military 
aristocracy  established  in  the  cotton 
States." 

With  such  an  understanding  of  the 
claims  of  his  country  and  the  interests 
of  his  adopted  State,  General  Harney 
was  now  suddenly  thrown  into  the  midst 
of  the  conflict  at  St.  Louis,  precipitated 
by  the  course  of  the  Legislature  and 
Gorernor  Jackson.  Accepting  the  situ- 


ation as  he  found  it,  he  promptly  an- 
nounced his  position  in  two  proclamations. 
In  the  first,  dated  the  12th  May,  he  en- 
joined upon  the  citizens  the  preservation 
of  peace,  and  declared  that  he  would 
interpose  with  his  military  authority  onhr 
in  the  last  resort,  when  he  would  not 
shrink  from  his  obligations  ;  in  the  second, 
dated  two  days  later,  he  took  occasion  to 
review  more  particularly  the  recent  trans- 
actions. Calling  attention  to  the  Military 
Bill  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  he  said  that  it  could  be 
regarded  "  in  no  other  light  than  an  in- 
direct secession  ordinance,  ignoring  even 
the  forms  resorted  to  by  other  States  ;" 
that  its  material  provisions  were  in  con- 
flict with  the  Constitution  and  Laws  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  consequently 
"  it  ought  not  to  be  upheld  or  regarded 
by  the  good  citizens  of  Missouri."  An- 
nouncing directly  to  the  people  what  he 
had  already  expressed  in  the  letter  to  his 
friend,  he  proclaimed  that  "whatever 
might  be  the  destiny  of  the  so-called 
cotton  States,  Missouri  must  share  the 
destiny  of  the  Union.  Her  geographical 
position — her  soil,  productions,  and  in 
short  all  her  material  interests  point  to 
this  result.  We  cannot  shut  our  eyes 
against  this  controlling  fact.  It  is  seen 
and  its  force  is  felt  throughout  the  nation. 
So  important  is  this  regarded  to  the  great 
interests  of  the  country,  that  I  venture 
to  express  the  opinion  that  the  whole 
power  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  if  necessary,  will  be  exerted  to 
maintain  Missouri  in  her  present  position 
in  the  Union." 

In  regard  to  the  proceedings  taken  by 
Captain  Lyon  in  the  breaking  up  of  the 
militia  encampment,  while  deprecating 
any  intention  to  comment  uj  on  the  official 
conduct  of  his  predecessor  in  the  com- 


EXPEDITION  TO   POTOSI. 


315 


mand,  he  thought  it  "but  right  and  pro- 
per for  the  people  of  Missouri  to  know 
that  the  main  avenue  of>Camp  Jackson, 
recently  under  command  of  General 
Frost,  had  the  name  of  Davis,  and  a 
principal  street  of  the  same  camp  that  of 
Beauregard  ;  and 'that  a  body  of  men 
had  been  received  into  that  camp  by  its 
commander,  which  had  been  notoriously 
organized  in  the  interests  of  the  seces- 
sionists, the  men  openly  wearing  the 
dress  and  badge  distinguishing  the  army 
of  the  so-called  Southern  Confederacy. 
It  is  also  a  notorious  fact  that  a  quantity 
of  arms  had  been  received  into  the  camp, 
which  were  unlawfully  taken  from  the 
United  States  arsenal  at  Baton  Rouge, 
and  surreptitiously  passed  up  the  river 
in  boxes  marked  marble.  Upon  facts 
like  these,  and  having  in  view  what  oc- 
curred at  Liberty7' — a  town  in  the  western 
part  of  the  State  bordering  on  Kansas— 
where,  on  the  20th  April,  the  United 
States  arsenal  had  been  seized,  with  a 
quantity  of  arms  and  materials  of  war, 
by  a  body  of  insurgents — "  the  people," 
continued  General  Harney,  "  can  draw 
their  own  inferences,  and  it  cannot  be 
difficult  for  any  one  to  arrive  at  a  correct 
conclusion  as  to  the  character  and  ulti- 
mate purpose  of  that  encampment.  No 
government  in  the  world  would  be  en- 
titled to  respect  that  would  tolerate  for 
a  moment  such  openly  treasonable  pre- 
parations." 

This  certainly  was  a  sufficient  answer 
to  the  inquiries  of  General  Frost,  who, 
previously  to  the  suppression  of  his  camp, 
had  written  to  Captain  Lyon  stating  that 
he  had  heard  rumors  of  an  intention 
looking  to  that  result,  and  expressing 
himself  "greatly  at  a  loss  to  know  what 
could  justify  an  attack  upon  citizens  of 
the  United  States  who  are  in  the  lawful 


performance  of  duties  devolving  upon 
them  under  the  Constitution,  in  organiz- 
ing and  instructing  the  militia  of  the 
State  in  obedience  to  her  laws."  Nor 
was  the  course  of  Captain  Lyon  less  ap- 
proved of  by  the  Department  at  Wash- 
ington. On  the  17th  May  he  was  raised 
to  the  rank  of  Beadier-General  of  Yol- 
unteers,  being  already  in  command  of 
the  regiments  enlisted  into  the  service  in 
Missouri. 

The  first  military  expedition  ordered 
by  General  Lyon,  was  a  detachment  of 
some  150  men,  under  Captain  Cole,  sent 
by  railway  to  Potosi,  .in  .Washington 
County,  to  check  the  movements  of  the 
secessionists  and  protect  the  Unionists  in 
that  quarter.  Leaving  at  10  o'clock  on  the 
night  of  the  14th  May,  they  took  the 
town  by  surprise  at  the  hour  of  3  the 
following  morning,  placing  a  guard  at  the 
houses  of  the  prominent  secessionists,  and 
shortly  after  daylight  marched  off  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  citizens  to 
the  Court  House.  A  general  sifting  then 
took  place,  the  Union  men  were  recog- 
nized and  discharged,  the  greater  portion 
of  the  secessionists  released  on  their 
parole  and  oath  of  allegiance,  and  nine 
of  the  leaders  retained  as  prisoners.  A 
quantity  of  lead  was  seized  at  a  manu- 
factory, which  was  furnishing  supplies  to 
the  Southern  rebels.  On  their  return 
Captain  Cole's  party  stopped  at  De  Soto, 
in  Jefferson  County,  where  an  adventure 
occurred,  characteristic  of  these  early 
scenes  of  the  war.  "Here,"  says  the 
St.  Louis  Democrat  describing  the  af- 
fair, "  where  there  was  to  bfi  a  grand 
secession  '  love  feast'  or  flag  raising,  they 
found  a  company  of  secession  cavalry 
drilling  for  the  occasion,  which  took  to 
their  heels  as  soon  as  they  got  a  sight  of 
the  United  States  troop.  In  their  flight, 


316 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


the  cavalry  left  some  thirty  of  their 
horses,  which  were  captured  by  the 
troops  and  placed  under  guard.  The 
pole,  one  hundred  feet  high,  on  which 
the  rebels  were  going  to  fly  the  secession 
flag,  was  soon  graced  with  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  amid  the  wildest  enthusiasm  of 
the  Union  men  and  Government  troops. 
The  next  move  was  to  capture  the  rebel 
flag,  which  was  known  to  be  in  the  town, 
and  for  this  agreeable  duty,  Captain  Cole 
detailed  a  guard  of  six  men,  under  com- 
mand of  Sergeant  Walker,  accompanied 
by  Dr.  Franklin,  Surgeon  of  ttie  'Fifth 
Regiment.  The  guard  surrounded  the 
house  supposed  to  contain  the  flag,  and 
Dr.  Franklin  and  Sergeant  Walker  en- 
tered. After  searching  in  vain  for  some 
time,  the  Doctor  thought  he  observed  the 
lady  of  the  house  sitting  in  rather  an  un- 
easy position,  and  he  very  politely  asked 
her  to  rise.  At  first  the  lady  hesitated, 
but  finding  the  Doctor's  persuasive  suav- 
ity irresistible,  she  rose  slowly,  and  lo ! 
the  blood  red  stripe  of  the  rebel  ensign 
appeared  below  the  lady's  hoops.  The 
Doctor  bowing  a  graceful  '  beg  pardon, 
madam,'  stooped  and  quietly  catching 
hold  of  the  gaudy  color,  carefully  deliv- 
ered the  lady  of  a  secession  flag,  thirty 
feet  long  and  nine  feet  wide.  The  Doc- 
tor bore  off  his  prize  in  triumph  to  the 
camp,  where  the  troops  greeted  him  with 
wild  shouts,  and  characterized  his  feat  as 
the  crowning  glory  of  the  occasion.  Here 
the  troops  captured  another  rebel  leader, 
and  after  placing  thirty  men  under  Lieu- 
tenant Murphy,  to  guard  the  Union  flag, 
and  the  thirty  horses,  Captain  Cole's 
command  started  on  their  way.  At  Yic- 
toria,  the  train  stopped  a  moment,  when 
another  secessionist  came  up  hurrahing 
for  Jeff.  Davis,  and  quick  as  thought  the 
ardent  rebel  was  surrounded  by  a  half 


dozen  bayonets,  and  marched  into  the 
cars  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  the  train 
moved  on.  They  arrived  at  the  Arsenal 
about  6£  o'clock  p.  M.,  where  a  crowd 
of  soldiers  and  visitors  awaited  them. 
The  spoils  were  unloaded,  and  the  pris- 
oners marched  to  safe  and  comfortable 
quarters.  General  Lyon  received  them 
in  the  spirit  of  a  true  soldier,  and  the 
troops  gave  three  cheers  for  General 
Lyon,  three  for  Colonel  Blair,  and  three 
for  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  then  caught 
the  secession  flag  and  tore  it  into  shreds 
in  a  twinkling." 

A  week  later,  the  military  movements 
in  progress  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  forces,  were  partially  arrested  by 
the  publication  of  a  joint  declaration  or 
agreement  between  General  Harney  and 
General  Sterling  Price,  who  had  been 
placed  in  command  of  the  Missouri  Mili- 
tia, to  the  following  effect : — "  The  un- 
dersigned, officers  of  the  United  States 
Government  and  of  the  government  of 
the  State  of  Missouri,  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  misapprehensions  and  allaying 
public  excitement,  have  this  day  had  a 
personal  interview  in  this  city,  in  which 
it  has  been  mutually  understood,  without 
the  semblance  of  dissent  on  either  part, 
that  each  of  them  has  no  other  than  a 
common  object,  equally  interesting  and 
important  to  every  citizen  of  Missouri — 
that  of  restoring  peace  and  good  order 
to  the  people  of  the  State,  in  subordina- 
tion to  the  laws  of  the  general  and  State 
Governments.  It  being  thus  understood, 
there  seems  no  reason  why  every  citizen 
should  not  confide  in  the  proper  officers 
of  the  general  and  State  Governments 
to  restore  quiet ;  and,  as  the  best  means 
of  offering  no  counter  influences,  we  mu- 
tually recommend  to  all  persons  to  re- 
spect each  other's  rights  throughout  (he 


GENERAL  PRICE. 


317 


State,  making  no  attempt  to  exercise 
unauthorized  powers,  as  it  is  the  deter- 
mination of  the  proper  authorities  to 
suppress  all  unlawful  proceedings,  which 
can  only  disiurb  the  public  peace.  Gen- 
eral Price  having,  by  commission,  full 
authority  over  the  militia  of  the  State  of 
Missouri,  undertakes,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Governor  of  the  State,  already 
declared,  to  direct  the  whole  power  of 
the  State  officers  to  maintain  order  with- 
in the  State  among  the  people  thereof ; 
and  General  Harney  publicly  declares 
that  this  object  being  thus  assured,  he 
can  have  no  occasion,  as  he  has  no 
wish,  to  make  military  movements  which 
might  otherwise  create  excitements  and 
jealousies  which  he  most  earnestly  de- 
sires to  avoid.  We  do,  therefore,  mutu- 
ally enjoin  upon  the  people  of  the  State 
to  attend  to  their  civil  business,  of  what- 
soever sort  it  may  be  ;  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  unquiet  elements  which 
have  threatened  so  seriously  to  disturb 
the  public  peace,  may  soon  subside,  and 
be  remembered  only  to  be  deplored." 

General  Sterling  Price,  of  whom  we 
shall  hear  much  in  the  subsequent  Mis- 
souri campaigns,  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  had  made  his  residence  for 
the  last  twenty  years  in  Missouri,  engaged 
in  the  profession  of  the  law,  and  taking 
an  active  part  in  politics.  He  had  re- 
presented the  'State  in  Congress,  and 
occupied  its  Governor's  chair.  He  joined 
the  volunteer  forces  in  the  Mexican  war, 
as  Colonel  of  a  Missouri  regiment  of  cav- 
alry, and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier- 
General  of  Volunteers.  He  was  wound- 
ed in  an  engagement  at  Canada,  New 
Mexico,  and  was  in  command  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Santa  Cruz  de  Resales.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  rebellion  he  took  sides 
with  the  secessioi  ists,  and  was  appointed 


by  Governor  Jackson  Major-General  of 
the  State  Militia.  He  undoubtedly  pos- 
sessed great  energy  and  resolution  in 
turning  a  considerable  portion  of  the  pop- 
ulation and  resources  of  Missouri  to  the 
service  of  the  rebellion.  Notwithstand- 
ing, however,  these  fair  professions,  pass- 
ing between  him  and  General  Harney, 
it  was  thought  by  those  who  had  studied 
the  nature  of  the  rebellion,  that  this  was 
but  a  hollow  truce  on  the  part  of  the 
State  authorities,  calculated  only  to  give 
them  time  to  promote  the  interests  of 
secession.  This,  at  least,  was  the  view 
taken  of  the  matter  by  the  department 
at  Washington.  On  the  last  day  of  the 
month  General  Harney  was,  in  conse- 
quence, recalled,  and  General  Lyon,  who 
had  meanwhile  continued  the  seizure  of 
military  property  intended  for  the  rebels, 
was  left  in  command  of  the  department. 

General  Lyon  became  now  more  busi- 
ly engaged  than  ever  in  checking  the 
work  of  treason.  General  Price,  plead- 
ing the  engagement  of  General  Harney, 
sought  to  arrest  his  efforts.  He  urged 
that  the  agreement  which  had  been  made 
should  be  carried  out  in  good  faith,  and 
in  particular  protested  against  an  inten- 
tion of  which  he  had  heard,  to  disarm 
"  those  of  our  citizens  who  do  not  agree 
in  opinion  with  the  administration  &t 
Washington,  and  put  arms  in  the  hands 
of  those  who,  in  some  localities  of 
the  State,  are  supposed  to  sympathize 
with  the  views  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment." General  Lyon,  in  concert  with 
Colonel  Blair,  listened  to  the  protest 
observed  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  pur- 
sued the  course  he  had  resolved  upon, 
in  striking  resolutely  at  the  rebellion. 

On  the  llth  of  June,  in  a  further 
effort  to  arrest  the  procec  dings,  Gover- 
nor Jackson  and  General  Price,  leaving 


318 


WAE  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Jefferson  City  where  the  Legislature 
in  session,  sought  an  interview  with 
General  Lyon  and  Colonel  Blair  at  St. 
Louis,  when  the  Governor  proposed  to 
them  that  he  would  disband  the  State 
Guard  and  break  up  its  organization, 
disarm  all  the  companies  which  had  been 
armed  by  the  State,  pledge  himself  not 
to  attempt  to  organize  the  militia  under 
the  military  bill,  that  no  arms  should  be 
brought  into  the  State,  that  he  would 
protect  all  citizens  equally  in  all  their 
rights,  regardless  of  their  political  opin- 
ions, repress  all  insurrectionary  move- 
ments within  the  State,  repel  all  attempts 
to  invade  it,  from  whatever  quarter  and 
by  whomsoever  made,  and,  if  need  be, 
invoke  the  assistance  of  the  United 
States  troops  to  maintain  these  pledges. 
In  return  for  all  this,  he  asked  that  the 
Federal  Government  should  disarm  the 
Home  Guards  and  promise  not  to  occupy 
with  its  troops  any  localities  in  the  State 
not  already  occupied  by  them.  To  this 
General  Lyon  would  not  consent.  He 
had  no  faith  that  the  integrity  of  Missou- 
ri could  be  preserved  as  a  member  of  the 
Union  under  any  other  guardianship  than 
that  of  the  general  Government,  and  had 
he  entertained  no  doubts  of  the  sincerity 
of  the  offer,  and  of  the  ability  of  those 
who  made  it  to  carry  it  out,  he  would 
doubtless  still  have  hesitated  to  put  it 
out  of  the  power  of  his  government  with 
its  own  strong  arm  to  repress  or  ward 
off  rebellion  from  the  State.  It  was  too 
important  a  trust  to  be  committed  to  any 
other  hands.  He  therefore  demanded 
the  disarming  of  the  State  militia  and 
the  rejection  of  the  obnoxious  militia  bill, 
and  insisted  upon  the  enjoyment  by  the 
Government  of  the  "  unrestricted  right 
to  move  and  station  its  troops  through- 
out the  State,  whenever  and  wherever 


that  might,  in  the  opinion  of  its  officers, 
be  necessary  either  for  the  protection  of 
loyal  subjects  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, or  for  the  repelling  of  invasion." 
Governor  Jackson  thinking,  as  he  said, 
that  his  "  acceptance  of  those  degrading 
terms,"  as  he  chose  to  call  them,  "  would 
not  only  have  sullied  the  honor  of  Mis- 
souri, but  would  have  aroused  the  indig- 
nation of  every  brave  citizen,  and  pre- 
cipitated the  conflict  which  it  had  been 
his  aim  to  prevent,"  refused  to  accede  to 
them,  and  the  conference  was  broken  up. 
"  Fellow-citizens,"  continued  Governor 
Jackson,  in  the  proclamation  in  which  he 
recited  the  particulars  of  the  interview 
we  have  just  given,  "all  our  efforts 
toward  conciliation  have  failed.  We  can 
hope  nothing  from  the  justice  or  modera- 
tion of  the  agents  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment in  this  State.  They  are  ener- 
getically hastening  the  execution  of  their 
bloody  and  revolutionary  schemes  for  the 
inauguration  of  civil  war  in  your  midst ; 
for  the  military  occupation  of  your  State 
by  armed  bands  of  lawless  invaders  for 
the  overthrow  of  your  State  government ; 
and  for  the  subversion  of  those  liberties 
which  that  government  has  always  sought 
to  protect ;  and  they  intend  to  exert  their 
whole  power  to  subjugate  you,  if  possible, 
to  the  military  despotism  which  has 
usurped  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. Now,  therefore  I,  0.  F.  Jack- 
son, Governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
do,  in  view  of  the  foregoing  facts,  and 
by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  me  by 
the  Constitution  and  Laws  of  this  Com- 
monwealth, issue  this  proclamation,  call- 
ing the.  militia  of  this  State  to  the  number 
of  50,000  into  the  active  service  of  the 
State,  for  the  purpose  of  repelling  said 
invasion  and  for  the  protection  of  the 
lives,  liberty  and  property  of  the  citizens 


RIVAL  PROCLAMATIONS. 


319 


of  this'  State.  And  I  earnestly  exhort 
all  good  citizens  of  Missouri  to  rally 
under  the  flag  of  their  State  for  the  pro- 
tection of  their  endangered  homes  and 
firesides  and  for  the  defence  of  their  most 
sacred  rights  and  dearest  liberties.  In 
issuing  this  Proclamation,  I  hold  it  to  be 
my  solemn  duty  to  remind  you  that  Mis- 
souri is  still  one  of  the  United  States  ; 
that  the  Executive  department  of  the 
State  government  does  not  arrogate  to 
itself  the  power  to  disturb  that  relation  ; 
that  that  power  has  been  wisely  vested 
in  a  convention  which  will,  at  the  proper 
time,  express  your  sovereign  will ;  and 
that,  meanwhile,  it  is  your  duty  to 
obey  all  the  constitutional  requirements 
of  the  Federal  Government.  But  it  is 
equally  my  duty  to  advise  you  that  your 
first  allegiance  is  due  to  your  own  State, 
and  that  you  are  under  no  obligation 
whatever  to  obey  the  unconstitutional 
edicts  of  the  military  despotism,  which 
has  enthroned  itself  at  Washington,  nor 
to  submit  to  the  infamous  and  degrading 
sway  of  its  wicked  minions  in  this  State. 
No  brave  and  true-hearted  Missourian 
will  obey  the  one  or  submit  to  the  other. 
Rise,  then  and  drive  out  ignominiously 
the  invaders  who  have  dared  to  dese- 
crate the  soil  which  your  labors  have 
made  fruitful,  and  which  is  consecrated 
by  your  homes."  How  far  the  tone  and 
temper  of  this  proclamation  suited  the 
character  of  a  loyal  citizen  anxious  to 
preserve  the  State  in  the  Union,  the 
reader  may  judge  for  himself.  In  fact, 
its  declaration  of  war  would  seem  from 
the  haste  with  which  it  was  issued  to 
have  been,  if  not  actually  prepared  in 
advance,  at  least  a  foregone  conclusion  in 
the  writer's  mind. 

In  a  counter  Proclamation,  issued  a 
few  days  afterward,   General  Lyon,  in 


justification  of  the  course  he  was  pursu- 
ing, reviewed  the  conduct  of  the  Gover- 
nor and  Legislature,  in  reference  to  the 
enlistments  of  avowed  secessionists,  and 
the  prosecution  of  the  Military  Bill  to  the 
injury  of  Union -citizens,  without  regard 
10  the  agreement  with  General  Hartley. 
He  also  recited  the  instructions  sent 
to  General  Harney  by  the  War  De- 
partment, on  the  27th  May,  which,  after 
stating  the  outrages  to  loyal  citizens, 
who  were  still  driven  from  their  homes, 
notwithstanding  the  pledges  of  the  State 
authorities  to  cooperate  in  preserving 
the  peace,  pronounced  those  "profes- 
sions of  loyalty  to  the  Union  not  to 
be  relied  upon,"  adding,  "  they  have 
already  falsified  their  professions  too 
often,  and  are  too  far  committed  to  se- 
cession to  be  admitted  to  your  confidence, 
and  you  can  only  be  sure  of  their  de- 
sisting from  their  wicked  purposes  when 
it  is  not  in  their  power  to  prosecute 
them.  You  will,  therefore,  be  unceasing- 
ly watchful  of  their  movements  and  not 
permit  the  clamors  of  their  partizans  and 
the  opponents  of  the  wise  measures  al- 
ready taken,  to  prevent  you  from  check- 
ing every  movement  against  the  Govern- 
ment, however  disguised,  under  the  pre- 
tended State  authorities.  The  authority 
of  the  United  States  is  paramount,  and 
whenever  it  is  apparent  that  a  movement 
— whether  by  order  of  State  authorities 
or  not — is  hostile,  you  will  not  hesitate 
to  put  it  down." 

"  It  is  my  design,"  continued  General 
Lyon,  "  to  carry  out  these  instructions 
in  their  letter  and  spirit.  Their  justness 
and  propriety  will  be  appreciated  by 
whoever  takes  an  enlightened  view  of 
the  relations  of  the  citizens  of  Missouri 
to  the  general  Government,  nor  can  such 
policy  be  construed  as  at  all  disparaging 


320 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION. 


to  the  rights  or  dignity  of  the  State  of 
Missouri,  or  as  infringing  in  any  sense 
upon  the  individual  liberty  of  its  citizens. 
The  recent  proclamation  of  Governor 
Jackson,  by  which  he  has  set  at  defiance 
the  authorities  of  the  United  States,  and 
urged  you  to  make  war  upon  them,  is 
but  a  consummation  of  his  treasonable 
purposes,  long  indicated  by  his  acts  and 
expressed  opinions,  and  now  made  man- 
ifest. If,  in  suppressing  these  treasona- 
ble projects,  carrying  out  the  policy  of 
the  Government,  and  maintaining  its 
dignity,  as  above  indicated,  hostilities 
should  unfortunately  occur,  and  unhappy 
consequences  should  follow,  I  would  hope 
that  all  aggravation  of  these  events  may 
be  avoided,  and  that  they  may  be  di- 
verted from  the  innocent,  and  may  fall 
only  on  the  heads  of  those  by  whom  they 
have  b'een  provoked.  In  the  discharge 
of  these  plain  but  onerous  duties,  I  shall 
look  for  the  countenance  and  active  co- 
operation of  all  good  citizens,  and  I  shall 
expect  them  to  discountenance  all  illegal 
combinations  or  organizations,  and  sup- 
port and  uphold  by  every  lawful  means 
the  Federal  Government,  upon  the  main- 
tenance of  which  depend  their  liberties 
and  the  perfect  enjoyment  of  all  their 
rights." 

With  this  authority  and  clear  under- 
standing of  his  duty  to  the  country, 
General  Lyon  met  Governor  Jackson's 
proclamation  of  hostility  to  the  Govern- 
ment by  an  immediate  movement  of  his 
troops  to  Jefferson  City  to  arrest  the- 
rebel  authorities  and  break  up  their  mil- 
itary preparations.  On  reaching  that 
city,  on  the  15th,  he  found  that  Gover- 
nor Jackson  had  anticipated  his  proceed- 
ing, and  removed  his  forces  forty  miles 
above  to  Booneville,  cutting  off  the  tele- 
graph and  destroying  the  bridges  on  the 


railway  as  he  proceeded.  Thither  Gen- 
eral Lyon  at  once  determined  to  follow 
him.  Leaving  Colonel  Boernstein,  of  the 
2d  Missouri  Volunteers,  with  several 
companies  of  his  regiment,  in  command 
at  the  capital,  he  embarked  his  force  in 
three  steamers  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
16th  June,  and  ascended  the  Missouri 
that  night  to  the  vicinity  of  Providence. 
Resuming  the  voyage  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  expedition  reached  Rockport 
before  6  o'clock,  where  a  pause  was  made 
to  gain  information  of  the  enemy  above. 
The  people  were  surly,  and  not  disposed 
to  be  communicative.  It  was  ascertain- 
ed, however,  that  the  rebels  were  in 
force  a  few  miles  below  Booneville,  arid 
that  a  formidable  resistance  might  be 
expected.  "  Leaving  this  place,  and  tak- 
ing the  steam  ferry-boat  Paul  Wilcox 
with  us,"  continues  the  writer  in  the  $t. 
Louis  Democrat,  to  whom  we  are  indebt- 
ed for  an  account  of  the  engagement 
which  ensued,  "we  ran  up  steadily  till 
we  had  passed  the  foot  of  the  island  eight 
miles  below  Booneville,  when  seeing  a 
battery  on  the  bluffs,  and  scouts  hasten- 
ing to  report  our  arrival,  we  fell  back  to 
a  point  opposite  to  the  foot  of  the  island, 
and  at  7  o'clock  A.  M.,  disembarked  on  the 
south  shore,  where  the  bottom  land  be- 
tween the  river  and  bluffs  is  some  mile 
and  a  half  wide.  No  traitors  were  visi- 
ble there,  and  the  troops  at  once  took 
the  river  road  for  Booneville.  Follow- 
ing the  road  somewhat  over  a  mile  and 
a  half  to  where  it  ascends  the  bluffs,  sev- 
eral shots  from  our  scouts  announced  the 
driving  in  of  the  enemy's  pickets.  We 
continued  to  ascend  a  gently  undulating 
slope  for  nearly  half  a  mile,  when  the 
enemy  were  reported  in  full  force  near 
the  summit  of  *he  next  swell  of  ground, 
about  three  hundred  yards  from  our 


BATTLE   OF  BOONEVILLE. 


321 


front.  The  enemy  were  exceedingly 
well  posted,  having  every  advantage  in 
the  selection  of  their  ground.  Arriving 
at  the  brow  of  the  ascent,  Captain  Totten 
opened  the  engagement  by  throwing  a 
few  9  -  pounder  explosives  into  their 
ranks,  while  the  infantry  filed  oblique 
right  and  left,  and  commenced  a  terrible 
volley  of  musketry,  which  was  for  a 
short  time  well  replied  to,  the  balls  fly- 
ing thick  and  fast  about  our  ears,  and 
occasionally  wounding  a  man  on  our  side. 
The  enemy  were  posted  in  a  lane  run- 
ning towards  the  river  from  the  road 
along  which  the  grand  army  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  were  advancing,  and  in  a  brick 
house  on  the  north-east  corner  of  the 
junction  of  the  two  roads.  A  couple  of 
bombs  were  thrown  through  the  east 
wall  of  that  house,  scattering  the  enemy 
in  all  directions.  The  well-directed  fire 
of  the  German  infantry,  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Schaeffer,  on  the  right,  and  General 
Lyon's  company  of  regulars,  and  part  of 
Colonel  Blair's  regiment  on  the  left  of 
the  road,  soon  compelled  the  enemy  to 
present  an  inglorious  aspect.  They 
clambered  over  the  fence  into  a  field  of 
wheat,  and  again  formed  in  line  just  on 
the  brow  of  the  hill.  They  then  ad- 
vanced some  twenty  steps  to  meet  us, 
and  for  a  short  time  the  cannons  were 
worked  with  great  rapidity  and  effect. 
Just  at  this  time  the  enemy  opened  a 
galling  fire  from  a  grove  just  on  the  left 
of  our  centre,  and  from  a  shed  beyond 
and  still  further  to  the  left. 

"The  skirmish  now  assumed  the  mag- 
nitude of  a  battle.  The  commander, 
General  Lyon,  exhibited  the  most 
remarkable  coolness,  and  preserved 
throughout  that  undisturbed  presence  of 
mind  shown  by  him  alike  in  the  camp, 
in  private  life,  and  on  the  field  of  battle. 
41 


"  Forward  on  the  extreme  right ; " 
"  Give  them  another  shot,  Captain  Tot- 
ten,"  echoed  above  the  roar  of  musketry 
clear  and  distinct,  from  the  lips  of  the 
general,  who  led  the  advancing  column. 
Our  force  was  2,000  in  all,  but  not  over 
500  participated  at  any  one  time  in  the 
battle.  The  enemy,  as  we  have  since 
been  reliably  informed,  were  over  4,000 
strong,  and  yet,  twenty  minutes  from  the 
time  when  the  first  gun  was  fired,  the 
rebels  were  in  full  retreat,  and  our 
troops  occupying  the  ground  on  which 
they  first  stood  in  line.  The  consum- 
mate cowardice  displayed  by  the  "  se- 
ceshers  "  will  be  more  fully  understood 
when  I  add  that  the  spurs  or  successive 
elevations  now  become  more  abrupt, 
steep  and  rugged,  the  enemy  being  fully 
acquainted  with  their  ground,  and  strong 
positions  behind  natural  defences,  orch- 
ards and  clumps  of  trees  offering  them- 
selves every  few  yards.  Nothing  more, 
however,  was  seen  of  the  flying  fugitives 
until  about  one  mile  west  of  the  house  of 
William  M.  Adams,  where  they  were 
first  posted.  Just  there  was  Camp  Vest, 
and  a  considerable  force  seemed  prepared 
to  defend  the  approaches  to  it.  Mean- 
while, a  shot  from  the  iron  howitzer  on 
the  McDowell  announced  to  us  that  Cap- 
tain Yoester,  with  his  artillery  men,  and 
Captain  Richardson's  company  of  infan- 
try, who  were  left  in  charge  of  the  boats, 
were  commencing  operations  on  the  bat- 
tery over  a  mile  below  Camp  Vest.  This 
but  increased  the  panic  among  the  invin- 
cible (?)  traitors,  and  Captain  Totten  had 
but  to  give  them  a  few  rounds  before 
their  heels  were  again  in  requisition,  and 
Captains  Cole  and  Miller,  at  the  head  of 
their  companies,  ente.*ed  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  enemy's  deserted  breakfast 
tables.  About  twenty  horses  had  by 


322 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


this  time  arrived  within  our  lines  with 
vacant  saddles,  and  the  corps  reportorial 
were  successfully  mounted  on  chosen 
steeds.  The  amount  of  plunder  secured 
in  Camp  Vest,  or  Bacon,  as  the  citizens 
here  call  it,  from  the  name  of  the  gentle- 
man owning  a  fine  house  close  by,  was 
very  large.  One  thousand  two  hundred 
shoes,  twenty  or  thirty  tents,  quantities 
of  ammunition,  some  fifty  guns  of  various 
patterns,  blankets,  coats,  carpet  sacks, 
and  two  secession  flags  were  included  in 
the  sum  total. 

"Leaving  Captain  Cole  in  command  of 
the  camp,  we  pushed  on  towards  Boone- 
ville,  chasing  the  cowardly  wretches  who 
outmanned  us  two  to  one.  The  McDow- 
ell now  came  along  up  in  the  rear,  and 
off  to  the  right  from  our  troops,  and  hav- 
ing a  more  distinct  view  of  the  enemy 
from  the  river,  and  observing  their  in- 
tention to  make  another  stand  at  the 
Fair  Grounds,  one  mile  east  of  Boone- 
ville,  where  the  State  has  an  armory 
extemporized,  Captain  Yoester  again 
sent  them  his  compliments  from  the  old 
howitzer's  mouth,  which,  with  a  couple 
of  shots  from  Captain  Totten,  and  a  vol- 
ley from  Lothrop's  detachment  of  rifles, 
scattered  the  now  thoroughly  alarmed 
enemy  in  all  directions.  Their  flight 
through  the  village  commenced  soon 
after  8  o'clock,  and  continued  until  after 
11  o'clock.  Some  three  hundred  crossed 
the  river,  many  went  south,  but  the  bulk 
kept  on  westwardly.  A  good  many  per- 
sons were  taken  at  the  different  points 
of  battle,  but  it  is  believed  the  enemy 
secured  none  of  ours.  Captain  Eichard- 
son  had  landed  below,  and,  with  the  sup- 
port of  the  howitzer  from  the  steamer 
McDowell,  captured  their  battery,  con- 
sisting of  two  6-pounders,  (with  which 
they  intended  to  sink  our  fleet,)  twenty 


prisoners,  one  caisson,  and  eight  horses 
with  military  saddles.  The  enemy  did 
not  fire  a  shot  from  their  cannon. 
Speaking  of  prizes,  the  brilliant  achieve- 
ment in  that  line  was  by  our  reverend 
friend,  W.  A.  Pill,  chaplain  of  the  1st 
regiment.  He  had  charge  of  a  party  of 
four  men,  two  mounted  and  two  on  foot, 
with  which  to  take  charge  of  the  wound- 
ed. Ascending  the  brow  of  a  hill,  he 
suddenly  came  upon  a  company  of  twen- 
ty-four rebels,  armed  with  revolvers,  and 
fully  bent  upon  securing  a  place  of  safety 
for  their  carcasses.  Their  intentions, 
however,  were  considerably  modified, 
when  the  parson  ordered  them  to  halt, 
which  they  did,  surrendering  their  arms. 
Surrounded  by  the  squad  of  five  men, 
they  were  then  marched  on  board  the 
Louisiana,  prisoners  of  war.  The  par- 
son also  captured  two  other  secessionists 
during  the  day,  and  at  one  time,  needing 
a  wagon  and  horses  for  the  wounded, 
and  finding  friendly  suggestions  wasted 
on  a  stubborn  old  rebel,  placed  a  revolv- 
er at  his  head,  and  the  desired  articles 
were  forthcoming.  In  time  of  peace  the 
preacher  had  prepared  for  war.  After 
passing  the  Fair  Grounds,  our  troops  came 
slowly  towards  the  town.  They  were  met 
on  the  east  side  of  the  creek  by  Judge 
Miller  of  the  District  Court,  and  other 
prominent  citizens,  bearing  a  flag  of 
truce,  in  order  to  assure  our  troops  of 
friendly  feelings  sustained  by  three- 
fourths  of  the  inhabitants,  and  if  possible 
prevent  the  shedding  of  innocent  blood. 
They  were  met  cordially  by  General 
Lyon  and  Colonel  Blair,  who  promised, 
if  no  resistance  was  made  to  their  en- 
trance, that  no  harm  need  be  feared. 
Major  O'Brien  soon  joined  the  party 
from  the  city,  and  formally  surrendered 
it  to  the  Federal  forces.  The  troops 


GENERAL  LYON'S  PROCLAMATION. 


323 


then  advanced,  headed  by  the  Major  and 
General  Lyon,  and  were  met  at  the  prin- 
cipal corner  of  the  street  by  a  party 
bearing  and  waving  that  beautiful  em- 
blem under  which  our  armies  gather  and 
march  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer. 
The  flag  party  cheered  the  troops,  who 
lustily  returned  the  compliment.  Amer- 
ican flags  are  now  quite  thick  in  the 
street,  and  secessionists  are  nowhere." 

Colonel  J.  S.  Marmaduke  commanded 
the  State  troops  on  this  occasion,  Gener- 
al Price  having  left  in  ill  health  the  day 
before.  Governor  Jackson  was  on  the 
ground  in  the  forenoon,  and  made  good 
his  escape  with  the  rest.  Two  men  were 
killed  on  the  Union  side  and  nine  wound- 
ed ;  the  rebel  loss  was  set  down  at  fifty 
in  killed  and  wounded.  Many  prisoners 
were  taken,  who  were  kindly  treated 
and  generously  released  by  General 
Lyon,  who,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  proc- 
lamation which  he  issued  on  the  follow- 
ing day  (June  18th),  pursued  a  most  lib- 
eral and  conciliatory  policy  in  his  en- 
deavor to  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
country. 

"Upon  leaving  St.  Louis,"  said  he 
in  this  document,  "  in  consequence  of  war 
made  by  the  Governor  of  this  State 
against  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  because  I  would  not  assume  on 
its  behalf  to  relinquish  its  duties,  and  ab- 
dicate its  rights  of  protecting  loyal  citi- 
zens from  the  oppression  and  cruelty  of 
the  secessionists  in  this  State,  I  published 
an  address  to  the  people,  in  which  I  de- 
clared my  intention  to  use  the  force 
under  my  command  for  no  other  purpose 
than  the  maintenance  of  the  authority  of 
the  general  Government,  and  the  pro- 
tection of  the  lives  and  property  of  all 
law-abiding  citizens.  The  State  author- 
ities, in  violation  of  an  agreement  with 


General  Harney  on  the  2d  of  May  last, 
had  drawn  together  and  organized  upon 
a  large  scale  the  means  of  warfare,  and, 
having  made  a  declaration  of  war,  they 
abandoned  the  Capital,  issued  orders  for 
the  destruction  of  the  railroad  and  tele- 
graph lines,  and  proceeded  to  this  point 
to  put  into  execution  their  hostile  pur- 
poses toward  the  general  Government. 
This  devolved  upon  me  the  necessity  of 
meeting  this  issue  to  the  best  of  my  abil- 
ity, and  accordingly  I  moved  to  this 
point  with  a  portion  of  the  force  under 
my  command,  attacked  and  dispersed  the 
hostile  forces  gathered  here  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  took  possession  of  the  camp- 
equipage  left,  and  a  considerable  number 
of  prisoners,  most  of  them  young  and  of 
immature  age,  and  who  represent  that 
they  have  been  misled  by  frauds,  inge- 
niously devised  and  industriously  incul- 
cated by  designing  leaders,  who  seek  to 
devolve  upon  unreflecting  and  deluded 
followers  the  task  of  securing  the  object 
of  their  own  false  ambition. 

"  Out  of  compassion  for  these  misguided 
youths,  and  to  correct  the  impression  cre- 
ated by  unscrupulous  calumniators,  I  lib- 
erated them  upon  the  condition  that  they 
will  not  serve  in  the  impending  hostilities 
against  the  United  States  Government. 
I  have  done  this  in  spite  of  the  well- 
known  facts  that  the  leaders  in  the  pres- 
ent rebellion,  having  long  experienced 
the  mildness  of  the  general  Government, 
still  feel  confident  that  this  mildness  can- 
not be  overtasked  even  by  factious  hos- 
tilities, having  in  view  its  overthrow  ; 
but  lest,  as  in  the  case  of  the  late  Camp 
Jackson  affair,  this  clemency  shall  still 
be  misconstrued,  it  is  proper  to  give 
warning  that  the  Government  cannot 
always  be  expected  to  indulge  in  it  to  the 
compromise  of  its  evid  mt  welfare.  Hear- 


324 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


ing  that  those  plotting  against  the  Gov- 
ernment have  falsely  represented  that 
the  Government  troops  intended  a  forci- 
ble and  violent  invasion  of  Missouri  for 
purposes  of  military  despotism  and  tyr- 
anny, I  hereby  give  notice  to  the  people 
of  this  State  that  I  shall  scrupulously 
avoid  all  interference  with  the  business, 
right,  and  property  of  every  description 
recognized  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  and 
belonging  to  law-abiding  citizens.  But 
it  is  equally  my  duty  to  maintain  the 
paramount  authority  of  the  United  States 
with  such  force  as  I  have  at  my  com- 


mand, which  will  be  retained  only  so 
long  as  opposition  makes  it  necessary, 
and  that  it  is  my  wish,  and  shall  be  my 
purpose,  to  visit  any  unavoidable  rigor 
arising  in  this  issue  upon  those  only  who 
provoke  it.  All  persons  who,  under  the 
misapprehensions  above  mentioned,  have 
taken  up  arms,  or  who  are  preparing  to 
do  so,  are  invited  to  return  to  their 
homes  and  relinquish  their  hostilities 
towards  the  Federal  Government,  and 
are  assured  that  they  may  do  so  with- 
out being  molested  for  past  occur- 
rences." 


CHAPTEE    XXII. 


THE    POSITION     OP    KENTUCKY. 


WHAT  course,  it  was  anxiously  in- 
quired, would  Kentucky  pursue,  in  the 
impending  conflict  between  the  North  and 
the  South.  As  one  of  the  Border  States, 
it  might  have  been  expected  that  she 
would  cast  in  her  lot  with  her  brethren, 
and  follow  the  fortunes  of  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  Missouri,  and  the  rest  ;  but  she 
was  distinguished  in  many  respects  from 
these  accidental  associates,  and  the  ques- 
tion, it  was  evident,  would  be  answered 
by  her  own  people  on  principles  of  their 
own.  There  were  various  shades  of  dif- 
ference in  the  political  opinions  of  her 
citizens.  In  the  Presidential  election  in 
the  autumn  of  1860,  her  popular  vote 
was  given,  66,058  for  the  Bell  and  Ev- 
erett ticket ;  53,143  for  Breckenridge  ; 
25,651  for  Douglas  ;  and  1,364  for  Lin- 
coln ;  from  which  it  may  be  readily  gath- 
ered that,  while  the  decided  principles 
of  the  Republican  party  had  as  yet  met 
with  but  little  favor  in  her  eyes,  on  the 


other  hand  she  was  by  no  means  disposed 
to  acquiesce  in  the  Southern  dictation 
which  had  so  long  been  the  governing- 
spirit  of  the  Democratic  party.  But 
whatever  the  vote  may  have  indicated 
in  other  respects,  in  one  thing  it  was 
clear, — it  was  an  emphatic  declaration 
that  the  voice  of  Kentucky  was  for  the 
maintenance  and  preservation  of  the 
Union.  To  this,  indeed,  she  was  pledged 
by  her  traditional  policy,  by  the  long 
course  of  her  eminent  statesman,  Henry 
Clay,  and  by  the  interests  which  bound 
her  to  the  great  Northwest  in  preference 
to  the  sectional  pretensions  of  the  States 
bordering  on  the  Gulf.  It  is  to  her 
honor  that,  above  all  the  other  Border 
States,  the  perception  of  her  people  was 
clear,  intelligent,  and  assured  on  this 
great  creed  of  loyalty  and  nationality. 
In  spite  of  cunning  exhortations  from 
without,  artfully  appealing  to  her  sympa- 
thies with  Southern  society,  in  spite  of 


POSITION   OF  KENTUCKY. 


325 


treason  within  plotting  its  evil  work,  in 
spite  of  that  treason  arrayed  in  arms  to 
wrest  by  force  and  violence  what  could 
not  be  gained  by  sophistry,  the  State 
firmly  stood  to  its  own  invincible  resolu- 
tion, once  and  forever  a  member  of 
the  United  States.  Her  heart  was  sound 
on  this  matter,  her  head  was  clear,  and 
her  arm  was  strong.  No  arts  of  her 
politicians — not  even  the  talent  and  au- 
thority of  her  Breckenridge  in  the  Vice 
Presidency  and  the  Senate,  or  the  persis- 
tent effort  and  influence  of  her  Gover- 
nor— could  induce  her  to  sacrifice  her 
principles  of  attachment  to  the  Union, 
her  rights  and  privileges  in  and  under 
the  protection  of  that  august  confederacy. 
It  was  not  a  partizan  question  in  her 
eyes  of  North  or  South,  but  of  her  own 
claim  to  exist,  to  enjoy  and  perpetuate  the 
life  and  prosperity,  the  name  and  fame 
won  for  her  by  the  heroic  deeds  of  her 
fathers.  She  would  perform  everything 
that  kindness  and  affection  could  dictate 
for  the  South  ;  she  would  stand  between 
the  two  contending  parties  as  a  great  me- 
diator till  mediation  became  no  longer 
possible,  and  then,  when  all  the  arts  of 
peace  were  exhausted,  she  would  as  a 
State  arm  herself  for  war  against  South- 
ern aggression  for  the  protection  of  her 
rights  under  the  Constitution.  She  Well 
knew  that  her  own  honor  and  prosperity 
were  indissolubly  united  with  the  glory 
and  welfare  of  the  nation,  that  patriotic 
devotion,  at  wl^tever  cost,  was  the 
truest  self-interest.  That  her  ultimate 
course  was  not  reached  without  a  strug- 
gle within  her  own  borders,  where  the 
spirit  of  rebellion,  indeed,  found  but  too 
abundant  nutriment,  detracts  nothing 
from,  but  on  the  contrary  enhances  the 
value  of  her  resolve.  Loyalty  was  not 
a  cheap  and  easy  virtue  in  Kentucky. 


Though  animated  by  a  lofty  instinct,  it 
was  a  victory  over  prejudice,  intrigue, 
and  even  violence.  It  required  an  ef- 
fort, and  the  effort  was  made.  Happily 
there  was  prudence  and  virtue  to  render 
it  successful. 

The  difficulties  and  embarrassments 
which  beset  the  course  of  patriotism  in 
Kentucky  will  appear,  as  we  briefly  re- 
view some  of  the  more  important  public 
events.  The  first  disposition  of  her  pol- 
iticians was  to  the  work  of  conciliation 
and  adjustment,  in  which  her  distin- 
guished representative,  Mr.  Crittenden, 
led  the  way,  in  his  resolutions  of  com- 
promise and  slavery  extension,  in  the 
Senate  in  those  last,  melancholy  days  of 
President  Buchanan's  administration.  It 
was  too  late  then  to  revive  the  offices  of 
Henry  Clay.  Even  his  skillful  manage- 
ment and  persuasive  eloquence,  sorely 
tried  in  his  last  labors  in  this  cause,  would 
have  proved  ineffectual  in  the  work  when, 
whatever  his  persuasions,  one  side  would 
listen  to  no  arguments  or  reason  what- 
ever ;  when  in  fact  the  Southern  mem- 
bers, delegation  after  delegation,  Senator 
following  Senator,  were  vacating  their 
seats  to  join  their  brethren  in  arms 
against  the  Government,  utterly  despis- 
ing and  rejecting  every  appeal  to  reason 
and  patriotism.  No  persuasion  of  ora- 
tory could  reach  the  "dull,  cold  ear," 
the  stony  heart  of  treason. 

Whilst  these  things  were  going  on  at 
Washington,  Governor  Magoffin,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1860,  was  holding  a  special  session 
of  the  State  Legislature  at  Frankfort. 
His  opening  address  to  that  body  exhib- 
its at  length,  with  great  clearness  and 
equal  candor,  the  peculiar  views  which 
he  entertained  of  the  relations  of  his 
State  to  the  general  Government.  Be- 
ginning with  a  glowing  sketch  of  the 


326 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


prosperity  of  the  United  States,  as  the 
country  stood  but  a  few  months  before, 
he  contrasted  this  felicity  with  the  paral- 
ysis of  credit,  and  the  fears  and  anxieties 
attending  the  immediate  prospect  of  a 
revolution  attended  by  a  bloody  civil 
war.  These  "unfortunate  political  com- 
plications," as  he  termed  them,  were  ow- 
ing, he  said,  to  the  ascendancy,  in  the 
election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  a  polit- 
ical organization  "  based  upon  the  one 
idea  of  hostility  to  the  institution  of  Af- 
rican slavery,  embodying  as  one  of  its 
material  elements  of  strength  an  intoler- 
ant sectional  fanaticism.  By  virtue  of 
that  election,  the  Federal  Government 
would  be  committed  to  the  control  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  administered  up- 
on a  platform  of  principles  destructive 
to  our  rightful  equality  as  States  and  cit- 
izens, and  fatal  to  the  stability  and  secur- 
ity of  our  whole  social  organization." 
With  these  impressions,  several  of  the 
Southern  States  had  taken  measures  to 
separate  themselves  from  the  general 
Government,  while  in  other  quarters  pa- 
triotic efforts  had  not  been  wanting  to 
restore  the  old  relations.  In  this  latter 
work  he  had  himself  borne  a  part.  "  My 
humble  endeavors,"  he  said,  "  have  been 
earnestly  addressed  to  the  work  of  bring- 
ing about  a  convention  of  the  slavehold- 
ing  States,  believing  that  their  united 
voice,  in  demanding  just  and  reasonable 
guarantees  against  the  future  invasion  of 
their  constitutional  rights  by  the  domi- 
nant party,  would  achieve  the  object  and 
reunite  the  States."  The  proposition, 
he  added,  had  met  with  but  little  favor 
in  Kentucky,  and  it  was  now  too  late. 
"The  revolution,"  as  he  was  pleased 
even  then  to  call  it,  "  had  progressed  be- 
yond that  point."  "  Kentucky,"  he  said, 
"  would  not  submit  to  the  degradation 


of  inequality  in  the  Union.  In  my 
opinion,  her  people  will  never  consent  to 
remain  in  this  confederacy,  now  aban- 
doned by  a  large  portion  of  the  slave- 
holding  members,  with  no  guarantee  of 
protection  from  the  anti-slavery  power 
now  dominant.  Kentucky  will  not,  and 
ought  not  to  submit  to  the  principles  and 
policy  avowed  by  the  Republican  party, 
but  will  resist,  and  resist  to  the  death,  if 
necessary." 

With  these  impressions,  in  view  of  ex- 
isting circumstances,  Governor  Magoffin 
recommended  that  the  course  pursued  by 
the  neighboring  States  be  followed  in  the 
call  of  one  of  those  "  sovereignty  conven- 
tions "  of  the  people,  to  assemble  at  an 
early  day,  and  determine  fully  and  finally 
the  future  Federal  and  inter-state  rela- 
tions of  Kentucky.  As  a  last  effort  "  to 
save  the  old  ship,"  he  proposed  also  that 
a  conference  of  Tennessee  and  North 
Carolina,  with  such  other  States  as  may 
choose  to  join  them,  be  invited  to  assem- 
ble at  Baltimore  to  recommend  the  Crit- 
tenden  compromise,  and  in  any  event  by 
their  cooperation  promote  their  own  fu- 
ture safety  and  peace. 

To  one  thing  he  was  decidedly  op- 
posed, and  that  was  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  by  force.  "  I  had  hoped,"  he 
said,  "  that  when  the  secession  movement 
or  the  revolution  had  assumed  its  present 
aspect,  when  four  sovereign  States,  by 
the  almost  unanimous  vote  of  their  peo- 
ple, had  announced  J:heir  purpose  to 
close  their  past  federal  relations,  and 
likely  soon  to  be  joined  by  four  others, 
there  would  be  found  none  so  mad,  none 
so  blind  to  the  dire  results,  as  to  advise 
or  countenance  the  employment  of  mili- 
tary force  in  futile  resistance  to  their 
action.  Such  a  proposition,  whether  it 
be  called  plainly  coercion  and  subjuga- 


THE   IDEA   OF    COERCION. 


327 


tion,  or  be  disguised  under  the  specious 
phrases  of  '  enforcing  the  laws '  and  '  pro- 
tecting public  property,'  means  civil  war, 
and  war  of  the  most  frightful  and  abhor- 
rent character.  I  can  but  regard  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Federal  Government  in  re- 
fusing to  recognize  the  fact  of  secession, 
and  its  proposed  attempt  to  maintain  the 
supremacy  of  its  laws  within  the  borders 
of  the  seceding  States,  as  a  policy  more 
utterly  barren  of  good  result,  and  more 
certainly  fraught  with  calamity,  than  any 
step  yet  taken  in  the  drama.  This  gov- 
ernment stands  upon  the  consent  of  the 
governed  :  its  internal  strength  springs 
from  the  voluntary  allegiance  of  the  citi- 
zens ;  it  is  sustained  by  the  common  af- 
fection, the  mutual  confidence,  and  fra- 
ternal feelings  of  the  people.  It  cannot 
be  held  together  by  force,  and  the  at- 
tempt so  to  sustain  it  will  not  only  fail, 
and  fail  in  blood,  but  will  destroy  the 
last  hope  of  reconstruction.  Kentucky 
cannot  and  will  not  be  an  indifferent 
observer  of  the  '  force  policy.'  The  se- 
ceding States  have  not  in  their  hasty  and 
inconsiderate  action  our  approval ;  but 
their  cause  is  our  rights,  and  they  have 
our  sympathies.  The  people  of  Ken- 
tucky will  never  stand  by  with  arms 
folded  while  those  States  struggling  for 
their  constitutional  rights  and  resisting 
oppression  are  being  subjugated  to  an 
anti-slavery  Government.  Thousands 
of  our  gallant  citizens  would  fly  to  the 
conflict.  Moreover,  the  idea  of  coercion, 
when  applied  to  great  political  commu- 
nities, is  revolting  to  a  free  people,  con- 
trary to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  and 
if  successfully  prosecuted,  would  endan- 
ger the  liberties  of  the  people." 

If  such  opinions  of  the  course  to  be 
pursued  towards  the  revolted  States  and 
the  duties  of  the  Government,  were  gen- 


erally held  in  Kentucky,  it  was  evident 
that  the  call  of  a  convention  would  be 
but  an  onward  step  in  the  march  to  se- 
cession— as  it  had  proved  in  the  hands 
of  the  political  tricksters  of  the  Gulf 
States  in  bringing  the  people  to  an  atti- 
tude of  direct  hostility  to  one  of  the 
lightest  and  most  beneficial  governments 
the  world  had  ever  seen.  There  was  an- 
other step  which  had  proved  equally 
dangerous  to  the  loyalty  of  the  seceding 
States — and  that  was  the  arming  of  the 
people  to  be  ready  for  the  supposed 
emergency.  This  had  not  escaped  the 
attention  of  Governor  Magoffin,  who  an- 
nounced an  organization  of  the  State 
militia,  for  which  he  said  he  was  "  pe- 
culiarly fortunate  in  securing  the  ser- 
vices of  General  S.  B.  Buckner,  a  native 
Kentuckian,  in  the  responsible  position 
of  Inspector-General."  The  "  experi- 
ence, ability,  and  patriotic  labor  "  of  this 
gentleman  were  warmly  commended.  To 
what  end  that  "patriotic  labor"  was 
directed,  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
war  bears  abundant  testimony.  Not- 
withstanding the  fervor  of  Governor 
Magoffin 's  address,  the  Legislature  did 
not  see  fit  to  adopt  the  suggestion  of  call- 
ing a  State  Convention. 

The  remaining  months  of  the  Buchan- 
an administration  dragged  their  weari- 
some length  along,  President  Lincoln  was 
inaugurated,  and  still  Governor  Magoffin 
had  no  reason  to  be  displeased  with  the 
moderation  of  the  Government  in  its 
treatment  of  rebellion  in  arms.  He  might 
have  had  some  faint  misgivings,  perhaps, 
in  the  honest  devotion  of  Major  Ander- 
son to  the  national  flag  at  Suinter,  but 
he  may  have  taken  a  ju&'t  pride  in  the 
confidence  which  that  officer  in  the 
North,  and  among  all  patriotic  people, 
inspired  from  the  simple  fact  that  he  was 


328 


WAE  FOR  THE   UN10JN. 


a  Kentuckian.  When  loyal  men,  driven 
almost  to  despair  by  the  tidings  of  naval 
and  military  desertions,  of  the  loss  of 
forts  and  public  property,  asked  fearfully, 
Is  Sumter  safe  ?  it  was  deemed  enough 
to  say  that  its  commander  was  a  Ken- 
tuckian. There  was  a  chivalrous  sound 
in  that  word  Kentuckian,  which  seemed 
to  admit  of  no  association  with  the  base 
epithet  of  treasonable.  It  was  expected, 
both  by  friend  and  foe,  that  Major  An- 
derson of  Kentucky  would  hold  the  fort 
— and  he  did  while  man  could. 

That  example  must  have  kindled  to 
new  life  the  fire  of  patriotism  in  many  a 
Kentuckian,  and  caused  a  longing  to  re- 
buke the  dishonor  ostentatiously  vaunted 
by  South  Carolina  to  the  old  flag.  So  we 
presume  it  did,  and  we  may,  perhaps, 
alongside  of  the  memory  of  Clay,  the 
faithfulness  of  Crittenden  and  Holt,  rank 
the  example  of  Anderson  as  a  leading 
instrument  in  the  salvation  of  the  State. 
Unhappily,  the  voice  which  should  have 
been  foremost  with  them  was  sadly  want- 
ing in  appreciation  of  the  position  which 
was  the  due  of  Kentucky  at  such  a  crisis. 
We  have  already  given  the  reply  of  Gov- 
ernor Magoffin*  to  the  call  of  the  Presi- 
dent for  aid  to  the  imperilled  govern- 
ment. It  was  a  call  to  stir  the  heart  of 
Henry  Clay  in  death  itself.  Governor 
Magoffin  lost  this  golden  opportunity, 
and  would  have  thrown  sad  discredit 
upon  the  State  had  the  message  which  he 
sent  to  Washington  that  fifteenth  of  April, 
when  the  echoes  of  the  cannon  fired  on 
Sumter  were  yet  ringing  in  men's  ears, 
not  been  contradicted  by  the  subsequent 
action  of  the  people.  He  said  "  emphat- 
ically, that  Kentucky  would  furnish  no 
troops  "  ;  when  the  proper  time  came — 
it  might  have  been  sooner  and  better  for 

Ante,  p.  128. 


the  welfare  of  the  State,  had  it  not  been 
for  such  counsellors — thirty  thousand  of 
the  people  answered  for  themselves  by 
joining  the  army  of  the  Republic. 

Governor  Magoffin's  curt  and  condem- 
natory telegram  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
fell  heavily  upon  the  ears  of  the  friends 
of  the  Union,  who  had  hoped  much  from 
Kentucky  ;  but  there  was  one  portion  of 
the  country  where  its  harshness  was 
music  itself.  Mr.  L.  Pope  Walker,  the 
Secretary  of  War  of  the  Confederate 
States,  at  Montgomery,  hailed  it  as  an 
earnest  of  the  rich  prize  about  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  rebellion.  His 
message  to  Governor  Magoffin,  of  the 
22d  April,  is,  taking  all  the  circum- 
stances into  account,  one  of  the  coolest, 
if  not  the  very  coolest,  of  the  many  im- 
pudent assumptions  of  that  unblushing 
Administration.  It  commenced  in  these 
words:  "Hon.  B.  Magoffin  :  Sir, — Your 
patriotic  response  to  the  requisition  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  for  troops 
to  coerce  the  Confederate  States,  justifies 
the  belief  that  your  people  are  prepared 
to  unite  with  us  in  repelling  the  common 
enemy  of  the  South.  Virginia  needs 
our  aid.  I  therefore  request  you  to  fur- 
nish one  regiment  of  infantry  without 
delay,  to  rendezvous  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
Virginia."  He  then  proceeded  to  inform 
the  Governor  of  the  composition  of  the 
regiment,  its  equipment,  and  so  forth,  as 
if  he  were  transmitting  some  ordinary 
order  from  his  office  to  a  county  in  Ala- 
bama. We  do  not  know  what  answer 
Mr.  Walker  received,  but  there  were 
men  in  Kentucky  whose  blood  would 
have  boiled  with  indignation  if  the  mes- 
sage had  been  sent  to  them — who  would 
have  replied  in  words  befitting  the  dig- 
nity of  the  insulted  State. 

What  one,  at  least,  would  have  writ- 


ATTITUDE   OF  THE  LEGISLATUEE. 


329 


ten,  we  know  from  the  subsequent  re- 
marks in  public,  at  Louisville,  of  the 
Hon.  Joseph  Holt.  Commenting  upon 
the  position  of  Governor  Magoffin  to  the 
Government,  he  said  :  "In  his  reply  to 
the  requisition  made  upon  him  for  volun- 
teers under  the  proclamation  of  the  Pres- 
ident, he  has,  in  my  judgment,  written 
and  finished  his  own  history,  his  epitaph 
included,  and  it  is  probable  that  in  future 
the  world  will  little  concern  itself  as  to 
what  his  Excellency  may  propose  to  do, 
or  as  to  what  he  may  propose  not  to  do. 
That  response  has  made  for  Kentucky  a 
record  that  has  already  brought  a  burn- 
ing blush  to  the  cheek  of  many  of  her 
sons,  and  is  destined  to  bring  it  to  the 
cheek  of  many  more  in  the  years  which 
are  to  come.  It  is  a  shame,  indeed  a 
crying  shame,  that  a  State  with  so  illus- 
trious a  past,  should  have  written  for 
her,  by  her  own  Chief  Magistrate,  a 
page  of  history  so  utterly  humiliating  as 
this." 

A  convenient  and  summary  process 
was  that  of  Mr.  Walker,  of  adding  to 
the  stars  of  his  rebel  flag  and  filling  the 
ranks  of  his  rebel  confederacy.  The 
people  of  the  State,  however,  had  some- 
thing to  say  in  the  matter.  They  were 
not  willing  to  sell  their  birthright  of 
honor  and  liberty  on  such  cheap  and 
easy  terms.  The  intrigue  of  the  Jeffer- 
son Davis  Confederacy,  so  bunglingly 
commenced,  was  long  kept  up.  Months 
after,  when  that  modest  government  or- 
dered the  confiscation  of  the  debts  due 
from  their  citizens  to  those  of  loyal 
States,  the  debts  due  to  the  people  of 
Kentucky  were  expressly  excepted.  The 
invitation  was  kept  open,  there  was  a 
plate  and  a  chair  vacant  for  Kentucky 
at  the  rebel  table,  but  she  had  no  in- 
clination to  partake  of  "  the  funeral 
42 


baked   meats "   and  banquet  upon   the 
ruins  of  the  Nation. 

Having  delivered  himself  of  his  un- 
happy reply  to  the  President's  Proclama- 
tion, Governor  Magoffm  proceeded  to 
call  on  the  special  meeting  of  the  Legis- 
lature, which  he  greeted  when  it  assem- 
bled on  the  6th  of  May  with  a  portentous 
Message  commenting  harshly  on  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Administration.  The 
President,  he  said,  "without  the  advice 
or  sanction  of  either  branch  of  Congress, 
had  declared  a  war  of  subjugation  or 
extermination  against  the  people  of  ten 
or  more  sovereign  States,  and  was 
with  extraordinary  energy  gathering  his 
strength  for  the  unnatural  conflict."  He 
reviewed  the  position  of  the  Border 
States,  representing  some  as  ready,  all 
as  desirous  of  joining  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy, which  he  recognized  as  a  fully 
organized  government  separate  arid  in- 
dependent. It  was  idle,  he  said,  "  long- 
er to  refuse  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the 
late  American  Union  is  dissolved."  It 
remained  for  Kentucky  to  determine 
"what  attitude  she  shall  occupy  in  this 
deplorable  conflict.  Shall  she  continue 
her  alliance  with  the  Northern  States, 
adhere  to  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, and  assume  her  portion  of  the 
enormous  war  debt  being  incurred  ?  Shall 
she  declare  her  own  independence,  and 
prepare  single  handed  to  maintain  it? 
Shall  she  ally  herself  with  the  remaining 
slave  States,  and  make  common  cause 
with  them  ?"  He  did  not  propose  to 
discuss  these  questions  himself,  nor  that 
the  body  whom  he  addressed  should  de- 
cide them,  but  anxiously  urged  that 
they  should  be  submitted  to  the  "  sove- 
reign arbitrament  "of  the  people.  "  We 
were  elected  two  years  ago,"  said  he  in 
self-denying  words,  "  at  a  time  when  no 


330 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


such  subjects  as  those  now  under  con- 
sideration were  revolved  in  the  public 
mind.  Let  us  not  attempt  to  employ 
our  official  power  thus  acquired  to  con- 
trol this  mighty  question."  He  saw  "  no 
other  path  of  domestic  peace  and  safety 
than  through  a  reference  of  the  question 
to  the  people,"  and  accordingly  renewed 
the  recommendation  of  his  previous  Mes- 
sage for  the  call  of  a  Convention. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  unhappy  po- 
sition in  which  the  Governor  had  placed 
himself,  we  may  mention  his  correspond- 
ence with  the  Governors  of  Ohio  and  In- 
diana in  reference  to  a  proposal  which 
he  made  them  as  late  as  the  30th  April, 
to  cooperate  with  him  in  an  effort  "to 
bring  about  a  truce  between  the  General 
Government  and  the  seceded  States  un- 
til the  meeting  of  Congress  in  extraordi- 
nary session,  in  the  hope  that  the  action 
of  that  body  may  point  out  the  way  to 
peaceful  solution  of  our  national  trou- 
bles," certainly  an  extraordinary  sug- 
gestion to  come  from  one  who  saw  so 
clearly  the  motives,  and  admitted  so 
freely  the  independent  and  sovereign 
authority  "of  the  foreign  confederacy 
which  had  just  so  hopefully  commenced 
its  military  career  in  the  harbor  of 
Charleston.  The  Governor,  while  trans- 
mitting the  replies  of  his  western  breth- 
ren, candidly  admitted  to  the  Legislature 
that  he  "  met  with  no  success  "  in  that 
mission.  Indeed,  he  was  very  hand- 
somely rebuked  by  his  more  patriotic 
neighbors.  "In  reply  I  have  to  re- 
mark," wrote  Governor  Dennison  of 
Ohio  from  Columbus,  "  that  believing 
the  general  Government  to  be  wholly 
in  the  right,  I  can  see  no  reason  for  the 
interposition  suggested.  If  it  be  desired 
by  Governor  Magoffin,  I  will  cordially 
unite  with  him  in  an  appeal  to  the  se- 


ceded States  at  once  to  return  to  their 
allegiance  to  the  government  of  the 
Union,  and  thus  terminate  the  difficul- 
ties which  their  conduct  has  brought 
upon  the  country.  Any  other  peaceful 
solution  is  impossible.  A  truce  would 
only  aggravate  the  impending  evils." 
Nor  was  the  response  of  Governor  Mor- 
ton of  Indiana  less  decided.  "It  be- 
comes my  duty  to  state,"  he  wrote  from 
the  Executive  Department  at  Indianapo- 
lis, "  that  I  do  not  recognize  the  right  of 
any  State  to  act  as  mediator  between 
the  Federal  Government  and  a  rebel- 
lious State.  I  hold  that  Indiana  and 
Kentucky  are  but  integral  parts  of  the 
nation,  and  as  such,  are  subject  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
bound  to  obey  the  requisitions  of  the 
President,  issued  in  pursuance  of  his 
constitutional  authority  ;  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  every  State  Government  to  pro- 
hibit, by  all  means  in  its  power,  the 
transportation  from  within  its  own  limits 
of  arms,  military  stores,  and  provisions 
to  any  State  in  open  rebellion  and  hos- 
tility to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  restrain  her  citizens  from 
all  acts  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy  ;  that  there  is  no  ground  in  the 
Constitution  midway  between  the  Fede- 
ral Government  and  a  rebellious  State, 
upon  which  another  State  can  stand, 
holding  both  in  check ;  that  a  State 
must  take  a  stand  upon  the  one  side  or 
upon  the  other  ;  and  I  invoke  the  State 
of  Kentucky,  by  all  the  sacred  ties  that 
bind  us  together,  to  take  her  stand  with 
Indiana,  promptly  and  efficiently,  on  the 
side  of  the  Union.  The  action  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  the  present  con- 
test being  strictly  in  accordance  with  the 
Constitution  and  the  law  of  the  land,  and 
entertaining  the  views  above  indicated,  I 


THE   NEUTRALITY   POLICY. 


331 


am  compelled  to  decline  the  cooperation 
solicited  by  you." 

The  Kentucky  Legislature  was  not 
disposed  at  the  session  in  May,  any  more 
than  at  the  session  in  January,  to  listen 
to  the  persuasions  of  the  Governor  in 
that  cardinal  matter  of  the  convention. 
They  would  not  call  it,  and  they  acted 
wisely.  The  lesson  deserves  to  be  re- 
membered. Nothing  is  more  dangerous 
to  the  liberties  of  a  people,  at  times,  than 
that  liberty  itself.  It  is  a  plausible  the- 
ory of  ultra-democracy  to  refer  every- 
thing on  the  instant  to  the  people  ;  but  a 
moment's  reflection  will  show  that  the 
people  are  not  always  ready,  at  such 
short  notice,  to  express  that  opinion  in 
accordance  with  their  honest  convictions 
and  true  interests.  They  need  time  to 
reflect  and  determine.  If  they  act  in 
passion  as  a  mass,  there  is  no  more  safe- 
ty for  them,  there  is  even  less,  than  for 
individuals  in  the  same  unfavorable  con- 
dition. Hence  the  wisdom  of  our  Gov- 
ernments, both  Federal  and  State,  in 
their  variety  of  checks  and  wholesome 
delays,  their  modes  of  election  and  rep- 
resentation, which  the  people  themselves 
devised  and  sanctioned  as  securities 
against  hasty  legislation.  To  resort  to 
popular  convention  is  to  lose  the  benefit 
of  the  profoundest  and  wisest  results  of 
modern  civilization.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered as  a  prominent  warning  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  Great  Rebellion,  that  one  of 
the  first  instruments  of  its  unhallowed 
tyranny  was  the  call  of  popular  conven- 
tions. Kentucky  was  fortunately  spared 
that  trial  of  the  temper  and  discretion 
of  her  inhabitants.  There  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  she  might  have  passed  through 
it  scatheless,  that  her  loyalty  would 
have  endured  even  that  test,  that  the 
judgment  of  her  citizens  would  have 


proved  superior  to  the  arts  of  dema- 
gogues, and  the  treacherous  appeals  to 
her  warm-hearted  generosity  of  Southern 
sentiment.  In  other  ways  she  survived 
the  ordeal,  and  came  out  of  the  fiery  pur- 
gation triumphant. 

The  next  danger  to  which  the  State  was 
exposed,  was  in  the  sanction  of  her  rul- 
ers given  to  a  medium  policy  of  neutral- 
ity— a  hazardous  experiment  to  her  lib- 
erties and  safety.  What  this  was,  and 
how  Governor  Magoffin  stood  in  regard 
to  the  affairs  of  the  State  and  the  Gene- 
ral Government,  the  reader  may  form 
some  idea  from  his  proclamation  of  May 
20th  : —  Whereas,  many  good  citizens  re- 
quested him  to  forbid  the  march  of  any 
forces  over  Kentucky  to  attack  Cairo,  or 
otherwise  disturb  the  peaceful  attitude 
of  Kentucky  with  reference  to  the  de- 
plorable war  now  waging  between  the 
United  and  Confederate  States  ;  also 
stating  that  the  same  citizens  requested 
him  to  forbid  the  march  of  any  United 
States  force  over  Kentucky  soil  for  the 
occupation  of  any  post  or  place  within 
Kentucky  ;  and  whereas,  every  indica- 
tion of  public  sentiment  shows  a  deter- 
mined purpose  of  the  people  to  maintain 
a  fixed  position  of  self-defence,  propos- 
ing and  intending  no  invasion  or  aggres- 
sion towards  any  other  State  or  States, 
forbidding  the  quartering  of  troops  upon 
her  soil  by  either  hostile  section,  but 
simply  standing  aloof  from  an  unnatural, 
horrid,  and  lamentable  strife,  for  tho 
existence  whereof  Kentucky,  neither  by 
thought,  word,  nor  act  is  in  anywise 
responsible  ;  and  whereas  this  policy  is 
in  judgment  wise,  peaceful,  safe  and 
honorable,  the  most  likely  to  preserve 
the  peace  and  amity  between  the  neigh- 
boring border  States  on  both  shores  of 
the  Ohio,  and  protect  Kentucky  from 


332 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


deplorable  civil  war  ;  and  whereas,  the 
arms  distributed  to  the  Home  Guard  are 
not  to  be  used  against  the  Federal  or 
Confederate  States  but  to  resist  and  pre- 
vent encroachment  on  her  soil,  rights, 
honor  and  sovereignty  by  either  of  the 
belligerent  parties,  and  hoping  Kentucky 
may  become  a  successful  mediator  be- 
tween them,  and  in  order  to  remove  a 
founded  distrust  and  suspicion  of  pur- 
poses to  force  Kentucky  out  of  the  Union 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  which  may 
have  been  strongly  and  wickedly  engen- 
dered in  the  public  mind  in  regard  to 
my  own  position  and  that  of  the  State 
Guard — 

"Now,  therefore,  I  hereby  notify  and 
warn  all  other  States,  separated  or  unit- 
ed, especially  the  United  and  Confeder- 
ate States,  that  I  solemnly  forbid  any 
movement  upon  Kentucky  soil,  or  occu- 
pation of  any  post  or  place  therein  for 
any  purpose  whatever,  until  authorized 
by  invitation  or  permission  of  the  legis- 
lative and  executive  authorities.  I  espe- 
cially forbid  all  citizens  of  Kentucky, 
whether  incorporated  in  the  State  Guard 
or  otherwise,  making  any  hostile  demon- 
strations against  any  of  the  aforesaid 
sovereignties,  to  be  obedient  to  the  or- 
ders of  lawful  authorities,  to  remain 
quietly  and  peaceably  at  home,  when  off 
military  duty,  and  refrain  from  all  words 
and  acts  likely  to  provoke  a  collision, 
and  so  otherwise  conduct  themselves  that 
the  deplorable  calamity  of  invasion  may 
be  averted ;  but  meanwhile  to  make 
prompt  and  efficient  preparation  to  as- 
sume the  paramount  and  supreme  law  of 
self-defence,  and  strictly  of  self-defence 
alone." 

It  is  a  proud  spectacle  —  Governor 
Magoffin  thus  "solemnly"  dictating  to 
"  all  States,  separated  or  united,  especial- 


ly the  United  and  Confederate  States," 
with  such  a  lofty  impartiality.  It  is  but 
justice  to  add  that  the  Legislature 
promptly  refused  to  endorse  this  procla- 
mation as  expressive  of  the  true  policy 
of  Kentucky.*  This  declared  policy  of 
neutrality  was  better  suited  to  the  wishes 
of  Southern  secessionists  than  to  the 
good  sense  of  many  intelligent  loyal  cit 
izens  of  Kentucky  —  her  orators  and 
statesmen — who  stood  forth  in  this  crisis 
for  her  defence.  The  day  following  the 
date  of  Governor  Magoffin's  proclama- 
tion, a  staunch  supporter  of  the  national 
integrity,  whose  military  energy  was 
afterwards  greatly  instrumental  in  sav- 
ing Kentucky  to  the  Union— Lovell  H. 
Rousseau — in  his  place  in  the  Senate 
took  occasion  to  review  the  attitude  of 
the  State  to  the  general  Government. 
His  healthy,  vigorous  patriotism  was  to 
be  diverted  by  no  fallacies  or  sophistry, 
"I  say,"  said  he,  "the  laws  should  be 
enforced  if  we  have  any.  If  we  have  a 
government,  let  it  be  maintained  and 
obeyed.  And  if  a  wicked,  factious  minor- 
ity, without  cause,  undertakes  to  override 
the  will  of  the  majority,  and  rob  us  of  our 
constitutional  and  vested  rights,  let  that 
factious  and  wicked  minority,  be  put 
down — peaceably  if  we  can,  but  forcibly 
if  we  must.  If  you  don't,  they  will  put 
you  down  as  certain  as  fate.  Make  your 
election.  Don't  stand  passively  by  and 
see  your  own  laws  violated,  your  own 
Government  destroyed,  and  your  liberty 
swallowed  up  in  tyranny,  for  fear  of  a 
'  fratricidal  war.'  If  your  fellow-citizen 
turns  out  to  rob  and  murder  you  and 
yours,  stop  him.  If  you  have  to  hang 
him,  why  stop  him  in  that  way.  But 
when  he  commits  a  murder,  and  you 
would  execute  the  law  on  him,  he  says, 


*  Joseph  Holt's  Letter  to  J.  F.  Speed,  May  81,  1861. 


SENATOR  ROUSSEAU'S  SPEECH. 


333 


'  0,  none  of  that — no  coercion  ;  I  am 
your  brother  ;  you  must  not  hurt  me  ;' 
and  for  fear  of  hurting  your  '  brother,'  as 
he  calls  himself,  you  would  permit  him  to 
go  on  in  his  work  of  crime.  Let  the  will 
of  the  sovereign  people  be  respected  and 
obeyed.  Let  the  laws  of  the  land  be  en- 
forced on  all  alike.  If  they  are  obeyed 
peaceably,  so  much  the  better  ;  but  let 
them  le  obeyed.  Then  you  will  have 
peace  and  security  at  home,  and  power 
and  respectability  abroad.  Unless  you 
do  this,  you  will  have  neither." 

Kentucky,  he  said,  was  in  a  false  po- 
sition ;  no  State  had  a  greater  interest  in 
the  Union,  and  none  loved  it  more  de- 
votedly ;  why  should  she  stand  idly  by, 
and  await  the  rewards  of  victory  which 
others  should  earn,  or  if  the  secessionists 
should  claim  her  as  their  prize,  then  call, 
as  call  she  would,  upon  a  government 
which  she  had  failed  to  support  ?  "  The 
truth  is,"  said  he,  "  our  duty  at  first  was 
to  stand  by  our  Government,  and  protect 
and  defend  it.  If  fit  to  live  under,  it 
was  entitled  to  our  respect  and  confi- 
dence and  allegiance.  If  unfit,  it  should 
have  been  abandoned  at  once,  and  an- 
other formed  more"  perfect.  But  while 
we  owe  our  allegiance  to  it,  let  us  ac- 
knowledge it  like  true  men,  and  not  turn 
our  backs  upon  its  greatest  peril.  We 
should  not  do  this  if  we  desire  its  preser- 
vation. We  should  stand  by  it  like  men, 
or  pull  it  down  at  once.  But  we  should 
not  stand  by  and  see  others  pull  it  down 
over  our  heads  against  our  will,  to  the 
destruction  of  our  liberties,  and  say,  '  we 
oppose  you.  We  love  the  Government. 
It  is  the  Government  of  our  fathers  ; 
bought  with  their  blood,  and  bequeathed 
to  us.  It  is  the  best  Government  on 
earth,  and  in  its  destruction  we  see  ruin 
to  us  and  ours  ;  but  as  you  and  we  live 


in  slave  States,  go  on  and  do  as  you  please. 
We  will  not  resist  you.  Euin  us  if  you 
will.'  And  so  never  lift  a  hand  to  save  us 
and  our  children  the  blessings  of  liberty. 
In  my  heart  I  do  not  approve  of  this 
course,  and  what  I  do  not  approve,  no 
power  on  earth  shall  make  me  say.  I 
am  for  the  old  Constitution  of  Washing- 
ton and  his  compeers.  For  the  old  flag, 
the  Stars  and  Stripes.  God  bless  them  ; 
and  I  am  against  all  factions  that  would 
take  them  from  me.  It  matters  not  who 
they  are  or  whence  they  come.  Whether 
they  come  from  England,  France,  Mas- 
sachusetts or  South  Carolina.  If  they 
would  destroy  the  Government  of  our 
fathers,  I  am  against  them.  No  matter 
what  may  be  the  pretext.  No,  sir,  I  am 
for  the  Union,  and  I  am  willing  to  defend 
it  by  any  and  all  proper  means.  Our 
Government  is  the  best  in  the  world.  It 
has  answered  well  all  the  ends  for  whicn 
governments  are  made.  We  all  know 
this.  It  has  oppressed  no  man,  nor  has 
it  burdened  us  a  feather's  weight.  It  has 
brought  us  nothing  but  blessings.  Under 
it  we  have  been  happy,  prosperous  and 
free.  What  more  can  we  ask.  All  that 
government  can  do,  our  Government  has 
done  for  us.  We  have  been  free,  as  no 
nation  was  ever  free  before  ;  we  have 
prospered  as  no  nation  ever  prospered 
before,  and  we  have  rested  in  peace  and 
security." 

His  explanation  of  the  motive  of  the 
conspiracy  which  sought  to  overthrow 
this  beneficent  instrument,  is  notewor- 
thy, for  information  on  this  point  be- 
comes of  value  with  the  decrease  of 
latitude  in  the  region  whence  it  is  deriv- 
ed. The  testimony  of  a  Kentuckian  is 
worth  much  more  than  that  of  a  native 
of  Wisconsin.  Rousseau  is  a  better  wit- 
ness than  Hale  or  Everett.  To  what 


334 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


does  he  attribute  the  rebellion  ?  This  is 
his  simple  elucidation  of  the  mystery 
which  has  perplexed  so  many  profound 
thinkers  of  the  Old  World  and  the  New  : 
— "  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected,  and  corrupt 
politicians  lost  their  places.  They  had 
controlled  the  Government  in  their  own 
way  for  years.  When  they  lost  their 
power  they  declared  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  corrupt  and  oppressive,  and 
that  they  would  destroy  it.  They  robbed 
it  of  its  arms  and  munitions  of  war,  send- 
ing them  South  ;  they  involved  the  Gov- 
ernment in  a  debt  of  nearly  a  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  ;  robbed  the  treasury  ; 
and  thus  leaving  the  Government  impov- 
erished and  distressed,  they  commenced 
the  atrocious  business  of  secession.  They 
had  lost  the  offices,  and  they  had  thought 
it  necessary  to  create  new  ones  for  the 
benefit  of  the  defunct  politicians,  and 
they  did  it.  This  is  the  grand  secret  of 
the  whole  affair." 

With  equal  directness  he  pictured  the 
woes  of  rebellion,  and  brought  home  his 
appeal  to  his  political  antagonists  in  a 
series  of  vigorous  home  thrusts,  not  the 
less  powerful  for  a  touch  of  irony  and 
humor.  "  Behold,"  said  he,  "  the  result 
of  secession.  Distress  and  ruin  stare 
men  in  the  face  ;  strong  men,  honest  and 
industrious  men,  cannot  get  bread  for 
their  wives  and  children  ;  the  widow  and 
the  orphan,  helpless  and  destitute,  are 
starving  ;  in  all  the  large  cities  the  suf- 
fering is  intense  ;  work  is  not  to  be 
obtained,  and  those  who  live  by  their 
labor  get  no  money  ;  property  of  every 
description  has  depreciated  until  it  is 
almost  worthless  ;  in  the  seceded  States, 
Union  men  are  driven  penniless  from 
their  homes,  or  hanged  ;  and  all  this,  Mr. 
Senator  from  McCracken,  that  peaceable 
secession  may  go  on,  and  that  politicians 


may  fill  offices.  And  after  you,  gentle- 
men, bring  all  these  calamities  upon  us. 
you  falsely  say  that  'Lincoln  did  it,'  and 
that  we  Union  men  are  abolitionists  and 
aid  him.  But  I  tell  you  that  Lincoln 
has  not  done  it.  He  was  elected  Presi- 
dent by  your  help.  You  ran  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  that  the  Democratic 
party  might  be  divided,  and  Lincoln 
elected.  That  was  your  purpose,  and 
you  accomplished  it ;  and  now  you  have 
elected  Lincoln  thus,  you  must  break  up 
the  Government  because  he  is  elected. 
Nothing  can  satisfy  you  but  secession. 
To  talk  of  compromise  irritates  secession 
gentlemen — it  irritates  them  to  talk  of 
the  rights  of  anybody  but  themselves— 
they  are  indeed  a  very  irritable  set  of 
people.  If  you  speak  of  enforcing  the 
laws  of  the  land,  why  it's  coercion,  and 
at  this  word  they  forthwith  go  into 
spasms.  They  can't  stand  it  at  all.  It  is 
subjugation  of  tTie  South  by  the  North. 
If  they  threaten  to  hang  you  when  they 
get  the  power — because  you  are  true  to 
the  old  Constitution  and  the  old  flag  of 
Washington — and  you  get  arms  to  defend 
yourself,  why,  it  irritates  them,  and  they 
won't  stand  it. 

"  The  Union  men  of  Kentucky,  seeing 
the  condition  of  Union  men  in  the  seced- 
ed States,  and  seeing  that  they  had  to  be 
hanged  or  be  silent,  and  still  wishing  to 
be  free  as  of  yore,  have  lately  purchased 
arms  with  which  to  defend  themselves. 
This  act  is  pronounced  as  a  crime — a 
great  crime.  And  how  it  irritates  them. 
Garrett  Davis  received  1,200  stand  of 
arms  the  other  day,  and  a  young  gentle- 
man of  the  secession  persuasion  became  so 
irritated  that  he  could  not  stand  it  at  all ; 
that  the  '  States'  -Rights  men  would  not 
submit  to  it — no,  never.'  '  Well,'  said  I, 
*  I  would  not  put  up  with  it,  if  I  were  in 


HOME   THRUSTS. 


335 


your  place.  I  tell  you  what  I  would  do, 
[  would  go  and  take  Garrett's  guns  away 
from  him.'  But  he  didn't.  South  Caro- 
lina was  irritated  at  the  presence  of 
Mnjor  Anderson  and  fifty-five  men  at 
Fort  Sumter,  so  irritated  that  she  could 
not  bear  it.  She  tried  to  starve  him  to 
death  ;  she  tried  to  knock  his  head  off 
and  burn  him  up.  She  bombarded  the 
people's  fort,  shot  into  the  flag  of  our 
Government,  and  drove  our  soldiers 
from  the  place.  It  was  not  Mr.  Lincoln's 
fort,  not  his  flag  nor  his  soldiers,  but  ours. 
Yet  after  all  these  outrages  and  atroci- 
ties, South  Carolina  comes  with  embraces 
for  us,  saying  :  '  Well,  we  tried  ;  we  in- 
tended to  kill  that  brother  Kentuckian 
of  yours  ;  tried  to  storm  him,  knock  his 
brains  out,  and  burn  him  up.  Don't  you 
love  us  for  it  ?  Won't  you  fight  with  us 
and  for  us,  and  help  us  to  overthrow 
3^our  Government  ?'  Was  ever  a  request 
so  outrageously  unnatural — so  degrading 
to  our  patriotism  ?  And  yet,  Mr.  Speak- 
er, there  were  those  among  us  who  re- 
joiced at  the  result,  and  termed  the 
assault  upon  their  own  fort,  and  the  cap- 
ture of  their  own  flag,  and  their  own 
soldiers  a  heroic  victory  ! 

"Mr.  Speaker,  I  am  sick  and  tired  of 
all  this  gabble  about  irritation  over  the 
exercise  by  others  of  their  undoubted 
right,  and  I  say  once  for  all  to  you, 
secession  gentlemen,  that  we  Union  men 
know  our  rights,  and  intend  to  maintain 
them  ;  and  if  you  get  irritated  about  it, 
why  —  get  irritated.  Snuff  and  snort 
yourselves  into  a  rage  ;  go  into  spasms 
if  you  will  ;  die  if  you  want  to,  and  can't 
stand  it — who  cares  ?  What  right  have 
you  to  get  irritated  because  we  claim  equal 
rights  and  equality  with  you  ?  We  are 
for  peace  ;  we  desire  no  war,  and  depre- 
cate collision.  All  we  ask  is  peace.  We 


don't  intend  you  any  harm.  We  don't 
want  to  hurt  you,  and  don't  intend  you 
shall  injure  us  if  we  can  help  it.  We 
beg  of  you  to  let  us  live  in  peace  under 
the  good  old  Government  of  our  fathers. 
We  only  ask  that.  Why  keep  us  ever 
on  the  alert  watching  you,  to  prevent 
you  from  enslaving  us  by  a  destruction 
of  that  Government  ?"  Senator  JOHNSON 
—•"It  is  already  destroyed."  M.  ROUS- 
SEAU— "Not  a  bit  of  it.  The  Union  will 
never  be  dissolved.  I  know  you  say  it 
is  ;  but,  believe  me,  it  will  never  be  dis- 
solved. We  may  have  much  suffering  ; 
we  may  endure  many  calamities.  War, 
pestilence  and  famine  may  befall  us  ;  our 
own  good  old  Kentucky  may  be  overrun 
and  trodden  under  foot,  and  her  soil  may 
be  drenched  in  blood,  but  the  Union  will 
never,  never  be  dissolved.  I  have  never 
had  a  doubt  on  this  subject,  never.  I 
know  we  must  suffer,  but  we  must  pre- 
serve the  Union."  You,  Mr.  Senator 
from  McCracken,  are  a  sanguine  man. 
You  think  the  Union  is  destroyed.  Well, 
you  sometimes  err.  I  believe  you  had 
a  correspondence  with  '  Uncle  Abe,'  in 
which  you  committed  a  glaring  error. 
But  that  was  only  a  semi-official  corres- 
pondence, and  perhaps  should  not  be 
alluded  to  here."  Senator  JOHNSON  (good- 
humoredly)  —  "  Oh  !  yes;  tell."  Mr. 
ROUSSEAU — "  I  thank  you.  Well,  as  one 
of  the  Senators  of  Kentucky,  you  made 
your  most  solemn  protest  against  the 
stationing  of  troops  at  Cairo,  Illinois. 
The  protest  was  very  elegant,  as  is  gen- 
erally what  comes  from  you — a  little 
highfalutin,  it  is  true.  You  forwarded 
your  protest  to  '  Uncle  Abe,'  and  in  due 
time  received  a  reply,  which  was  too 
good  a  joke  for  a  good-natured  gentleman 
like  yourself  to  keep  all  to  yourself,  and 
so  disclosed  it.  Uncle  Abe  replied  to 


336 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


you  th'at  your  letter  had  been  received, 
duly  considered,  and  in  reply  he  had  to 
say  to  you,  (one  of  the  Senators  of  Ken- 
tucky,) that  if  he  had  known  that  Cairo, 
Illinois,  was  in  your  Senatorial  District, 
he  would  not  have  sent  any  soldiers 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  that  point." 

"  Mr.  Speaker — let  me  tell  you  sir, 
Kentucky  will  not  'go  out.'  She  will 
not  stampede.  That  has  been  tried. 
Secessionists  must  invent  something  new 
in  the  way  of  secession  appliances  before 
they  can  either  frighten  or  '  drag '  Ken- 
tucky out  of  the  Union.  I  tell  you,  sen- 
sation gentlemen,  that  your  exciting 
events  have  ceased  to  affect  us.  Try 
something  else.  Get  up  a  fight  at  Cairo, 
that  you  may  get  us  to  side  with  you. 
That  is  your  game,  and  you  will  play  it 
whenever  you  think  you  can  succeed  in 
it.  You  tried  to  scare  us,  but  you  failed 
in  your  purpose.  And  if  you  legally  and 
against  right  assault  Cairo,  I  hope  every 
man  of  you  will  get  his  head  knocked,  or 
be  taken  prisoner,  and  that  the  Cairo 
folks  will  never  permit  you  to  come  to 
Kentucky  again.  That's  what  I  wish, 
and  what  I  believe  would  happen  in  such 
an  event. 

"But  we  won't  'go  out' — have  not 
the  least  notion  of  it  in  the  world.  You 
must  take  us  out  according  to  law  and 
right,  or  take  us  dead.  Believe  this,  and 
act  accordingly.  It  would  be  better  for 
all  of  us.  We  shall  be  but  too  happy  to 
keep  peace,  but  we  cannot  leave  the 
Union  of  our  fathers.  When  Kentucky 
goes  down,  it  will  be  in  blood.  Let  that 
be  understood.  She  will  not  go  as  other 
States  have  gone.  Let  the  responsibility 
rest  on  you  where  it  belongs.  It  is  all 
your  work,  and  whatever  happens  will 
be  your  work.  We  have  more  right  to 
defend  our  Government  than  you  have  to 


overturn  it.  Many  of  us  are  sworn  to 
support  it. 

"  Let  our  good  Union  brethren  of  the 
South  stand  their  ground.  I  know  that 
many  patriotic  hearts  in  the  seceded 
States  still  beat  warmly  for  the  old 
Union — the  old  flag.  The  time  will  come 
when  we  shall  be  together  again.  The 
politicians  are  having  their  day.  The 
people  will  yet  have  theirs.  I  have  an 
abiding  confidence  in  the  right,  and  I 
know  that  this  secession  movement  is  all 
wrrong.  There  is,  in  fact,  not  a  single 
substantial  reason  for  it.  If  there  is,  I 
should  be  glad  to  hear  it ;  our  Govern- 
ment has  never  oppressed  us  with  a  fea- 
ther's weight.  The  direst  oppression 
alone  could  justify  what  has  brought  all 
our  present  sufferings  upon  us." 

It  had  been  a  favorite  project  of  the 
sympathizers  with  the  South,  when  more 
general  projects  of  the  kind  had  failed, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  recommendation 
of  Governor  Magofnn  to  call  a  Conven- 
tion of  the  Border  States  to  devise  some 
plan  of  adjustment.  Virginia  had  origi- 
nated the  idea,  and  it  had  been  intended 
to  hold  the  meeting  at  Baltimore  in  Feb- 
ruary. Nothing,  however,  was  then 
done,  and  it  was  not  till  May  that  the 
scheme  was  revived.  The  Convention 
then  met  on  the  29th  at  Frankfort,  Ken- 
tucky. The  people  of  three  States  only 
were  in  any  way  represented.  Ken- 
tucky and  Missouri  sent  several  dele- 
gates, and  Tennessee  but  one  member 
from  two  of  her  eastern  counties.  The 
assembly,  therefore,  fell  far  short  of  its 
intended  proportions  ;  but  it  had  its  im- 
portance as  a  local  index,  and  especially 
of  the  affairs  of  Kentucky,  where  the 
choice  of  its  members  gave  the  people 
an  opportunitjr  of  showing  their  decided 
preference  of  Unionists  over  secession- 


JOSEPH  HOLT. 


337 


isis.  Mr.  J.  J.  Crittenden  was  chosen 
President  of  the  Convention,  which  in- 
cluded several  of  the  well-known  public 
men  of  the  State — Mr.  James  Guthrie, 
former  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Archi- 
bald Dixon,  C.  A.  Wickliffe  and  others. 
Two  addresses  emanated  from  this  body, 
one  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
the  other  to  the  people  of  Kentucky. 
The  former  recommended  conciliation  by 
Congress  and  voluntary  peace  conven- 
tions of  the  people  .  the  latter  supported 
the  State  in  her  neutrality  policy — but 
both  documents  were  decided  in  their 
opposition  to  secession,  and  both  sustain- 
ed the  cause  of  the  Government. 

While  the  multitude  of  counsellors  in 
Kentucky,  in  her  Legislature  and  the 
Convention,  were  thus  seeking  to  balance 
the  State  as  a  central  immovable  pivot 
between  opposing  principles,  there  was 
one  among  the  most  eloquent  of  her  cit- 
izens who,  seeing  that  they  were  at- 
tempting an  impossibility,  boldly  and 
resolutely,  and  with  his  best  powers, 
exhibited  the  fallacy  of  neutrality.  The 
Hon.  Joseph  Holt,  whose  services  as  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet,  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  Washington,  and  the  rescue  of  a 
falling  State  from  the  hands  of  traitors 
and  conspirators  in  the  last  days  of  Pres- 
ident Buchanan's  administration,  should 
never  be  forgotten,  now  concentrated 
his  efforts  for  the  safety  of  his  State.  His 
letter,  dated  the  last  day  of  May,  on  the 
affairs  of  Kentucky,  addressed  to  J.  F, 
Speed,  Esq.,  is  a  masterpiece  of  political 
eloquence,  recalling  the  philosophy  of 
Burke  and  the  kindling,  patriotic  enthu- 
siasm of  Henry  Clay. 

"The  Legislature  it  seems,"  he  wrote, 

"has  determined  by  resolution  that  the 

State,  pending  the  present  unhappy  war, 

•shall   occupy  neutral   ground.     T   must 

43 


say,  in  all  frankness,  and  without  desir- 
ing to  reflect  upon  the  course  or  senti- 
ments of  any,  that,  in  this  struggle  for 
the  existence  of  our  government,  I  can 
neither  practice,  nor  profess,  nor  feel 
neutrality.  I  would  as  soon  think  of 
being  neutral  in  a  contest  between  an 
officer  of  justice  and  an  incendiary  ar- 
rested in  an  attempt  to  fire  the  dwelling 
over  my  head  ;  for  the  Government 
whose  overthrow  is  sought,  is  for  me  the 
shelter  not  only  of  home,  kindred  and 
friends,  but  of  every  earthly  blessing 
which  I  can  hope  to  enjoy  on  this  side 
of  the  grave."  To  warn  off  from  the 
State  the  national  army,  he  pronounced 
"  not  a  neutral  step,  but  one  of  aggress- 
ive hostility."  The  course  of  the  Presi- 
dent in  summoning  that  army,  the  men 
of  which  it  was  composed,  the  gathering 
of  the  mighty  host,  and  its  friendly  mis- 
sion, were  described  with  glowing  elo- 
quence. "For  more  than  a  month,'' 
said  he,  "  after  the  inauguration  of  Pres- 
ident Lincoln,  the  manifestations  seemed 
unequivocal  that  his  administration  would 
seek  a  peaceful  solution  of  our  unhappy 
political  troubles,  and  would  look  to  time 
and  amendments  of  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution, adopted  in  accordance  with  its 
provisions,  to  bring  back  the  revolted 
States  to  their  allegiance.  So  marked 
was  the  effect  of  these  manifestations  in 
tranquilizing  the  border  States  and  in 
reassuring  their  loyalty,  that  the  conspir- 
ators who  had  set  this  revolution  on  foot 
took  the  alarm.  While  affecting  to  des- 
pise these  States  as  not  sufficiently  inten- 
sified in  their  devotion  to  African  servi- 
tude, they  knew  they  could  never  suc- 
ceed in  their  treasonable  enterprise  with- 
out their  support.  Hence  it  was  resolved 
to  precipitate  a  collision  of  arms  with  the 
Federal  authorities,  in  the  hope  that, 


338 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tinder  the  panic  and  exasperation  inci- 
dent to  the  commencement  of  a  civil  war, 
the  border  States,  following  the  natural 
bent  of  their  sympathies,  would  array 
themselves  against  the  Government.  .  .  . 
They  sought  the  clash  of  arms  and  the 
effusion  of  blood  as  an  instrumentality 
of  impressing  the  border  States,  and  they 
sought  the  humiliation  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  dishonor  of  its  flag  as  a 
means  of  giving  prestige  to  their  own 
cause.  ...  A  more  wanton  and  wicked 
\var  was  never  commenced  on  any  gov- 
ernment whose  history  has  been  written. 
"  In  view  of  these  events  and  threat- 
enings,  what  was  the  duty  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Republic  ?  He  might 
have  taken  counsel  of  the  revolutionists 
and  trembled  under  their  menaces  ;  he 
might,  upon  the  fall  of  Sumter,  have 
directed  that  Fort  Pickens  should  be 
surrendered  without  firing  a  gun  in  its 
defence,  and  proceeding  yet  further,  and 
meeting  fully  the  requirements  of  the 
1  let  us  alone '  policy  insisted  on  in  the 
South,  he  might  have  ordered  that  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  should  be  laid  in  the 
dust  in  the  presence  of  every  bit  of  rebel 
bunting  that  might  appear.  But  he  did 
none  of  these  things,  nor  could  he  have 
done  them  without  forfeiting  his  oath  and 
betraying  the  most  sublime  trust  that  has 
ever  been  confided  to  the  hands  of  man. 
With  a  heroic  fidelity  to  his  constitution- 
al obligations,  feeling  justly  that  these 
obligations  charged  him  with  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Republic  and  its  Capital 
against  the  assaults  alike  of  foreign  and 
domestic  enemies,  he  threw  himself  on 
the  loyalty  of  the  country  for  support  in 
the  struggle  upon  which  he  was  about  to 
enter,  and  nobly  has  that  appeal  been 
responded  to.  States  containing  an  ag- 
0'i-eirate  population  of  nineteen  millions 


have  answered  to  the  appeal  as  with  the 
voice  of  one  man,  offering  soldiers  with- 
out number,  and  treasure  without  limita- 
tion for  the  service  of  the  Government. 
In  these  States,  fifteen  hundred  thousand 
freemen  cast  their  votes  in  favor  of  can- 
didates supporting  the  rights  of  the 
South,  at  the  last  Presidential  election, 
and  yet  everywhere,  alike  in  popular  as- 
semblies and  upon  the  tented  field,  this 
million  and  a  half  of  voters  are  found 
yielding  to  none  in  the  zeal  with  which 
they  rally  to  their  country's  flag.  They 
are  not  less  the  friends  of  the  South  than 
before  ;  but  they  realize  that  the  question 
now  presented  is  not  one  of  administra- 
tive policy,  nor  of  the  claims  of  the 
North,  the  South,  the  East  or  the  West, 
but  is  simply  whether  nineteen  millions 
of  people  shall  tamely  and  ignobly  per- 
mit five  or  six  millions  to  overthrow  and 
destroy  institutions  which  are  the  com- 
mon property,  and  have  been  the  com- 
mon blessings  and  glory  of  all.  The 
great  thoroughfares  of  the  North,  the 
East  and  the  West  are  luminous  with  the 
banners  and  glistening  with  the  bayonets 
of  citizen  soldiers  marching  to  the  Capi- 
tal, or  to  the  other  points  of  rendezvous  ; 
but  they  come  in  no  hostile  spirit  to  the 
South.  If  called  to  press  her  soil,  they 
will  not  ruffle  a  flower  of  her  gardens, 
nor  a  blade  of  grass  of  her  fields  in  un- 
kindness.  No  excesses  will  mark  the 
footsteps  of  the  armies  of  the  Republic  : 
no  institution  of  the  State  will  be  invad- 
ed or  tampered  with,  no  rights  of  per- 
sons or  of  property  will  be  violated.  The 
known  purposes  of  the  administration, 
and  the  high  character  of  the  troops  em- 
ployed, alike  guarantee  the  truthfulness 
of  this  statement.  When  an  insurrection 
was  apprehended  a  few  weeks  since  in 
Maryland,  the  Massachusetts  regiment  at 


APPEAL  TO   KENTUCKY. 


339 


once  offered  their  services  to  suppress  it. 
These  volunteers  have  been  denounced 
by  the  press  of  the  South  as  '  knaves 
and  vagrants/  '  the  dregs  and  offscour- 
ings of  the  populace,'  who  would  '  rather 
filch  a  handkerchief  than  fight  an  enemy 
in  manly  combat ;'  yet  we  know  here 
that  their  discipline  and  bearing  are 
most  admirable,  and  I  presume  it  may  be 
safely  affirmed  that  a  larger  amount  of 
social  position,  culture,  fortune  and  ele- 
vation of  character  has  never  been  found 
in  so  large  an  army  in  any  age  or  coun- 
try. If  they  go  to  the  South,  it  will  be 
as  friends  and  protectors,  to  relieve  the 
Union  sentiment  of  the  seceded  States 
from  the  cruel  domination  by  which  it  is 
oppressed  and  silenced,  to  unfurl  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  in  the  midst  of  those 
who  long  to  look  upon  them,  and  to  re- 
store the  flag  that  bears  them  to  the  forts 
and  arsenals  from  which  disloyal  hands 
have  torn  it.  Their  mission  will  be  one 
of  peace,  unless  wicked  and  blood-thirsty 
men  shall  unsheath  the  sword  across 
their  pathway." 

He,  too,  attributed  the  Rebellion  not  to 
any  burdens  the  South  had  to  endure, 
but  to  the  unhallowed  ambition  of  a  band 
of  lawless  conspirators.  "The  roots  of 
the  revolution,"  were  his  words,  "may 
be  traced  back  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  an  unholy  lust  for 
power  is  the  soil  out  of  which  it  sprang. 
A  prominent  member  of  the  band  of  agi- 
tators declared  in  one  of  his  speeches  at 
Charleston,  last  November  or  December, 
that  they  had  been  occupied  for  thirty 
years  in  the  work  of  severing  South 
Carolina  from  the  Union.  When  Gen- 
eral Jackson  crushed  Nullification,  he 
said  it  would  revive  again  under  the 
form  of  the  slavery  agitation :  and  we 
have  lived  to  see  his  prediction  veri- 


fied.* Indeed,  that  agitation,  during  the 
last  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  has  been  al- 
most the  entire  stock  in  trade  of  Southern 
politicians." 

His  special  appeal  to  Kentucky  to 
avoid  the  gulf  into  which  her  pretended 
friends  would  precipitate  her,  was  urged 
by  every  consideration  which  political 
wisdom,  rendered  more  acute  by  patri- 
otic motives,  could  suggest.  He  ex- 
hibited the  deeds  of  violence  and  rob- 
bery of  the  seceding  States,  advancing 
the  work  of  revolution  and  placing  an 
inseparable  barrier  between  themselves 
and  the  States  of  the  Union  which  were 
laboring  to  secure  to  them  the  guaran- 
tees of  which  they  professed  fears  that 
they  should  be  deprived.  "All  these 
lawless  proceedings,"  he  said,  "were 
well  understood  to  have  been  prompted 
and  directed  by  men  occupying  seats  in 
the  capitol,  some  of  whom  were  frank 
enough  to  declare  that  they  could  not 
and  would  not,  though  in  a  minority, 
live  under  a  government  which  they 
could  not  control.  In  this  declaration  is 
found  the  key  which  unlocks  the  whole 
of  the  complicated  machinery  of  this 
revolution.  The  profligate  ambition  of 
public  men  in  all  ages  and  lands  has 
been  the  rock  on  which  republics  have 
been  split.  Such  men  have  arisen  in 
our  midst — men  who,  because  unable 
permanently  to  grasp  the  helm  of  the 
ship,  are  willing  to  destroy  it  in  the 
hope  to  command  some  one  of  the  rafts 
that  may  float  away  from  the  wreck. 
The  effect  is  to  degrade  us  to  a  level 
with  the  military  bandits  of  Mexico  and 
South  America,  who,  when  beaten  at  an 
election,  fly  to  arms,  and  seek  to  master 
by  the  sword  what  they  have  been  un- 
able to  control  by  the  ballot-box. 


*  See  Ante,  p.  18. 


340 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


"  The  atrocious  acts  enumerated  were 
acts  of  war,  and  might  all  have  been 
treated  as  such  by  the  late  administra- 
tion ;  but  the  President  patriotically  cul- 
tivated peace — how  anxiously  and  how 
patiently  the  country  well  knows.  While, 
however,  the  revolutionary  leaders  greet- 
ed him  with  all  hails  to  his  face,  they  did 
not  the  less  diligently  continue  to  whet 
their  swords  behind  his  back.  Immense 
military  preparations  were  made,  so  that 
when  the  moment  for  striking  at  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  arrived, 
the  revolutionary  States  leaped  into  the 
contest  clad  in  full  armor. 

"Kentucky,"  he  continued,  exposing 
the  selfishness  of  the  Southern  arguments 
which  had  brought  ruin  upon  Virginia, 
"occupying  a  central  position  in  the 
Union,  is  now  protected  from  the  scourge 
of  a  foreign  war,  however  much  its  rav- 
ages may  waste  the  towns  and  cities 
upon  our  coasts,  or  the  commerce  upon 
our  seas  ;  but  as  a  member  of  the  South- 
ern Confederacy,  she  would  be  a  fron- 
tier State,  and  necessarily  the  victim  of 
those  border  feuds  and  conflicts  which 
have  become  proverbial  in  history  alike 
for  their  fierceness  and  frequency.  The 
people  of  the  South  now  sleep  quietly  in 
their  beds,  while  there  is  not  a  home  in 
infatuated  and  misguided  Virginia  that 
is  not  filled  with  the  alarms  and  op- 
pressed by  the  terrors  of  war.  In  the 
fate  of  the  ancient  commonwealth,  drag- 
ed  to  the  altar  of  sacrifice  by  those  who 
should  have  stood  between  her  bosom 
and  every  foe,  Kentucky  may  read  her 
own.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  she 
has  been  so  coaxingly  besought  to  unite 
her  fortunes  with  those  of  the  South,  and 
to  lay  down  the  bodies  of  her  chivalric 
sons  as  a  breastwork,  behind  which  the 
Southern  people  may  be  sheltered." 


Nor  were  his  remarks  less  noticeable 
in  the  inevitable  development  of  the  pe- 
culiar institution  which  had  brought  this 
fearful  trial  upon  the  country  : — "Ken- 
tucky, in  her  soul,  abhors  the  African 
slave-trade,  and  turns  away  with  un- 
speakable horror  and  loathing  from  the 
red  altars  of  King  Dahomey.  But  al- 
though this  traffic  has  been  temporarily 
interdicted  by  the  seceded  States,  it  is 
well  understood  that  this  step  has  been 
taken  as  a  mere  measure  of  policy  for  the 
purpose  of  impressing  the  border  States, 
and  of  conciliating  the  European  powers. 
The  ultimate  legalization  of  this  trade, 
by  a  republic  professing  to  be  based 
upon  African  servitude,  must  follow  as 
certainly  as  does  the  conclusion  from  the 
premises  of  a  mathematical  proposition. 
Is  Kentucky  prepared  to  see  the  hand 
upon  the  dial-plate,  of  her  civilization 
rudely  thrust  back  a  century,  and  to 
stand  before  the  world  the  confessed 
champion  of  the  African  slave-hunter? 
Is  she,  with  her  unsullied  fame,  ready  to 
become  a  pander  to  the  rapacity  of  the 
African  slave-trader,  who  burdens  the 
very  winds  of  the  sea  with  the  moans  of 
the  wretched  captives  whose  limbs  he 
has  loaded  with  chains,  and  whose  hearts 
he  has  broken  ?  I  do  not,  I  cannot,  be- 
lieve it." 

Nearly  two  months  later,  in  July,  the 
same  distinguished  orator  impressed  his 
views  still  more  emphatically  upon  the 
minds  of  his  fellow-citizens,  in  a  public 
Address  at  Louisville,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  of  the  many  eloquent  orations 
with  which  he  cheered,  informed  and 
strengthened  the  patriotic  convictions  of 
his  countrymen.  He  took  away  every 
prop  which  tended  to  countenance  the 
miserable  delusion  of  neutrality.  His 
lawyer's  argument  alone  fully  met  the 


THE   CHOICE  DISPLAYED. 


341 


case: — "Strictly  and  legally  speaking, 
Kentucky  must  go  out  of  the  Union  be- 
fore she  can  be  neutral.  Within  it  she 
is  necessarily  either  faithful  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  or  she  is 
disloj^al  to  it."  But  more  powerful  than 
any  cold,  legal  argument,  however  con- 
clusive, was  his  appeal  to  the  generous 
sensibilities  of  the  people. 

"  Within  the  last  few  weeks,"  said  he, 
"  how  many  of  those  gallant  volunteers 
who  have  left  home  and  kindred  and  all 
that  is  dear  to  them,  and  are  now  under 
a  Southern  sun,  exposing  themselves  to 
death  from  disease  and  to  death  from 
battle,  and  are  accounting  their  lives  as 
nothing  in  the  erfort  they  are  making  for 
the  deliverance  of  your  government  and 
theirs  ;  how  many  of  them  have  said  to 
me  in  sadness  and  in  longing,  '  Will  not 
Kentucky  help  me  ?'  How  my  soul 
would  have  leaped  could  I  have  an- 
swered promptly,  confidently,  exulting- 
ly,  '  Yes,  she  will.'  But  when  I  thought 
of  this  neutrality  my  heart  sank  within 
me,  and  I  did  not  and  I  could  not  look 
those  brave  men  in  the  face.  And  yet  I 
could  not  answer,  'No.'  I  could  not 
crush  myself  to  the  earth  under  the  self- 
abasement  of  such  a  reply.  I  therefore 
said — and  may  my  country  sustain  me — 
'I  hope,  I  trust,  I  pray,  nay,  I  believe 
Kentucky  will  yet  do  her  duty.'  If  this 
Government  is  to  be  destroyed,  ask 
yourselves,  are  you  willing  it  should  be 
recorded  in  history  that  Kentucky  stood 
by  in  the  greatness  of  her  strength  and 
lifted  not  a  hand  to  stay  the  catastrophe  ? 
If  it  is  to  be  saved,  as  I  verily  believe  it 
is,  are  you  willing  that  it  shall  be  written 
that,  in  the  immeasurable  glory  which 
must  attend  the  achievement,  Kentucky 
had  no  part  ?  I  will  only  add,  if  Ken- 
tucky wishes  the  waters  of  her  beautiful 


Ohio  to  be  dyed  in  blood — if  she  wishes 
her  harvest-fields,  now  waving  in  their 
abundance,  to  be  trampled  beneath  the 
feet  of  hostile  soldiery,  as  a  flower-gar- 
den is  trampled  beneath  the  threshings 
of  the  tempest — if  she  wishes  the  homes 
where  her  loved  ones  are  now  gathered 
in  peace,  invaded  by  the  prescriptive 
fury  of  a  military  despotism,  sparing 
neither  life  nor  property — if  she  wishes 
the  streets  of  her  towns  and  cities  grown 
with  grass,  and  the  steamboats  of  her 
rivers  to  lie  rotting  at  her  wharves,  then 
let  her  join  the  Southern  Confederacy; 
but  if  she  would  have  the  bright  waters 
of  that  river  flow  on  in  their  gladness— 
if  she  would  have  her  harvests  peacefully 
gathered  in  her  garners — if  she  would 
have  the  lullabies  of  her  cradles  and  the 
songs  of  her  homes  uninvaded  by  the 
cries  and  terrors  of  battle — if  she  would 
have  the  streets  of  her  towns  and  cities 
agairi  filled  with  the  hum  and  throngs  of 
busy  trade,  and  her  rivers  and  her  shores 
once  more  vocal  with  the  steamer's  whis- 
tle, the  anthem  of  a  free  and  prosperous 
commerce,  then  let  her  stand  fast  by  the 
Stars  and  Stripes,  and  do  her  duty  and 
her  whole  duty  as  a  member  of  this 
Union.  Let  her  brave  people  say  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  '  You  are 
our  Chief  Magistrate  ;  the  Government 
you  have  in  charge,  and  are  striving  to 
save  from  dishonor  and  dismemberment, 
is  our  Government ;  your  cause  is  indeed 
our  cause  ;  your  battles  are  our  battles  ; 
make  room  for  us,  therefore,  in  the  ranks 
of  your  armies,  that  your  triumph  may 
be  our  triumph  also.'  Even  as  with  the 
Father  of  us  all  I  would  plead  for  salva- 
tion, so  my  countrymen,  as  upon  my 
knees,  would  I  plead  with  you  for  the 
life,  aye  for  the  life,  of  our  great  and  be- 
neficent institutions.  But  if  the  traitor's 


342 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


knife,  now  at  the  throat  of  the  Republic, 
is  to  do  its  work,  and  this  Government  is 
fated  to  add  yet  another  to  that  long  line 
of  sepulchres  which  whiten  the  highway 
of  the  past,  then  my  heartfelt  prayer  to 


God  is,  that  it  may  be  written  in  history, 
that  the  blood  of  its  life  was  not  found 
upon  the  skirts  of  Kentucky."* 

*  Address  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  Holt  to  the  People  of 
Kentucky,  at  Louisville,  July  13,  1861. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


GENERAL     McCLELLAN     IN     WESTERN     VIRGINIA. 


ON  the  23d  of  June,  Major-General 
McClellan,  from  the  headquarters  of  his 
department  of  the  Ohio,  at  Grafton,  Vir- 
ginia, issued  a  second  proclamation  "To 
the  Inhabitants  of  Western  Virginia,"  in 
which  he  took  occasion  to  denounce 
various  barbarities  of  the  war  on  the 
part  of  the  rebels,  of  which  much  had 
been  heard  from  the  banks  of  the  Potom- 
ac. "The  army  of  this  department," 
said  he,  "headed  by  Virginia  trotfps,  is 
rapidly  occupying  all  Western  Virginia. 
This  is  done  in  cooperation  with,  and  in 
support  of  such  civil  authorities  of  the 
State  as  are  faithful  to  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States.  The  pro- 
clamation issued  by  me,  under  date  of 
May  26th,  1861,  will  be  strictly  main- 
tained. Your  houses,  families,  property 
and  all  your  rights  will  be  religiously 
respected.  We  are  enemies  to  none  but 
armed  rebels  and  those  voluntarily  giv- 
ing them  aid.  All  officers  of  this  army 
will  be  held  responsible  for  the  most 
prompt  and  vigorous  action  in  repressing 
disorder  and  punishing  aggression  by 
those  under  their  command.  To  my 
great  regret,  I  find  that  the  enemies  of  the 
United  States  continue  to  carry  on  a  sys- 
tem of  hostilities  prohibited  by  the  laws 
of  war  among  belligerent  nations,  and  of 
course  far  more  wicked  and  intolerable 


when  directed  against  loyal  citizens  en- 
gaged in  the  defence  of  the  common  Gov- 
ernment of  all.  Individuals  and  maraud- 
ing parties  are  pursuing  a  guerrilla  war- 
fare, firing  upon  sentinels  and  pickets, 
burning  bridges,  insulting  and  even  kill- 
ing citizens  because  of  their  Union  senti- 
ments, and  committing  many  kindred 
acts.  I  do  now,  therefore,  make  procla- 
mation, and  warn  all  persons  that  indi- 
viduals or  parties  engaged  in  this  species 
of  warfare,  irregular  in  every  view  that 
can  be  taken  of  it,  thus  attacking  sen- 
tries, pickets,  or  other  soldiers,  destroy- 
ing public  or  private  property,  or  com- 
mitting injuries  against  any  of  the  inhabit- 
ants because  of  Union  sentiments  or  con- 
duct, will  be  dealt  with  in  their  persons 
and  property  according  to  the  severest 
rules  of  military  law.  All  persons  giv- 
ing information  or  aid  to  the  public  ene- 
mies will  be  arrested  and  kept  in  close 
custody  ;  and  all  persons  found  bearing 
arms,  unless  of  known  loyalty,  will  be 
arrested  and  held  for  examination." 

In  a  further  address  "  To  the  Soldiers 
of  the  Army  of  the  West,"  he  reminded 
them  of  the  delicate  nature  of  the  ser- 
vice in  which  they  were  engaged,  and  of 
the  high  principles  of  courage  and  for- 
bearance which  should  govern  them  in 
their  mission  to  preserve  and  not  to  de- 


McCLELLAN'S  PROCLAMATION. 


343 


stioy.  "You  are  here,"  said  he,  "to 
support  the  Government  of  your  coun- 
try, and  to  protect  the  lives  and  liberties 
of  your  brethren,  threatened  by  a  rebel- 
lious and  traitorous  foe.  No  higher  or 
nobler  duty  could  devolve  on  you,  and  I 
expect  you  to  bring  to  its  performance 
the  highest  and  noblest  qualities  of  sol- 
diers' discipline,  courage  and  mercy.  I 
call  upon  the  officers  of  every  grade  to 
enforce  the  highest  discipline,  and  I  know 
that  those  of  all  grades,  privates  and  offi- 
cers, will  display  in  battle  cool,  heroic 
courage,  and  will  know  how  to  show 
mercy  to  a  disarmed  enemy.  Bear  in 
mind  that  you  are  in  the  country  of 
friends,  not  of  enemies  —  that  you  are 
here  to  protect,  not  to  destroy.  Take 
nothing,  destroy  nothing,  unless  you  are 
ordered  to  do  so  by  your  general  officers. 
Remember  that  I  have  pledged  my  word 
to  the  people  of  Western  Virginia  that 
their  rights  in  person  and  property  shall 
be  respected.  I  ask  every  one  of  you  to 
make  good  this  promise  in  its  broadest 
sense.  We  have  come  here  to  save,  not 
to  upturn.  I  do  not  appeal  to  the  fear 
of  punishment,  but  to  your  appreciation 
of  the  sacredness  of  the  cause  in  which 
we  are  engaged.  Carry  into  battle  the 
conviction  that  }rou  are  right  and  that 
God  is  on  our  side.  Your  enemies  have 
violated  every  moral  law  ;  neither  God 
nor  man  can  sustain  them.  They 
have,  without  cause,  rebelled  against  a 
mild  and  paternal  Government ;  they 
have  seized  upon  public  and  private 
property  ;  they  have  outraged  the  per- 
sons of  Northern  men,  merely  because 
they  came  from  the  North,  and  of  South- 
ern Union  men  merely  because  they 
loved  the  Union  ;  they  have  placed 
themselves  beneath  contempt  unless  they 
can  retrieve  some  honor  on  the  field  of 


battle.  You  will  pursue  a  different 
course  ;  you  will  be  honest,  brave  and 
merciful  ;  you  will  respect  the  right  of 
private  opinion  ;  you  will  punish  no  man 
for  opinion's  sake.  Show  to  the  world 
that  you  differ  from  our  enemies  in  these 
points  of  honor,  honesty  and  respect  for 
private  opinion,  and  that  we  inaugurate 
no  reign  of  terror  wherever  we  go.  Sol- 
diers, I  have  heard  that  there  was  dan- 
ger here.  I  have  come  to  place  myself 
at  your  head  and  share  it  with  you.  I 
fear  now  but  one  thing,  that  you  will  not 
find  foemen  worthy  of  your  steel.  I 
know  that  I  can  rely  upon  you." 

The  soldiers  to  whom  this  language 
was  addressed,  were  soon  to  have  an 
opportunity  to  practice  its  precepts  and 
test  its  predictions  in  face  of  the  enemy 
We  have  seen  the  insurgents  routed  at 
Philippi,  with  the  hope  that  Western 
Virginia  would  be  left  free  from  inva- 
sion. The  expectation,  however,  was 
premature,  while  the  force,  of  which  that 
of  Philippi  was  but  a  detachment,  was 
gathering  in  the  central  region  above. 
The  headquarters  of  this  division  of  the 
Confederate  army  were  in  Randolph 
county,  at  Beverly,  a  town  situated  at 
the  entrance  of  a  valley,  bounded  by 
two  parallel  outlying  ridges  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  through  which  a  road  ran  com- 
municating with  Eastern  Virginia  on  the 
North,  by  way  of  St.  George  and  West 
Union,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railway,  and  on  the 
southeast  by  the  nearer  Cheat  Mountain 
Pass,  leading  by  a  circuitous  route  to- 
ward Staunton.  From  the  west  and 
northwest,  where  McClellan's  Union 
troops  were  collected,  the  immediate  ap- 
proaches were  by  two  converging  roads 
from  Buekhdnnon  and  Philippi.  The 
Confederate  force  was  some  ten  or  twelve 


344 


WAR  FOE,  THE  UNION. 


thousand  in  number,  consisting  of'Vir- 
ginia  volunteers,  with  the  addition  of 
several  regiments  from  the  South,  includ- 
ing Mississippians  and  Georgians,  the 
whole  under  the  command  of  General 
Eobert  S.  Garnett,  a  native  of  Virginia, 
who  had  been  educated  at  West  Point, 
seen  honorable  service  in  Mexico,  and 
attained  the  rank  of  Major  in  the  United 
States  army.  On  the  breaking  out  of 
the  rebellion  he  had  abandoned  the  na- 
tional service  and  accepted  his  present 
position  with  the  Confederates.  His 
camp,  embracing  a  force  of  from  five  to 
six  thousand  men,  was  established  at 
Laurel  Hill  or  mountain,  on  its  north- 
western declivity.  It  was  about  fifteen 
miles  north  of  Beverly  and  the  same  dis- 
tance from  Philippi,  where  three  or  four 
thousand  of  the  Union  troops  were  still 
kept  in  advance,  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Benhara.  In  the  immediate 
vicinity,  on  the  west,  Beverly  was  pro- 
tected by  the  line  of  the  Rich  Mountain, 
the  road  from  Buckhannon  passing  in  a 
hollow  between  two  of  its  elevations. 
This  defile  was  held  by  Colonel  Pegram, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  late  of  the  United 
States  service,  with  a  force  of  about 
2,000  insurgents,  who  were  strongly  in- 
trenched on  both  sides  of  the  road.  To 
defeat  and  capture  the  enemy  in  these 
strongholds,  General  McClellan  sent  for- 
ward a  column  of  nearly  4,000  men, 
under  General  Morris,  from  Philippi  to 
Bealington,  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the 
enemy  to  the  northward  at  Laurel  Hill, 
while  he  himself  advanced  from  Clarks- 
burg, by  way  of  Buckhannon,  from  the 
west,  to  attack  the  enemy's  left  at  Rich 
Mountain,  and  take  General  Garnett  in 
the  rear,  between  Beverly  and  Laurel 
Mountain.  The  command  of  General 
McClellan  numbered  about  10,000.  On 


his  arrival  at  Buckhannon.  on  the  1st  of 
July,  some  skirmishing  ensued  by  com- 
mands sent  to  break  up  parties  of  insur- 
gents in  the  vicinity.  From  the  8th  to 
the  12th,  there  were  frequent  encounters, 
with  a  loss  of  several  killed  each  day  on 
either  side,  between  a  portion  of  the 
Ohio  and  Indiana  regiments  of  Morris' 
command,  assisted  by  Colonel  Barrett's 
Ohio  battery,  stationed  at  Bealington, 
and  the  Georgian  regiment  with  Garnett 
at  Laurel  Hill,  in  which  the  advantage 
was  with  the  former.  On  the  llth  of 
July,  General  McClellan,  making  his 
way  toward  Beverly,  was  encamped 
with  his  forces  a  short  distance  to  the 
west  of  Rich  Mountain,  in  front  of  the 
rebel  intrenchments  on  the  road.  So 
well  was  the  enemy's  position  defended 
by  art  and  natural  advantages,  that  a 
simple  direct  attack  was  considered  im- 
practicable without  the  certainty  of  great 
loss.  To  lighten  the  risk  or  sacrifice,  it 
was  determined  by  General  McClellan 
that,  cooperating  with  the  assault  in 
front,  an  attack  should  be  made  by  a  cir- 
cuitous movement  around  and  over  the 
mountain.  This  was  entrusted  to  Col- 
onel William  Starke  Rosecrans,  a  young 
officer  formerly  of  the  regular  army,  who 
had  passed  from  West  Point  to  the  dis- 
charge of  the  most  important  services  en- 
trusted to  the  engineer  corps  in  the 
superintendence  of  the  construction  of 
public  works  and  fortifications,  and  who 
had  of  late  been  engaged  in  civil  life  in 
pursuits  to  which  he  was  drawn  by  his 
scientific  studies  and  accomplishments. 
The  rebellion  had  found  him  in  Cincin- 
nati, where  he  returned  to  the  service, 
at  first  with  the  appointment  of  Colonel 
of  Volunteers,  and  afterwards  of  Briga- 
dier -  General  of  the  army.  Colonel 
Rosecrans  was  now  placed  in  command 


fev- 


1 

s 


Ha 


BATTLE   OF  RICH   MOUNTAIN. 


345 


of  four  regiments  of  Volunteers — the  8th, 
10 tli  and  15th  Indiana,  and  the  19th 
Ohio  and  a  company  of  Cincinnati  cav- 
alry, with  instructions  to  make  his  way 
over  the  hills  in  a  southeasterly  direc- 
tion, turning  the  enemy's  camp  and  at- 
tacking it  from  the  road  in  the  rear,  while 
General  McClellan  should,  on  learning 
of  his  success,  assail  it  from  the  other 
side  in  front.  Accompanied  by  Colonel 
Lander,  General  Rosecrans  started  at 
daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  llth, 
forcing  his  way  for  eight  miles  over  the 
rocks  and  through  the  pathless  woods, 
i  which  were  wet  with  rain,  till  they  came 
at  noon  upon  a  detachment  of  the  enemy, 
occupying  an  open  space  above  the  iii- 
trenchmunts,  at  a  farm-house  on  the  moun- 
tain. It  is  said  the  latter  were  apprised 
of  the  movements  against  them  by  the 
capture  of  a  courier  sent  from  the  Union 
headquarters,  who  had  by  mistake  ap- 
proached the  camp  on  the  road. 

An  account  of  the  sharp  skirmishing 
which  ensued,  given  by  Mr.  David  L. 
Hart,  the  guide  to  the  Union  forces,  is, 
perhaps,  as  characteristic  a  report  of  the 
affair  as  we  are  likely  to  receive.  "The 
enemy  intrenched  themselves,"  says  he, 
"  with  earthworks  on  my  father's  farm, 
just  where  we  were  to  come  into  the 
road.  We  did  not  know  they  were  there 
until  we  came  on  their  pickets  and  their 
cannon  opened  fire  upon  us.  We  were 
then  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
-  house,  and  skirmishing  began.  I  left  the 
advance  and  went  into  the  main  body 
of  the  army.  I  had  no  arms  of  any 
kind.  The  rain  began  pouring  down  in 
torrents  while  the  enemy  fired  his  can- 
non, cutting  off  the  tree-tops  over  our 
heads  quite  lively.  They  fired  rapidly. 
I  thought  from  .the  firing  they  had  twen- 
ty-five or  thirty  pieces.  We  had  no 

I , . — 


cannon  with  us.  Our  boys  stood  still  in 
the  rain  about  half  an  hour.  The  8th 
and  10th  then  led  off,  bearing  to  the  left 
of  our  position.  The  bushes  were  so 
thick  we  could  not  see  out,  nor  could  the 
enemy  see  us.  The  enemy's  musket- 
balls  could  not  reach  us.  Our  boys, 
keeping  up  a  fire,  got  down  within  sight 
and  then  pretended  to  run,  but  thejr  only 
fell  down  in  the  bushes  and  behind 
rocks.  This  drew  the  enemy  from  their 
intrenchments,  when  our  boys  let  into 
them  with  their  Enfield  and  Minie  rifles, 
and  I  never  heard  such  screaming  in  my 
life.  The  19th  (Ohio)  in  the  meantime 
advanced  to  a  fence,  in  a  line  with  the 
breastworks,  and  fired  one  round.  They 
then  gave  the  Indiana  boys  a  tremendous 
cheer,  and  the  enemy  broke  from  their 
intrenchments,  in  every  way  they  could. 
The  Indiana  boys  had  previously  been 
ordered  to  '  fix  bayonets.'  We  could 
hear  the  rattle  of  the  iron  very  plainly 
as  the  order  was  obeyed.  '  Charge  bay- 
onets'  was  then  ordered,  and  away  went 
our  boys  after  the  enemy.  One  man 
alone  stood  his  ground  and  fired  a  can- 
non until  shot  by  a  revolver.  A  general 
race  for  about  three  hundred  yards  fol- 
lowed through  the  bush,  when  our  men 
were  recalled  and  re-formed  in  line  of 
battle,  to  receive  the  enemy  from  the 
intrenchments  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain, as  we  supposed  they  would  certainly 
attack  us  from  that  point ;  but  it  seems 
that  as  soon  as  they  no  longer  heard  the 
firing  of  the  cannon  they  gave  up  all  for 
lost."  While  all  this  was  being  accom- 
plished by  Colonel  Rosecrans  and  his 
gallant  force,  which  was  greatly  aided 
by  the  presence  of  Colonel  F.  W.  Lander, 
General  McClellan,  unacquainted  with 
the  advantage  which  had  been  gained, 
was  making  active  preparations  for  the 


346 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


attack  from  his  side.  A  road  was  cut 
through  the  woods  "  by  splendid  axemen 
from  the  4th  Ohio  regiment,"  along 
which  artillery  was  to  be  transported  to 
a  position  commanding  the  rebel  camp. 
The  road  was  held  by  the  4th  and  9th 
Ohio,  and  all  was  ready  for  mounting  the 
guns  the  next  morning  ;  but  the  retreat 
of  the  enemy  in  the  night  saved  the 
trouble  of  the  movement.  At  nine  o'clock 
on  the  12th,  General  McClellan  telegraph- 
ed to  Colonel  Townsend,  the  assist- 
ant Adjutant-General  at  Washington  : 
"  We  are  in  possession  of  all  the  enemy's 
works  up  to  a  point  on  the  right  of  Bev- 
erty.  I  have  taken  all  his  guns,  a  very 
large  amount  of  wagons,  tents,  etc. — 
everything  he  had  —  a  large  number  of 
prisoners,  many  of  whom  were  wounded, 
and  several  officers  prisoners.  They  lost 
many  killed.  We  have  lost,  in  all,  per- 
haps twenty  killed  and  fifty  wounded,  of 
whom  all  but  two  or  three  were  in  the 
column  under  Rosecrans,  which  turned 
the  position.  The  mass  of  the  enemy 
escaped  through  the  woods,  entirely  dis- 
organized. Among  the  prisoners  is  Dr. 
Ta}rlor,  formerly  of  the  army.  Colonel 
Pegratn  was  in  command.  Colonel  Rose- 
crans' column  left  camp  yesterday  morn- 
ing and  marched  some  eight  miles 
through  the  mountains,  reaching  the 
turnpike  some  two  or  three  miles  in  rear 
of  the  enemy,  defeating  an  advanced 
post  and  taking  a  couple  of  guns.  I  had 
a  position  ready  for  twelve  guns  near  the 
main  camp,  and  as  the  guns  were  moving 
up,  I  ascertained  that  the  enemy  had 
retreated.  I  am  now  pushing  on  to  Bev- 
erly, a  part  of  Colonel  Rosecrans'  troops 
being  now  within  three  miles  of  it.  Our 
success  is  complete  and  almost  bloodless. 
I  doubt  whether  Wise  and  Johnson  will 
unite  and  overpower  me.  The  behav- 


ior of  the  troops  in  the  action  and  toward 
the  prisoners  was  admirable." 

This  is  the  official  language  of  the 
General  relating  his  honorably  won  tri- 
umphs— we  may  even  say  the  humane 
result  of  his  admirable  strategy  in  saving 
the  wholesale  slaughter  else  inevitable. 
But  let  us  lift  the  curtain  a  moment  and 
learn  what  the  mercy  of  war  is.  The 
narrator,  a  correspondent  at  the  camp, 
is  describing  the  scene  at  Rich  Mountain 
after  the  battle: — "Our  own  and  the 
rebel  wounded  lay  strewn  together  in 
blankets  on  the  floor  of  Hart's  house. 
Every  available  space  was  covered  with 
their  convulsive  and  quivering  bodies. 
Down  under  the  porch  there  was  another 
line  of  wounded.  There  was  no  differ- 
ence in  the  treatment  of  the  sufferers. 
The  severely  wounded  of  the  eneni}- 
were  attended  to  before  the  slightly 
wounded  of  our  own  army.  Most  of 
them  suffered  in  silence,  a  few  slept 
soundly,  but  some  moaned  with  intense 
agony.  One  poor  fellow,  an  Indiana 
man,  shot  through  the  head,  who  could 
even  yet  stand  on  his  feet  with  assist- 
ance, suffered  great  agony.  Now  and 
then  a  rebel  would  stare  sullenly  at  our 
people,  but  the  majority  appeared  grate- 
fully surprised  at  the  kindness  with  which 
they  were  treated.  Indeed,  everything 
possible  was  done  to  mitigate  their  suffer- 
ings. When  General  McClellan  rode 
up  to  the  battle-field  he  visited  the  hos- 
pital, and  spoke  cheerfully  to  the  suffer- 
ers, making  many  kind  inquiries.  When 
he  came  out  at  the  door,  a  rough  soldier 
exclaimed  to  a  comrade,  "Why,  the 
General  is  crying.'  It  had  never  occur- 
red to  him  that  it  was  a  scene  to  draw 
tears  from  a  soldier.  As  brilliantly  as 
General  Rosecrans  shone  -in  the  field,  his 
!  lustre  in  the  hospital  had  a  brighter 


BATTLE  AT  CORRACK'S  FORD. 


349 


six  companies  of  Dumont's  regiment  were 
ordered  to  cross  the  river  about  three 
hundred  yards  above  them,  to  pass  up 
the  hill  obliquely  from  our  right  to  their 
left,  and  take  them  in  the  rear.  By 
some  mistake,  (possibly  in  the  transmis- 
sion of  the  order,)  this  command  crossed 
at  about  double  this  distance,  and  turned 
at  first  to  their  right,  which  delayed  the 
effect  of  this  movement.  After  fifteen 
minutes,  however,  this  error  was  recti- 
fied, and  the  hill  being  reported  as  im- 
practicable, this  command,  now  increased 
to  the  whole  regiment,  was  ordered  down 
to  the  ford  under  close  cover  of  the  hill 
on  their  side,  and  then  to  take  them  di- 
rectly in  front  and  right  at  the  road. 
The  firing  of  Steedman's  regiment  and 
of  Milroy's,  now  well  up  and  in  action, 
with  repeated  and  rapid  discharges  of 
the  artillery  during  the  movement,  de- 
cided the  action  at  once.  As  Dumont 
reached  the  road,  having  passed  along 
and  under  their  whole  front,  the  firing 

7  O 

ceased  and  the  enemy  fled  in  great  con- 
fusion, Dumont's  regiment  pursuing  them 
about  one  mile  further,  having  a  brisk 
skirmishing  with  their  rear  for  the  first 
half  of  that  distance,  during  which  Gen- 
eral Garnett  was  killed; 

"  The  enemy  would  still  have  been 
followed  up  most  closely,  and  probably 
to  the  capture  of  a  large  portion  of  their 
scattered  army,  but  this  was  absolutely 
impossible  with  our  fatigued  and  ex- 
hausted troops,  who  had  already  march- 
ed some  eighteen  miles  or  more,  in  an 
almost  incessant  and  violent  rain,  and 
the  greater  part  of  them  without  food 
since  the  evening,  and  a  portion  of  them 
even  from  the  noon  of  yesterday,  so 
warm  had  been  the  pursuit  on  their 
hasty  retreat  fiom  Laurel  Mountain, 
twenty-seven  miles  distant.  The  troops 


were,  therefore,  halted  for  food  and  rest 
at  about  two  o'clock  p.  M. 

"  The  result  proves  to  be,  the  capture 
of  about  forty  loaded  wagons  and  teams, 
being  nearly  all  their  baggage  train,  as 
we  learn,  and  including  a  large  portion 
of  new  clothing,  camp  equipage,  and 
other  stores  ;  their  headquarter  papers, 
and  military  chest ;  also  two  stands  of 
colors ;  also  a  third  flag,  since  taken, 
and  one  fine  rifled  piece  of  artillery  ; 
while  the  commanding  General,  Robert 
S.  Garnett,  is  killed — his  bod}T  being  now 
cared  for  by  us — and  fifteen  or  twenty 
more  of  the  enemy  are  killed,  and  nearly 
fifty  prisoners.  Our  own  loss  is  two 
killed  and  six  wounded,  one  dangerously. 
In  concluding  this  report,  I  feel  it  my 
duty  to  state  that,  just  as  the  action  was 
closing,  the  head  regiment  of  the  body 
of  troops  under  yourself,  though  starting, 
as  I  learn,  some  three  hours  later,  the 
6th  Indiana,  under  Colonel  Crittenden, 
came  up  to  the  field  in  excellent  order, 
but  unfortunately  too  late  to  aid  us  in 
the  battle.  The  conduct  of  those  gallant 
officers,  Colonels  Barnett,  Steedman,  Du- 
mont, and  Milroy,  with  the  steady  perse- 
verance of  their  officers,  in  their  long  and 
arduous  march,  suffering  from  hunger, 
rain,  and  cold,  with  their  gallantry  in 
action,  was  most  heroic  and  beyond  all 
praise  of  mine.  Their  country  only  can 
appreciate  and  reward  their  services." 

Such  was  the  battle  of  Corrack's  Ford, 
as  the  passage  of  the  stream  was  called 
from  the  name  of  the  farmer  occupying 
the  place.  General  Garnett  fell,  killed 
on  the  instant  by  a  musket  shot,  with  no 
one  near  him  at  the  moment,  it  is  said, 
but  a  youth  of  apparently  humble  sta- 
tion in  life,  wearing  the  uniform  and  but- 
ton of  the  Georgia  troops,  who  died  by 
his  side.  The  remains  of  General  Gar- 


350 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


nett  were  forwarded  to  Grafton  and  ten- 
derly cared  for  till  they  could  be  received 
by  his  friends,  while  the  sword  and  watch 
which  he  wore  at  his  death  and  other  per- 
sonal effects  were  carefully  preserved  and 
sent  to  his  family  by  Captain  Benham. 
The  boy  who  fell  by  General  Garnett's 
side  was  buried  by  the  loyal  Virginians, 
and  the  inscription  placed  at  his  head, 
11  Name  unknown.  A  brave  fellow  who 
shared  his  General's  fate,  and  fell  fight- 
ing b}^  his  side,  while  his  companions 
fled."* 

The  credit  of  this  pursuit  was  mainly 
due  to  Captain  Benham,  who  pushed  on 
in  spite  of  orders  from  General  Morris 
for  his  recall.  The  latter  had  no  dispo- 
sition to  let  the  foe  escape,  but  he  was 
not  unnaturally  influenced  by  a  desire 
to  spare  the  men,  numbers  of  whom  he 
met  with  fallen  and  exhausted  in  the 
rear,  the  perils  of  further  suffering. 
Fifty-five  loaded  wagons,  among  other 
spoils,  valued  in  all  at  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  fell  to  the  victors  as  the  re- 
sults of  the  pursuit.  Among  the  trophies 
were  two  flags  of  Georgia  regiments,  and 
the  standard  of  Colonel  Taliaferro's  Vir- 
ginia regiment.  One  of  the  former,  above 
the  arms  of  Georgia,  bore  the  inscription 
"  Cotton  is  King." 

Colonel  Pegram  meanwhile,  on  the 
morning  of  the  eventful  12th,  had  con- 
ducted his  men,  on  their  retreat,  a  few 
miles  north  of  Beverly,  near  the  Tygart's 
Valley  River,  when  he  felt  it  incumbent, 
in  consequence  of  the  retreat  of  General 
Garnett  and  "  the  jaded  and  reduced 
condition  "  of  his  command,  to  surrender 
the  entire  force  "  prisoners  of  war  "  to 
General  McClellan.  The  surrender  was 
accepted,  with  the  understanding,  how- 
ever, that  while  all  were  received  with 


*  Cincinnati  Gazette. 


the  kindness  due  to  prisoners  of  war,  it 
was  not  in  the  power  of  the  commanding 
officer  to  relieve  them  from  any  liabilities 
they  had  incurred.  They  were  soon  re- 
leased, however,  on  oath  not  to  take  up 
arms  against  the  United  States. 

A  week  later  General  McClellan  sum- 
med up  the  results  of  the  campaign  in  a 
glowing  Proclamation  to  his  troops  : — 
"  Soldiers  of  the  Army  of  the  West — I 
am  more  than  satisfied  with  you.  You 
have  annihilated  two  armies,  commanded 
by  educated  and  experienced  soldiers, 
intrenched  in  mountain  fastnesses  and 
fortified  at  their  leisure.  You  have 
taken  five  guns,  twelve  colors,  fifteen 
hundred  stand  of  arms,  one  thousand 
prisoners,  including  more  than  forty  of- 
ficers. One  of  the  two  commanders  of 
the  rebels  is  a  prisoner,  the  other  lost 
his  life  on  the  field  of  battle.  You  have 
killed  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
of  the  enemy,  who  has  lost  all  his  bag- 
gage and  camp  equipage.  All  this  has 
been  accomplished  with  the  loss  of  twenty 
brave  men  killed  and  sixty  wounded  on 
your  part.  You  have  proved  that  Union 
men  fighting  for  the  preservation  of  our 
Government  are  more  than  a  match  for 
our  misguided  and  erring  brothers.  More 
than  this,  you  have  shown  mercy  to  the 
vanquished.  You  have  made  long  and 
arduous  marches,  with  insufficient  food, 
frequently  exposed  to  the  inclemency  of 
the  weather.  I  have  not  hesitated  to 
demand  this  of  you,  feeling  that  I  could 
rely  on*  your  endurance,  patriotism  and 
courage.  In  the  future  I  may  have  still 
greater  demands  to  make  upon  you — 
still  greater  sacrifices  for  you  to  offer. 
It  shall  be  my  care  to  provide  for  you 
to  the  extent  of  my  ability  ;  but  I  know 
now  that  by  your  valor  and  endurance 
you  will  accomplish  all  that  is  asked. 


EXTRA  SESSION    OF   CONGRESS. 


351 


Soldiers,  I  have  confidence  in  you,  and 
I  trust  you  have  learned  to  confide  in 
me.  Remember  that  discipline  and  sub- 
ordination are  qualities  of  equal  value 
with  courage.  I  am  proud  to  say  that 
you  have  gained  the  highest  reward  that 
American  troops  can  receive — the  thanks 
of  Congress  and  the  applause  of  your  fel- 
low-citizens." 

A  few  days  after,  General  McClellan 
was  called  to  Washington  to  succeed 
General  McDowell  on  the  Potomac,  and 
die  command  of  the  Department  of  the 


Ohio  and  the  army  of  occupation  in 
Western  Virginia  was  assigned  to  Brig- 
adier-General Rosecrans.  By  his  gen- 
eral orders  of  the  25th  of  July  his  en- 
tire force  was  divided  ijito  four  brigades. 
One  of  these  was  entrusted  to  Colonel 
Robert  L.  McCook  of  the  9th  Ohio  regi- 
ment, a  resolute  officer  who  will  be  found 
hereafter  actively  engaged  in  some  of 
the  most  perilous  encounters  of  the 
war.  The  brigade  of  the  Kanawha  re- 
mained under  the  command  of  General 
Cox. 


CHAPTER    XXI Y. 


MEETING    OF    THE    NATIONAL    CONGRESS    IN    JULY. 


IN  accordance  with  the  Proclamation 
by  President  Lincoln  of  the  15th  April, 
the  37th  National  Congress  met  in  special 
session  at  Washington  on  the  4th  of  July. 
Members  from  twenty-three  out  of  the 
thirty-four  States  took  their  seats  in  the 
Senate.  Kansas  was  not  as  yet  repre- 
sented, but  the  number  of  the  loyal 
States  was  made  good  on  the  floor  by 
the  presence  of  that  resolute  defender 
of  the  Union,  Senator  Johnson  from 
Tennessee.  In  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives a  quorum  was  also  present.  In  the 
first  ballot  for  Speaker  the  republican 
vote  was  divided  between  Galusha  A. 
Grow  of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  been 
second  on  the  list  of  candidates  for  the 
same  office  in  the  previous  Congress,  and 
Francis  P.  Blair  of  Missouri.  Out  of  the 
159  votes  cast,  Mr.  Grow  received  71  ; 
Mr.  Blair  40,  12  of  the  remainder  being 
given  to  Mr.  Crittenden.  The  largest 
vote  falling  short  of  a  majority,  Mr. 
Blair  withdrew  in  favo~  of  Mr.  Grow, 


when  the  latter  on  a  second  ballot  was 
elected  by  99  votes. 

Mr.  Grow's  address  on  taking  his  seat 
as  Speaker,  proved  characteristic  of  the 
temper  of  the  House.  Appropriately 
referring  to  the  foundation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment in  the  Act  of  Independence 
which  had  given  the  day  on  which  the 
present  Congress  had  met  its  peculiar 
significance,  he  proceeded  in  a  few  words 
to  depict  the  extraordinary  position  in 
which  the  country  was  now  placed.  "A 
rebellion,"  said  he,  "the  most  causeless 
in  the  history  of  the  race,  has  developed 
a  conspiracy  of  long-standing  to  destroy 
the  Constitution  formed  by  the  wisdom 
of  our  fathers,  and  the  Union  cemented 
by  their  blood.  This  conspiracy,  nur- 
tured for  long  years  in  secret  councils, 
first  develops  itself  openly  in  acts  of 
spoliation  and  plunder  of  public  proper- 
ty, with  the  connivance  or  under  the 
protection  of  treason  enthroned  in  all  the 
high  places  of  the  Government,  and  at 


352 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


last  in  armed  rebellion  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  best  Government  ever  devised  by 
man.  Without  an  effort  in  the  mode 
prescribed  by  the  organic  law  for  a  re- 
dress of  all  grievances,  the  malcontents 
appeal  only  to  the  arbitrament  of  the 
sword,  insult  the  nation's  honor,  trample 
upon  its  flag,  and  inaugurate  a  revolution 
which,  if  successful,  would  end  in  estab- 
lishing petty,  jarring  confederacies,  or 
despotism  and  anarchy,  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  republic,  and  the  destruction  of  its 
liberties."  Of  the  prompt  response  of 
the  people  of  the  country  to  the  call  of 
the  Executive,  and  of  the  nature  of  the 
struggle  upon  which  they  were  entering, 
he  said,  "  The  19th  of  April,  canonized 
in  the  first  struggle  for  American  nation- 
ality, has  been  reconsecrated  in  martyr 
blood.  Warren  has  his  counterpart  in 
Ellsworth,  and  the  heroic  deeds  and  pa- 
triotic sacrifices  of  the  struggle  for  the 
establishment  of  the  republic  are  being 
reproduced  upon  the  battle-fields  for  its 
maintenance.  Every  race  and  tongue 
almost  is  represented  in  the  grand  legion 
of  the  Union  :  their  standards  proclaim 
in  language  more  impressive  than  words, 
that  here  indeed  is  the  home  of  the  emi- 
grant and  the  asylum  of  the  exile.  No 
matter  where  was  his  birth-place,  or  in 
what  clime  his  infancy  was  cradled,  he 
devotes  his  life  to  the  defence  of  his 
adopted  land,  the  vindication  of  its  hon- 
or, and  the  protection  of  its  flag,  with 
the  same  zeal  with  which  he  would  guard 
his  hearthstone  or  his  fireside.  All  par- 
ties, sects,  and  conditions  of  men  not  cor- 
rupted by  the  institutions  of  human  bond- 
age, forgetting  bygone  rancors  or  preju- 
dices, blend  in  one  united  phalanx  for 
the  integrity  of  the  Union  and  the  per- 
petuity of  the  republic.  Long  years  of 
peace,  in  the  pursuit  of  sordid  gain,  in- 


stead of  blunting  the  patriotic  devotion 
of  loyal  citizens,  seem  but  to  have  inten- 
sified its  development  when  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Government  is  threatened 
and  its  honor  assailed.  The  merchant, 
the  banker,  and  the  tradesman,  with  an 
alacrity  unparalleled,  proffer  their  all  at 
the  altar  of  their  country,  while  from  the 
counter,  the  workshop,  and  the  plow, 
brave  hearts  and  stout  arms,  leaving 
their  tasks  unfinished,  rush  to  the  tented 
field.  The  air  vibrates  with  martial 
strains,  and  the  earth  shakes  with  the 
tread  of  armed  men.  In  view  of  this 
grandest  demonstration  for  self-preser- 
vation in  the  history  of  nationalities,  de- 
sponding patriotism  may  be  assured  that 
the  foundations  of  our  national  greatness 
still  stand  strong,  and  that  the  sentiment 
which  to-day  beats  responsive  in  every 
loyal  heart  will  for  the  future  be  realized. 
No  flag  alien  to  the  sources  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  will  ever  float  permanently 
over  its  mouths  till  its  waters  are  crim- 
soned in  human  gore  ;  and  not  one  foot 
of  American  soil  can  ever  be  wrenched 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  until  it  is  baptized 
in  fire  and  blood." 

On  the  5th,  President  Lincoln  having 
been,  according  to  custom,  informed  of 
the  organization  of  Congress,  transmitted 
the  usual  Message.  Like  his  previous 
inaugural,  it  was  marked  by  individual 
traits  of  style,  and  an  equal  candor  and 
earnestness.  It  began  with  a  brief  re- 
capitulation of  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  had  entered  upon  the  Presi- 
dency. At  the  beginning  of  his  term, 
four  months  before,  the  functions  of  the 
Federal  Government,  excepting  the 
Post-Office  Department,  were  generally 
suspended  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana  and 


THE   PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. 


358 


Florida.  All  the  forts,  arsenals,  dock- 
yards, custom-houses  and  the  like,  with 
the  property  belonging  to  them,  were 
then  seized  and  held  in  open  hostility  to 
the  Government,  excepting  only  Forts 
Pickens,  Taylor  and  Jefferson  on  and 
near  the  Florida  coast,  and  Fort  Sumter 
in  Charleston  harbor.  The  forts  which 
had  been  seized  were  filled  with  hostile 
garrisons  ;  others,  in  or  near  the  disaf- 
fected States,  were  menaced  ;  new  ones 
were  built  and  armed  against  the  Gov- 
ernment. "  A  disproportionate  share  of 
the  Federal  muskets  and  rifles  had  some- 
how found  their  way  into  these  States, 
and  had  been  seized  to  be  used  against 
the  Government.  Accumulations  of  the 
public  revenue,  tying  within  them,  had 
been  seized  for  the  same  object.  The 
navy  was  scattered  in  distant  seas,  leav- 
ing but  a  very  small  part  of  it  within  the 
immediate  reach  of  the  Government. 
Officers  of  the  Federal  army  and  navy 
had  resigned  in  great  numbers  ;  and  of 
those  resigning,  a  large  proportion  had 
taken  up  arms  against  the  Government. 
Simultaneously,  and  in  connection  with 
all  this,  the  purpose  to  sever  the  Federal 
Union  was  openly  avowed.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  purpose,  an  ordinance  had 
been  adopted  in  each  of  these  States, 
declaring  the  States,  respectively,  to  be 
separated  from  the  National  Union.  A 
formula  for  instituting  a  combined  gov- 
ernment of  these  States  had  been  pro- 
mulgated ;  and  this  illegal  organization, 
in  the  character  of  Confederate  States, 
was  already  invoking  recognition,  aid 
and  intervention  from  foreign  Powers. 
Finding  this  condition  of  things,  and  be- 
lieving it  to  be  an  imperative  duty  upon 
the  incoming  Executive  to  prevent,  if 
possible,  the  consummation  of  such  at- 
tempt to  destroy  the  Federal  Union,  a 
45 


choice  of  means  to  that  end  became  in- 
dispensable. This  choice  was  made,  and 
was  declared  in  the  Inaugural  Address. 
The  policy  chosen  looked  to  the  exhaus- 
tion of  all  peaceful  measures,  before  a 
resort  to  any  stronger  ones.  It  sought 
only  to  hold  the  public  places  and  prop- 
erty not  already  wrested  from  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  and  to  collect  the  revenue  ; 
relying  for  the  rest  on  time,  discussion, 
and  the  ballot-box.  It  promised  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  mails,  at  Government 
expense,  to  the  very  people  who  were 
resisting  the  Government  ;  and  it  gave 
repeated  pledges  against  any  disturb- 
ance to  any  of  the  people,  or  any  of  their 
rights.  Of  all  that  which  a  President 
might  constitutionally  and  justifiably  do 
in  such  a  case,  everything  was  forborne, 
without  which  it  was  believed  possible 
to  keep  the  Government  on  foot." 

The  measures  taken  in  pursuance  of 
this  resolution — the  attempts  made  for 
the  relief  of  Sumter,  the  call,  under  the 
war  power,  for  defenders  of  the  Union, 
the  gathering  of  troops,  and  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus — have  already  passed  under  our 
notice,  with  the  President's  explanation 
or  justification  of  them  offered  on  this 
occasion.*  He  now  further  recommend- 
ed that  Congress  "give  the  legal  means 
for  making  this  contest  a  short  and  a 
decisive  one,  that  it  place  at  the  control 
of  the  Government  for  the  work,  at  least 
four  hundred  thousand  men  and  four 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.  "That 
number  of  men,"  he  urged,  "is  about 
one-tenth  of  those  of  proper  ages  within 
the  regions  where,  apparently,  all  are 
willing  to  engage  ;  and  the  sum  is  less 
than  a  twenty-third  part  of  the  money 
value  owned  by  the  men  who  seem  ready 


*  Ante,  p.  121-3;  243-4. 


354 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


to  devote  the  whole.  A  debt  of  six 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  now,  is  a  less 
sum  per  head  than  was  the  debt  of  our 
Revolution  when  we  came  out  of  that 
struggle  ;  and  the  money  value  in  the 
country  now  bears  even  a  greater  pro- 
portion to  what  it  was  then,  than  does 
the  population.  Surely  each  man  has  as 
strong  a  motive  now,  to  preserve  our 
liberties,  as  each  had  then  to  establish 
them.  A  right  result  at  this  time  will 
be  worth  more  to  the  world  than  ten 
times  the  men  and  ten  times  the  money. 
The  evidence  reaching  us  from  the  coun- 
try leaves  no  doubt  that  the  material  for 
the  work  is  abundant ;  and  that  it  needs 
only  the  hand  of  legislation  to  give  it 
legal  sanction,  an.l  the  hand  of  the  Exe- 
cutive to  give  it  practical  shape  and 
efficiency.  One  of  the  greatest  perplex- 
ities of  the  Government  is  to  avoid  re- 
ceiving troops  faster  than  it  can  provide 
for  them.  In  a  word,  the  people  will 
save  their  Government,  if  the  Govern- 
ment itself  will  do  its  part  only  indiffer- 
ently well." 

The  remainder  of  the  Message  was 
mainly  occupied  with  an  argument  on 
the  legality  of  the  ground  assumed  by 
the  Southern  States  in  their  revolt,  the 
President  apparently  being  anxious,  at 
the  expense  even  of  reviewing  a  matter 
on  which  the  public  was  already  con- 
vinced, to  state,  once  for  all,  clearly  and 
fully  the  principles  which  would  govern 
him  in  his  future  action  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Government.  He  would 
have  the  world  know  that,  not  as  a  dog- 
matist or  a  blind  follower  of  other's 
authority,  he  would  exercise  the  power 
intrusted  to  his  hands,  but  that  he  would 
bring  to  the  work  every  effort  of  his 
judgment  to  arrive  at  a  sound  conclu- 
sion. This  exercise  of  the  reasoning 


faculty,  a  trait  perhaps  derived  from  his 
legal  experience,  appears,  throughout,  a 
characteristic  of  the  President's  proceed- 
ings. He  was  often  afterward  called  to 
employ  it  in  the  midst  of  opposing  ap- 
peals of  prejudice,  interest  and  other 
motives  ;  and  though  his  decision  might 
be  fallible,  the  confidence  of  the  people 
that  it  was  laboriously  and  honestly 
formed,  was,  in  consequence,  freely  given 
to  sustain  him  in  many  trying  difficulties 
and  embarrassments  of  his  situation. 

"  It  would  seem,  at  first  thought," 
says  he,  in  this  argumentative  portion  of 
his  Message,  "to  be  of  little  difference 
whether  the  present  movement  at  the 
South  be  called  '  secession  'or  '  rebel- 
lion.' The  movers,  however,  well  un- 
derstood the  difference.  At  the  begin- 
ning, they  knew  they  could  never  raise 
their  treason  to  any  respectable  magni- 
tude by  any  name  which  implies  violation 
of  law.  They  knew  their  people  possess- 
ed as  much  of  moral  sense,  as  much  of 
devotion  to  law  and  order,  and  as  much 
pride  in,  and  reverence  for,  the  history 
and  government  of  their  common  coun- 
try as  any  other  civilized  and  patriotic 
people.  They  knew  they  could  make  no 
advancement  directly  in  the  teeth  of  these 
strong  and  noble  sentiments.  Accord- 
ingly they  commenced  by  an  insidious 
debauching  of  the  public  mind.  They 
invented  an  ingenious  sophism,  which,  if 
conceded,  was  followed  by  perfectly  logi- 
cal steps,  through  all  the  incidents  to  the 
complete  destruction  of  the  Union.  The 
sophism  itself  is,  that  any  State  of  the 
Union  may,  consistently  with  the  nation 
al  Constitution,  and  therefore  lawfully 
and  peaceably,  withdraw  from  the  Union, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Union  or  of 
any  other  State.  The  little  disguise 
that  the  supposed  right  is  to.be  exercised 


AN  ARGUMENT   BY  THE   PRESIDENT. 


355 


only  for  just  cause,  themselves  to  be 
the  sole  judge  of  its  justice,  is  too  thin  to 
merit  any  notice.  With  rebellion  thus 
sugar-coated,  they  have  been  drugging 
the  public  mind  of  their  section  for  more 
than  thirty  years  ;  and  until  at  length 
they  have  brought  many  good  men  to  a 
willingness  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
Government  the  day  after  some  assem- 
blage of  men  have  enacted  the  farcical 
pretence  of  taking  their  State  out  of  the 
Union,  who  could  have  been  brought  to 
no  such  thing  the  day  before. 

"This  sophism  derives  much,  perhaps 
the  whole,  of  its  currency  from  the 
assumption  that  there  is  some  omnipotent 
and  sacred  supremacy  pertaining  to  a 
State  —  to  each  State  of  our  Federal 
Union.  Our  States  have  neither  more 
nor  less  power  than  that  reserved  to 
them  in  the  Union  by  the  Constitution- 
no  one  of  them  ever  having  been  a  State 
out  of  the  Union.  The  original  ones 
passed  into  the  Union  before  they  cast 
off  their  British  colonial  dependence  ; 
and  the  new  ones  each  came  into  the 
Union  directly  from  a  condition  of  de- 
pendence, excepting  Texas.  And  even 
Texas,  in  its  temporary  independence, 
was  never  designated  a 'State.  The  new 
ones  only  took  the  designation  of  States 
on  coming  into  the  Union,  while  that 
name  was  first  adopted  for  the  old  ones, 
in  and  by  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. Therein  the  '  United  Colonies ' 
were  declared  to  be  '  free  and  independ- 
ent States  ;'  but,  even  then,  the  object 
plainly  was  not  to  declare  their  independ- 
ence of  one  another,  or  of  the  Union, 
but  directly  the  contrary,  as  their  mutual 
pledge  and  their  mutual  action  before,  at 
the  time,  and  afterwards,  abundantly 
show .  The  express  plighting  of  faith  by 
each  and  all  of  the  original  thirteen,  in 


the  Articles  of  Confederation,  two  years 
later,  that  the  Union  shall  be  perpetual, 
is  most  conclusive.  Having  never  been 
States,  neither  in  substance  nor  in  name, 
outside  of  the  Union,  whence  this  magi- 
cal omnipotence  of  'State  rights,'  as- 
serting a  claim  of  power  to  lawfully 
destroy  the  Union  itself?  Much  is  said 
about  the  '  sovereignty '  of  the  States  ; 
but  the  word,  even,  is  not  in  the  national 
Constitution  ;  nor,  as  is  believed,  in  any 
of  the  State  Constitutions.  What  is  a 
'  sovereignty,'  in  the  political  sense  of 
the  term  ?  Would  it  be  far  wrong  to 
define  it,  '  A  political  community  without 
a  political  superior?7  Tested  by  this, 
no  one  of  our  States,  except  Texas,  ever 
was  a  sovereignty.  And  even  Texas 
gave  up  the  character  on  coming  intc 
the  Union  ;  by  which  act,  she  acknowl- 
edged the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  laws  and  treaties  of  the 
United  States  made  in  pursuance  of  the 
Constitution,  to  be,  for  her,  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land.  The  States  .have  their 
status  IN  the  Union,  and  they  have  no 
other  legal  status.  If  they  break  from 
this,  they  can  only  do  so  against  law,  and 
by  revolution.  The  Union,  and  not  them- 
selves separately",  procured  their  inde- 
pendence and  their  liberty.  By  con- 
quest, or  purchase,  the  Union  gave  each 
of  them  whatever  of  independence  and 
liberty  it  has.  The  Union  is  older  than 
any  of  the  States,  and,  in  fact,  it  created 
them  as  States.  Originally  some  depend- 
ent colonies  made  the  Union,  and,  in 
turn,  the  Union  threw  off  their  old  de- 
pendence for  them,  and  made  them  States 
such  as  they  are.  Not  one  of  them  evei 
had  a  State  Constitution  independent  of 
the  Union.  Of  course  it  is  not  forgotten 
that  all  the  new  States  framed  their  con- 
stitutions before  they  entered  the  Union  ; 


356 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


nevertheless,  dependent  upon,  and  pre- 
paratory to,  coming  into  the  Union. 

"  Unquestionably  the  States  have  the 
powers  and  rights  reserved  to  them  in 
and  by  the  national  Constitution  ;  but 
among  these  surely  are  not  included  all 
conceivable  powers,  however  mischiev- 
ous or  destructive  ;  but,  at  most,  such 
only  as  were  known  in  the  world,  at  the 
time,  as  governmental  powers  ;  and  cer- 
tainly a  power  to  destroy  the  govern- 
ment itself  had  never  been  known  as  a 
governmental — as  a  merely  administra- 
tive power.  This  relative  matter  of  na- 
tional power  and  State  rights,  as  a  prin- 
ciple, is  no  other  than  the  principle  of 
generality  and  locality.  Whatever  con- 
cerns the  whole  should  be  confided  to 
the  whole — to  the  general  Government ; 
while  whatever  concerns  only  the  State 
should  be  left  exclusively  to  the  State. 
This  is  all  there  is  of  original  principle 
about  it.  Whether  the  national  Consti- 
tution, in  defining  boundaries  between 
the  two,  ljas  applied  the  principle  with 
exact  accuracy,  is  not  to  be  questioned. 
We  are  all  bound  to  that  defining,  with- 
out question.  What  is  now  cornbatted, 
is  the  position  that  secession  is  consistent 
with  the  Constitution  —  is  lawful  and 
peaceful.  It  is  not  contended  that  there 
is  any  express  law  for  it  ;  and  nothing 
should  ever  be  implied  as  law  which 
leads  to  unjust  or  absurd  consequences. 
The  nation  purchased,  with  money,  the 
countries  out  of  which  several  of  these 
States  were  formed.  Is  it  just  that  they 
shall  go  off  without  leave,  and  without 
refunding  ?  The  nation  paid  very  large 
sums,  (in  the  aggregate,  I  believe,  nearly 
a  hundred  millions,)  to  relieve  Florida 
of  the  aboriginal  tribes.  Is  it  just  that 
she  shall  now  be  off  without  consent,  or 
without  making  any  return  ?  The  nation 


is  now  in  debt  for  money  applied  to  the 
benefit  of  these  so-called  seceding  States, 
in  common  with  the  rest.  Is  it  just 
either  that  creditors  shall  go  unpaid,  01 
the  remaining  States  pay  the  whole  ?  A 
part  of  the  present  national  debt  was 
contracted  to  pay  the  old  debts  of  Texas. 
Is  it  just  that  she  shall  leave,  and  pay  no 
part  of  this  herself  ?  Again,  if  one  State 
may  secede,  so  may  another  ;  and  when 
all  shall  have  seceded,  none  is  left  to  pay 
the  debts.  Is  this  quite  just  to  credit- 
ors? Did  we  notify  them  of  this  sage 
view  of  ours  when  we  borrowed  their 
money  ?  If  we  now  recognize  this  doc- 
trine by  allowing  the  seceders  to  go  in 
peace,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  we  can 
do  if  others  choose  to  go,  or  to  extort 
terms  upon  which  they  will  promise  to 
remain. 

"The  seceders  insist  that  our  Consti- 
tution admits  of  secession.  They  have 
assumed  to  make  a  national  Constitution 
of  their  own,  in  which,  of  necessity,  they 
have  either  discarded  or  retained  the 
right  of  secession,  as,  they  insist,  it  exists 
in  ours.  If  they  have  discarded  it,  they 
thereby  admit  that,  on  principle,  it 
ought  not  to  be  in  ours.  If  they  have  re- 
tained it.  by  their  own  construction  of 
ours  they  show  that,  to  be  consistent, 
they  must  secede  from  one  another  when- 
ever they  shall  find  it  the  easiest  way  of 
settling  their  debts,  or  effecting  any 
other  selfish  or  unjust  object.  The  prin- 
ciple itself  is  one  of  disintegration,  and 
upon  which  no  government  can  possibly 
endure.  If  all  the  States,  save  one, 
should  assert  the  power  to  drive  that  one 
out  of  the  Union,  it  is  presumed  the 
whole  class  of  seceder  politicians  would 
at  once  deny  the  power,  and  denounce 
the  act  as  the  greatest  outrage  upon 
State  rights.  But  suppose  that  precisely 


A  PEOPLE'S    CONTEST. 


357 


the  same  act,  instead  of  being  called 
'  driving  the  one  out,'  should  be  called 
'  the  seceding  of  the  others  from  that 
one,'  it  would  be  exactly  what  the  seced- 
ers  claim  to  do  ;  unless,  indeed,  they 
make  the  point  that  the  one,  because  it 
is  a  minority,  may  rightfully  do  what 
the  others,  because  they  are  a  majority, 
may  not  rightfully  do.  These  politicians 
are  subtle  and  profound  on  the  rights  of 
minorities.  They  are  not  partial  to  that 
power  which  made  the  Constitution,  and 
speaks  from  the  preamble,  calling  itself 
'  We,  the  People.'  It  may  well  be  ques- 
tioned whether  there  is  to-day  a  major- 
ity of  the  legally  qualified  voters  of  any 
State,  except  perhaps  South  Carolina,  in 
favor  of  disunion.  There  is  much  reason 
to  believe  that  the  Union  men  are  the 
majority  in  many,  if  not  in  every  other 
one,  of  the  so-called  seceded  States.  The 
contrary  has  not  been  demonstrated  in 
any  one  of  them.  It  is  ventured  to 
affirm  this  even  of  Virginia  and  Tennes- 
see ;  for  the  result  of  an  election,  held  in 
military  camps,  where  the  bayonets  are 
all  on  one  side  of  the  question  voted 
upon,  can  scarcely  be  considered  as 
demonstrating  popular  sentiment.  At 
such  an  election  all  that  large  class  who 
are  at  once  for  the  Union,  and  against 
coercion,  would  be  coerced  to  vote 
against  the  Union." 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  legal  ar- 
gument as  it  presented  itself  to  his  mind, 
he  drew  as  a  practical  inference  from  the 
whole,  an  actual  test  of  the  value  of  the 
theory,  a  picture  of  the  fruits  of  the  sys- 
tem in  the  end  of  all  good  government, 
the  welfare  of  the  people.  As  a  cardinal 
principle  of  his  action  which  might  be 
required  to  guide  him  through  great  per- 
plexities lying  dark  and  threatening  in 
the  concealed  future,  he  evidently  laid 


particular  stress  upon  this  topic.  "It 
may  be  affirmed,"  he  said,  "  without  ex- 
travagance, that  the  free  institutions  we 
enjoy  have  developed  the  powers,  and 
improved  the  condition,  of  our  whole 
people,  beyond  any  example  in  the 
world.  .Of  this  we  now  have  a  striking 
and  an  impressive  illustration.  So  large 
an  army  as  the  government  has  now  on 
foot  was  never  before  known,  without  a 
soldier  in  it,  but  who  had  taken  his  place 
there  of  his  own  free  choice.  But  more 
than  this :  there  are  many  single  regi- 
ments whose  members,  one  and  another, 
possess  full  practical  knowledge  of  all  the 
arts,  sciences,  professions,  and  whatever 
else,  whether  useful  or  elegant,  is  known 
in  the  world  ;  and  there  is  scarcely  one 
from  which  there  could  not  be  selected  a 
President,  a  Cabinet,  a  Congress,  and 
perhaps  a  Court,  abundantly  competent 
to  administer  the  government  itself!  Nor 
do  I  say  that  this  is  not  true  also  in  the 
army  of  our  late  friends,  now  adversa- 
ries, in  this  contest ;  but  if  it  is,  so  much 
better  the  reason  why  the  government, 
which  has  conferred  such  benefits  on 
both  them  and  us,  should  not  be  broken 
up.  Whoever,  in  any  section,  proposes 
to  abandon  such  a  government,  would  do 
well  to  consider,  in  deference  to  what 
principle  it  is  that  he  does  it — what 
better  he  is  likely  to  get  in  its  stead — 
whether  the  substitute  will  give,  or  be 
intended  to  give,  so  much  of  good  to  the 
people.  There  are  some  foreshadowings 
on  this  subject.  Our  adversaries  have 
adopted  some  declarations  of  independ- 
ence, in  which,  unlike  the  good  old  one 
penned  by  Jefferson,  they  omit  the  words 
'  all  men  are  created  equal.'  Why  ?  They 
have  adopted  a  temporary  national  con- 
stitution,-in  the  preamble  of  which,  un- 
like our  good  old  one  signed  by  Wash 


358 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


ington,  they  omit  '  We,  the  people,'  and 
substitute  '  We,  the  deputies  of  the  sove- 
reign and  independent  States.'  Why  ? 
Why  this  deliberate  pressing  out  of  view 
the  rights  of  men  and  the  authority  of 
the  people  ? 

"  This  is  essentially  a  People's  con- 
test. On  the  side  of  the  Union  it  is  a 
struggle  for  maintaining  in  the  world 
that  form  and  substance  of  government 
whose  leading  object  is  to  elevate  the 
condition  of  men — to  lift  artificial  weights 
from  all  shoulders  ;  to  clear  the  paths  of 
laudable  pursuit  for  all ;  to  afford  all  an 
unfettered  start,  and  a  fair  chance  in  the 
race  of  life.  Yielding  to  partial  and 
temporary  departures,  from  necessity, 
this  is  the  leading  object  of  the  govern- 
ment for  whose  existence  we  contend. 
I  am  most  happy  to  believe  that  the 
plain  people  understand  and  appreciate 
this.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  while  in 
this,  the  government's  hour  of  trial,  large 
numbers  of  those  in  the  army  and  navy 
who  have  been  favored  with  the  offices, 
have  resigned,  and  proved  false  to  the 
hand  which  had  pampered  them,  not  one 
common  soldier,  or  common  sailor,  is 
known  to  have  deserted  his  flag.  Great 
honor  is  due  to  those  officers  who  re- 
mained true,  despite  the  example  of 
their  treacherous  associates  ;  but  the 
greatest  honor,  and  most  important  fact 
of  all,  is  the  unanimous  firmness  of  the 
common  soldiers  and  common  sailors. 
To  the  last  man,  so  far  as  known,  they 
have  successfully  resisted  the  traitorous 
efforts  of  those  whose  commands,  but  an 
hour  before,  they  obeyed  as  absolute 
law.  This  is  the  patriotic  instinct  of 
plain  people.  They  understand,  with- 
out an  argument,  that  the  destroying 
the  government  which  was  made  by 
Washington  means  no  good  to  them." 


President  Lincoln  concluded  his  mes- 
sage with  evident  feeling  of  the  weight 
of  responsibility  cast  upon  him,  as  he 
gave  utterance  to  this  declaration  of  the 
motives  and  principles  of  his  future  ac- 
tion. "  Our  popular  government,"  he 
said,  "has  often  been  called  an  experi- 
ment. Two  points  in  it  our  people  have 
already  settled — the  successful  establish- 
ing and  the  successful  administering  of 
it.  One  still  remains — its  successful 
maintenance  against  a  formidable  inter- 
nal attempt  to  overthrow  it.  It  is  now 
for  them  to  demonstrate  to  the  world 
that  those  who  can  fairly  carry  an  elec- 
tion can  also  suppress  a  rebellion  ;  that 
ballots  are  the  rightful  and  peaceful  suc- 
cessors of  bullets  ;  and  that  when  ballots 
have  fairly  and  constitutionally  decided, 
there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  back 
to  bullets  ;  that  there  can  be  no  success- 
ful appeal  except  to  ballots  themselves, 
at  succeeding  elections.  Such  will  be  a 
great  lesson  of  peace  ;  teaching  men  that 
what  they  cannot  take  by  an  election, 
neither  can  they  take  it  by  a  war ; 
teaching  all  the  folly  of  being  the  be- 
ginners of  a  war. 

"  Lest  there  be  some  uneasiness  in 
the  minds  of  candid  men,  as  to  what  is 
to  be  the  course  of  the  government  to- 
wards the  southern  States  after  the  re- 
bellion shall  have  been  suppressed,  the 
Executive  deems  it  proper  to  say  it  will 
be  his  purpose  then,  as  ever,  to  be  guided 
by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  ;  and 
that  he  probably  will  have  no  different 
understanding  of  the  powers  and  duties 
of  the  federal  government  relatively  to 
the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  people, 
under  the  Constitution,  than  that  ex- 
pressed in  the  inaugural  address.  He 
desires  to  preserve  the  government,  that 
it  may  be  administered  for  all,  as  it  was 


GATHERING   OF  THE  ARMY. 


359 


administered  by  the  men  who  made  it. 
Loyal  citizens  everywhere  have  the  right 
to  claim  this  of  their  government ;  and 
the  government  has  no  right  to  withhold 
or  neglect  it.  It  is  not  perceived  that, 
in  giving  it,  there  is  any  coercion,  any 
conquest,  or  any  subjugation,  in  any  just 
sense  of  those  terms.  The  Constitution 
provides,  and  all  the  States  have  ac- 
cepted the  provision,  that  '  The  United 
States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in 
this  Union  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment.' But  if  a  State  may  lawfully  go 
out  of  the  Union,  having  done  so,  it  may 
also  discard  the  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment ;  so  that  to  prevent  its  going 
out  is  an  indispensable  means,  to  the 
end,  of  maintaining  the  guaranty  men- 
tioned ;  and  when  an  end  is  lawful  and 
obligatory,  the  indispensable  means  to  it 
are  alsc  lawful  and  obligatory. 

"  It  was  with  the  deepest  regret  that 
the  Executive  found  the  duty  of  em- 
ploying the  war-power,  in  defence  of  the 
government,  forced  upon  him.  He  could 
but  perform  this  duty,  or  surrender  the 
existence  of  the  government.  No  com- 
promise, by  public  servants,  could,  in 
this  case,  be  a  cure  ;  not  that  compro- 
mises are  not  often  proper,  but  that  no 
popular  government  can  long  survive  a 
marked  precedent,  that  those  who  carry 
an  election  can  only  save  the  government 
from  immediate  destruction  by  giving  up 
the  main  point  upon  which  the  people 
gave  the  election.  The  people  them- 
selves, and  not  their  servants,  can  safely 
reverse  their  own  deliberate  decisions. 
As  a  private  citizen,  the  Executive  could 
not  have  consented  that  these  institutions 
shall  perish  ;  much  less  could  he,  in  be- 
trayal of  so  vast  and  so  sacred  a  trust  as 
these  free  people  had  confided  to  him. 
He  felt  that  he  had  no  moral  right  to 


shrink,  nor  even  to  count  the  chances  of 
his  own  life  in  what  might  follow.  In 
full  view  of  his  great  responsibility,  he 
has,  so  far,  done  what  he  has  deemed 
his  duty.  You  will  now,  according  to 
your  own  judgment,  perform  yours.  He 
sincerely  hopes  that  your  views,  and 
your  action,  may  so  accord  with  his  as 
to  assure  all  faithful  citizens,  who  have 
been  disturbed  in  their  rights,  of  a  cer- 
tain and  speedy  restoration  to  them 
under  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 
And  having  thus  chosen  our  course, 
without  guile  and  with  pure  purpose, 
let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God,  and  go 
forward  without  fear  and  with  manly 
hearts." 

The  Cabinet  reports  accompanying 
the  President's  Message  exhibited  in 
gratifying  terms  the  unanimity  of  the 
loyal  States,  and  their  sympathy  with 
and  support  of  the  efforts  of  the  Admin- 
istration. In  answer  to  the  first  call  of 
the  Executive  for  75,000  men,  notwith- 
standing the  disaffection  of  the  authori- 
ties of  several  of  the  States  appealed  to, 
a  greater  number  came  forward  and 
were  actualty  in  service.  Delaware  and 
Virginia  had  thus  furnished  each  a  regi- 
ment, and  the  loyal  citizens  of  Missouri 
had  contributed  twelve  regiments  to  sus- 
tain the  government.  The  District  of 
Columbia  had  sent  four  full  regiments 
into  the  field.  Under  the  second  call 
of  the  4th  of  May  for  volunteers  during 
the  war,  208  regiments  had  been  already 
accepted,  all  infantry  and  riflemen  with 
the  exception  of  2  battalions  of  artillery 
and  4  regiments  of  cavalry.  Of  these 
153  were  already  in  active  service.  The 
entire  force  was  thus  computed  :  regu- 
lars and  volunteers  for  three  months  and 
the  war,  235,000  ;  regiments  of  volun- 
teers accepted  and  not  yet  in  service 


360 


WAR  FOR   THE   UNION. 


50,000  ;  new  regiments  of  the  regular 
army,  25,000  ;  making  a  total  of  310,- 
000.  Deducting  the  80,000  three  months 
volunteers,  230,000  would  be  left  for  the 
effective  national  army  for  the  war. 

Pleased  with  the  alacrity  with  which 
the  call  for  troops  had  been  answered  by 
the  people,  and  the  excellent  appearance 
in  general  of  the  recruits,  Secretary  Cam- 
eron eulogized  the  volunteer  system  which 
had  borne  such  fruits.  "A  government," 
said  he,  "  whose  every  citizen  stands 
ready  to  march  to  its  defence  can  never 
be  overthrown  ;  for  none  is  so  strong  as 
that  whose  foundations  rest  immovably 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The  spec- 
tacle of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million 
of  citizens  rushing  to  the  field  in  defence 
of  the  Constitution  must  ever  take  rank 
among  the  most  extraordinary  facts  of 
history.  Its  interest  is  vastly  height- 
ened by  the  lavish  outpouring,  from 
States  and  individuals,  of  voluntary  con- 
tributions of  money,  reaching  an  aggre- 
gate thus  far  of  more  than  ten  millions 
of  dollars.  But  a  few  weeks  since  the 
men  composing  this  great  army  were 
pursuing  the  avocations  of  peace.  They 
gathered  from  the  farm,  from  the  work- 
shop, from  the  factory,  from  the  mine. 
The  minister  came  from  his  pulpit,  the 
merchant  from  his  counting-room,  the 
professor  and  student  from  the  college, 
the  teacher  and  pupil  from  the  common 
schools.  Young  men  of  fortune  left  lux- 
urious homes  for  the  tent  and  the  camp. 
Native  and  foreign  born  alike  came  for- 
ward with  a  kindred  enthusiasm.  That 
a  well-disciplined,  homogeneous,  and  ef- 
ficient force  should  be  formed  out  of  such 
a  seemingly  heterogeneous  mass  appears 
almost  incredible.  But  what  is  the  ac- 
tual fact  ?  Experienced  men,  who  have 
had  ample  opportunity  to  familiarize 


themselves  with  the  condition  of  Euro- 
pean armies,  concede  that,  in  point  of 
personnel,  this  patriot  army  is  fully 
equal  to  the  finest  regular  troops  of  the 
Old  World.  A  more  intelligent  body 
of  men,  or  one  actuated  by  purer  mo- 
tives, was  never  before  marshalled  in 
the  field." 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Gideon 
Welles,  could  hardly  as  yet  be  expected 
to  report  so  satisfactory  an  increase  in 
his  Department.  A  ship  could  not  be 
constructed  as  soon  or  as  readily  as  a 
brigade  could  be  got  together.  His  tri- 
umphs were  to  come  hereafter,  as  the 
result  of  naval  appropriations  by  Con- 
gress. On  the  4th  of  March  the  navy 
of  the  United  States,  excluding  vessels 
on  the  stocks  unfinished,  those  used  as 
stationary  storeships  and  receiving  ships, 
and  those  considered  inexpedient  to  re- 
pair, numbered,  of  all  classes,  an  availa- 
ble force  of  69,  mounting  1,346  guns  j  and 
of  these,  24  only,  mounting  555  guns, 
were  in  commission.  From  this  "avail- 
able" force  of  69  were  speedily  to  be 
deducted  the  sloop  Levant,  given  up  as 
lost  in  the  Pacific  ;  the  steamer  Fulton, 
seized  at  Pensacola ;  and  one  frigate, 
two  sloops,  and  a  brig  burnt  at  Norfolk. 
The  vessels  in  commission  had  a  com- 
plement, exclusive  of  officers  and  ma- 
rines, of  about  7,600  men,  and  nearly 
all  of  them  were  on  foreign  stations. 
The  home  squadron  consisted  of  twelve 
vessels  carrying  187  guns  and  about 
2,000  men.  Of  this  squadron  only  four 
small  vessels  carrying  25  guns  and  about 
280  men  were  in  northern  ports.  "  With 
so  few  vessels,"  continues  Mr.  Welles, 
"in  commission  on  our  coast,  and  our 
crews  in  distant  seas,  the  department 
was  very  indifferently  prepared  to  meet 
the  exigency  that  was  rising.  Every 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   NAVY. 


361 


movement  was  closely  watched  by  the 
disaffected,  and  threatened  to  precipitate 
measures  that  the  country  seemed  anx- 
ious to  avoid.  Demoralization  prevailed 
among  the  officers,  many  of  whom,  occu- 
pying the  most  responsible  positions,  be- 
trayed symptoms  of  that  infidelity  which 
lias  dishonored  the  service.  But  while 
so  many  officers  were  unfaithful,  the 
crews,  to  their  honor  be  it  recorded, 
were  true  and  reliable,  and  have  main- 
tained, through  every  trial  and  under 
all  circumstances,  their  devotion  to  the 
Union  and  the  flag.  Unfortunately, 
however,  few  comparatively  of  these 
gallant  men  were  within  the  call  of  the 
department  at  that  eventful  period. 
They,  as  well  as  the  ships,  were  abroad." 
When  it  is  added  that,  between  the  4th 
of  March  and  the  4th  of  July,  259  offi- 
cers of  the  navy  had  resigned  their  com- 
missions or  been  dismissed  the  service 
from  sympathy  or  complicity  with  the 
rebellion,  we  may  estimate  the  position 
of  the  Secretary  when  he  was  called 
upon  by  the  Presidential  proclamations 
of  April  19th  and  27th,  to  provide  ves- 
sels for  the  blockade  of  a  sea-coast  line 
of  nearly  three  thousand  miles,  with  va- 
rious inlets  and  harbors,  from  the  capes 
of  Virginia  along  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Rio  Grande  at  the 
extremity  of  Texas. 

The  first  duty,  in  anticipation  of  this 
demand  was,  of  course,  to  recall  the 
ships  on  foreign  service,  and  as  they 
came  in  one  after  the  other,  they  were 
at  once  hurried  Southward  to  enforce  the 
blockade.  The  administration  of  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  officers,  purged 
the  service  of  friends  to  the  rebellion. 
Other  means  were,  however,  necessary 
to  strengthen  this  arm  of  the  public 
defence,  and  they  were  taken  in  anticipa- 
46 


tion  of  the  meeting  of  Congress,  the 
authority  being  found  "  in  the  necessities 
and  condition  of  the  country  and  the 
times."  Transport  steamers  were  at 
first  secured  ;  contracts  were  given  out 
for  the  building  of  twenty-three  gunboats, 
each  of  about  500  tons  burden,  and  other 
larger  and  fleeter  vessels  were  bargained 
for.  Eight  sloops  of  war  were  also  put 
in  forwardness  at  the  four  Navy  Yards. 
The  supply  of  seamen  for  this  enlarged 
force  had  kept  pace  with  the  prompt  re- 
cruiting for  the  army.  "At  no  period 
of  our  history,"  says  Mr.  Welles,  "has 
the  naval  force  had  so  great  and  rapid 
an  increase,  and  never  have  our  seamen 
come  forward  with  more  alacrity  and 
zeal  to  serve  the  country."  The  effect- 
ive force  in  service  on  the  4th  of  July 
consisted  of  the  squadron  in  the  Atlantic 
coast,  under  the  command  of  Flag-Officer 
S.  H.  Stringham,  consisting  of  22  vessels, 
296  guns,  and  3,300  men  —  and  the 
squadron  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  under 
the  command  of  Flag-Officer  William 
Mervine,  consisting  of  21  vessels,  282 
guns,  and  3,500  men. 

Such  an  increase  of  the  army  and 
navy  as  has  been  indicated,  with  the 
vast  attendant  outlays  for  various  mate- 
rials of  war,  equipment,  construction  and 
supplies,  it  was  evident  would  require  an 
enormous  outlay — an  expectation  which 
was  not  disappointed  in  the  gigantic  fig- 
ures of  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  From  about  $60,000,000  per 
annum,  a  rough  estimate  "or  the  expen- 
ditures of  the  year  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, the  calculation  for  the  outlay 
of  the  new  fiscal  year  ending  June, 
1862,  was  suddenly  inflated  to  about 
$300,000,000,  or  five  times  the  sum.  To 
provide  for  this  was  the  question.  Mr. 
Chase's  proposition  was  two-fold  —  by 


362 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


taxation  and  loan.  Setting  aside 
$80,000,000  as  the  regular  expenditure 
of  the  year,  he  suggested  that  sum  should 
be  met  by  the  usual  custom-house  pay- 
ments, which  he  calculated,  by  the  in- 
crease of  the  tariff  on  certain  articles  of 
general  consumption,  as  sugar,  and  the 
imposition  of  a  duty  on  others,  as  tea 
and  coffee,  at  present  wholly  exempt, 
might  produce  $57,000,000.  To  this 
might  be  added  $3,000,000  from  the  sale 
of  the  public  lands  and  various  sources, 
leaving  the  round  sum  of  $20,000,000  to 
be  provided  by  direct  taxes,  or  from  in- 
ternal duties  or  excises,  or  both.  How 
lightly  such  a  direct  tax  would  fall  upon 
the  property  of  the  country  he  exhibited 
in  the  following  estimate.  The  value  of 
the  real  and  personal  property  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  he  found,  accord- 
ing to  the  census  of  1860,  to  be  about 
$16,000,000,000,  of  which  something 
over  two-thirds  belonged  to  the  States 
not  included  in  the  rebellion,  and  of  this 
last  sum,  about  seven  and  a  half  billions 
represented  the  value  of  the  real,  and 
about  three  billions  the  value  of  the  per- 
sonal property.  A  rate  of  one-eighth  of 
one  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  the  whole 
real  and  personal  property  of  the  coun- 
try would  thus  produce  a  sum  of  about 
twenty  millions  of  dollars  ;  a  rate  one- 
fifth  of  one  per  cent,  on  the  real  and 
personal  property  of  the  States  not  under 
insurrection,  would  produce  nearly  twen- 
ty-two millions,  and  a  rate  of  three- tenths 
of  one  per  cent,  on  the  real  property 
alone  in  these  States  would  produce 
nearly  twenty-three  millions  ;  either  sum 
being  in  excess  of  the  amount  required. 
In  this  scheme  of  the  ways  and  means 
of  taxation,  Mr.  Chase's  recommendation 
of  internal  duties  brought  up  the  sugges- 
tion— an  entirely  novel  one  at  the  time, 


for  the  people  of  the  nation  had  yet  to 
learn  the  nature  of  burdens  of  this  kind — • 
of  "moderate  charges  on  stills  and  dis- 
tilled liquors,  on  ale  and  beer,  on  tobac- 
co, on  bank  notes,  on  spring  carriages, 
on  silverware  and  jewelry,  and  on  lega- 
cies." Startling  as  this  brief  inventory 
then  seemed,  the  public  soon  became 
familiar  with  these  unpleasant  details  on 
a  much  more  extended  scale  and  in 
grander  proportions.  Mr.  Chase's  mod- 
est paragraph  was  an  innocent-looking 
prelude  to  the  portentous  schedule  of  the 
Tax  Bill  enacted  the  following  year.  "  It 
will  not,  perhaps,"  added  the  Secretary, 
"be  thought  out  of  place  if  the  Secretary 
suggests  here  that- the  property  of  those 
engaged  in  insurrection  or  in  giving  aid 
and  comfort  to  insurgents,  may  properly 
be  made  to  contribute  to  the  expendi- 
tures made  necessary "  by  their  criminal 
misconduct  as  a  part  of  the  punishment 
due  to  the  guilt  of  involving  the  nation 
in  the  calamities  of  civil  war,  and  thereby 
bringing  distress  upon  so  many  innocent 
citizens.  Congress  may  justly  provide 
for  the  forfeiture  of  the  whole  or  part  of 
the  estates  of  offenders,  and  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  proceeds  into  the  public 
Treasury." 

There  yet  remained,  according  to  Mr. 
Chase's  calculation,  some  $240,000,000 
to  be  provided  for  ;  and  this  he  proposed 
to  manage  by  loan  in  triple  form.  Dis- 
carding the  usual  confined  operations 
through  the  banking-houses,  he  devised 
a  plan  of  directly  reaching  the  public  at 
large  by  the  issue  of  $100,000,000  of 
Treasury  notes,  payable  three  years 
after  date,  bearing  7-ft  per  cent,  interest 
— a  rate  chosen  "because  it  is  liberal  to 
the  subscriber,  convenient  for  calculation, 
and,  under  existing  circumstances,  fair 
for  the  Government.  ...  It  is  beneficial 


FINANCIAL  RESOURCES. 


363 


to  the  whole  people  that  a  loan  distrib- 
uted among  themselves  should  be  made 
so  advantageous  to  the  takers  as  to  in- 
spire satisfaction  and  hopes  of  profit  ra- 
ther than  anno}Tance  and  fears  of  loss  ; 
and  if  the  rate  of  interest  proposed  be 
somewhat  higher  than  that  allowed  in 
ordinary  times,  it  will  not  be  grudged  to 
the  subscribers  when  it  is  remembered 
that  the  interest  on  the  loan  will  go  into 
the  channels  of  home  circulation,  and  is 
to  reward  those  who  come  forward  in  the 
hour  of  peril  to  place  their  means  at  the 
disposal  of  their  country.  The  conveni- 
ence of  calculation  incident  to  the  rate 
proposed  is  quite  obvious  ;  for,  the  inter- 
est being  equal  to  one  cent  a  day  on  fifty 
dollars,  it  is  only  necessary  to  know  the 
number  of  days  since  the  date  of  a  note 
or  of  the  last  payment  of  interest  to  de- 
termine, at  a  glance,  the  amount  due 
upon  it.  To  increase  still  further  this 
facility  of  calculation,  it  is  proposed  also 
to  issue  the  Treasury  notes  of  this  loan 
in  sums  of  fifty,  one  hundred,  five  hun- 
dred, one  thousand  and  five  thousand 
dollars,  with  the  amount  of  interest  for 
specified  periods  engraved  on  the  back 
of  each  note.  The  facility  thus  secured 
to  the  holder  of  determining  the  exact 
amount  of  the  note  and  interest,  without 
any  trouble  of  computation,  will  materi- 
al^ enhance  its  value  for  all  purposes  of 
investment  and  payment."  A.  further 
issue  of  a  hundred  millions  of  seven  per 
cent,  thirty  year  bonds  was  recommend- 
ed— a  bid  for  foreign  capitalists — the  in- 
terest being  payable  in  London  or  at  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  with  ex- 
change at  such  rate  as  will  make  the 
payment  equivalent  to  the  payment  in 
London.  An  issue  of  .$50,000,000  of 
Treasury  notes,  of  ten  or  twenty  dollars 
each,  exchangeable  for  the  7tk  notes,  or 


paj^able  in  coin  on  demand,  completed 
the  recommendations  of  Mr.  Chase's 
financial  budget,  which  certainly  had  the 
merit  of  presenting  a  difficult  subject 
with  equal  ingenuity  and  clearness.  His 
report,  reviewing  the  difficulties  of  the 
situation,  concluded  with  a  few  words  of 
hopeful  augury.  "The  energies  of  a 
great  people,"  he  wrote,  "  will,  as  he 
firmly  believes,  surmount  all  the  troubles 
and  calamities  of  the  present  time,  and, 
under  the  good  hand  of  the  God  of  our 
fathers,  out  of  these  very  troubles  and 
difficulties  build  a  future  which  shall  sur- 
pass the  whole  glorious  past  in  the  rich- 
ness of  its  blessings  and  benefits." 

The  temper  of  the  new  Congress  was, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  mem- 
bers, decidedly  warlike.  After  the  mani- 
fold experience  of  the  previous  session  in 
that  direction,  there  was  little  disposition 
to  look  into  the  grounds  of  political  ac- 
tion or  contrive  profitless  schemes  of  con- 
ciliation or  adjustment.  Sumter  had 
changed  all  that.  The  representatives 
of  the  people  now  met  to  deal  practically 
with  rebellion  in  arms,  and  they  prompt- 
ly devoted  themselves  to  the  business 
before  them.  There  were  not,  however, 
wanting  occasional  discussions  which 
gave  the  opportunity  for  free  criticism 
on  both  sides  of  the  cause  and  conduct 
of  the  war.  A  running  debate  on  the 
joint  resolution  of  approval  of  the  Presi- 
dential acts,  such  as  the  proclamation 
calling  out  the  troops,  declaring  the 
blockade,  and  his  orders  suspending  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus, 
which  were  thought  to  require  a  certain 
sanction  or  absolution  at  the  hands  of 
Congress,  brought  up  many  interesting 
matters  of  discussion  which  will  well 
repay  the  reader  in  a  study  of  the  re- 
ports. Senator  Baker  of -Oregon,  spoke 


364 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


on  several  of  these  occasions.  His 
speech  of  the  10th  of  July  is  noticeable 
for  its  unhesitating  confidence  in  the  ap- 
peal to  arms.  "I  approve,"  said  he, 
"as  a  personal  and  political  friend  of  the 
President,  of  every  measure  of  his  ad- 
ministration in  relation  to  the  rebellion 
at  present  raging  in  this  country.  I 
propose  to  ratify  whatever  needs  ratifi- 
cation. I  propose  to  render  my  clear 
and  distinct  approval  not  only  of  the 
measure,  but  of  the  motive  which 
prompted  it.  I  propose  to  lend  the 
whole  power  of  the  country — arms,  men, 
money — and  place  them  in  his  hands, 
with  authority  almost  unlimited,  until  the 
conclusion  of  this  struggle.  He  has  ask- 
ed for  $400,000,000.  We  propose  to 
give  him  $500,000,000.  He  has  asked 
for  400,000  men.  We  propose  to  give 
him  half  a  million  ;  and  for  my  part, 
if,  as  I  do  not  apprehend,  the  emer- 
gency should  be  still  greater,  I  will 
cheerfully  add  a  cypher  to  either  of  these 
figures.  But,  sir,  while  I  do  that,  I  de- 
sire, by  my  word  and  my  vote,  to  have 
it  clearly  understood  that  I  do  that  as  a 
measure  of  war.  As  I  had  occasion  to 
say,  in  a  very  early  discussion  of  this 
question,  I  want  sudden,  bold,  forward, 
determined  war  ;  and  I  not  think  any- 
body can  conduct  war  of  that  kind  as 
well  as  a  dictator.  But,  as  a  Senator,  I 
deem  it  my  duty  to  look  forward  to  re- 
turning peace.  I  do  not  believe  that  it 
will  be  longer  than  next  February 

"  Till  danger's  troubled  night  is  o'er, 
And  the  star  of  peace  returns." 

Whether  that  peace  shall  be  conquered 
at  Richmond,  or  Montgomery,  or  New 
Orleans,  or  in  the  wilds  of  Texas,  I  do 
not  presume  to  say  ;  but  I  do  know,  if  I 
may  use  so  bold  a  word,  that  the  deter- 
mined aggregated  power  of  the  whole 


people  of  this  country — all  its  treasure, 
all  its  arms,  all  its  blood,  all  its  enthusi- 
asm, kindled,  concentrated,  poured  out 
into  one  mass  of  living  valor  upon  any 
foe — will  conquer." 

In  his  concluding  remarks  he  struck 
upon  a  vein  of  thought  which  might  then 
have  been  regarded  as  a  random  specu- 
lation, but  which,  in  the  strange  experi- 
ences which  the  country  was  soon  to 
undergo,  became  familiar  enough  as  a 
practical  necessity — that  of  providing  an 
intermediate  government  for  States  sub- 
jugated by  the  Union  arms.  "I  be- 
lieve," said  he,  "with  most  gentlemen 
that  the  Union  sentiment  will  yet  pre- 
vail in  the  southern  States.  Bayonets 
are  sharp  remedies,  but  they  are  very 
powerful.  I  am  one  of  those  who  be- 
lieve that  there  may  be  reverses.  I  am 
not  quite  confident  that  we  shall  overrun 
the  southern  States,  as  we  shall  have  to 
overrun  them,  without  severe  trials  of 
our  courage  and  our  patience.  I  believe 
they  are  a  brave,  determined  people, 
filled  with  their  enthusiasm,  false  in  its 
purposes,  as  I  think,  but  still  one  which 
animates  almost  all  classes  of  their  popu- 
lation. But,  however  that  may  be,  it 
may  be  that  instead  of  finding,  within  a 
year,  loyal  States  sending  members  to 
Congress,  and  replacing  their  Senators 
upon  this  floor,  we  may  have  to  reduce 
them  to  the  condition  of  Territories,  and 
send  from  Massachusetts  or  from  Illinois 
Governors  to  control  them.  It  may  be  ; 
and,  sir,  if  need  come,  I  am  one  of  those 
who  would  be  willing  to  do  it.  I  would 
do  that.  I  would  risk  even  the  stigma 
of  being  despotic  and  oppressive,  rather 
than  risk  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  of 
these  States.  I  repeat,  and  with  that 
repetition  I  close  :  fight  the  war  through  ; 
accomplish  a  peace  ;  make  it  so  perfect 


MILITARY   CALCULATIONS. 


305 


and  so  permanent  that  a  boy  may  pre- 
serve it ;  and  when  you  have  done  that, 
you  have  no  more  need  for  a  standing 
army.  Patch  up  a  peace  ;  if  you  make 
it  before  you  are  ready  ;  if  you  imagine 
them  conquered  before  they  really  sub- 
mit ;  if  you  treat  with  rebels  and  con- 
federate States,  you  may  need  a  stand- 
ing army  forever  ;  but  if  you  really  con- 
quer a  peace  ;  if  your  bayonets  gleam  in 
every  city  in  this  Union  ;  if  you  hold 
them  by  the  strong  hand  of  power  ;  if 
you  tell  them,  '  Gentlemen,  you  have 
been  regardless  of  the  great  blessings  of 
free  government  under  which  you  lived 
and  rejoiced  for  over  seventy  years  ; 
now  as  you  have  sought  the  despotism 
of  arms,  we  will  show  you  what  arms 
are  :'  when  you  really  do  that,  and 
break  their  spirit,  when  Toombs  and 
Davis  are  wandering  in  exile,  despised 
and  almos!  forgotten  among  men,  except 
by  the  enormity  of  their  crime,  then,  sir, 
you  want  no  standing  army." 

As  the  time  rapidly  approached,  the 
memorable  trial  of  arms  between  the  two 
divided  portions  of  the  country  in  the 
fatal  day  at  Manassas,  it  is  curious  to 
note  the  speculations  of  prominent  mem- 
bers in  reference  to  the  military  condi- 
tions of  the  war.  On  the  13th  of  July 
Senator  Wilson  of  Massachusetts,  in  a 
discussion  on  the  appointments  for  the 
army,  said,  "The  Senator  (Mr.  Nesmith 
of  Oregon)  talks  about  the  policy  of 
the  Southern  confederacy.  I  say  to  that 
Senator  that  there  is  no  comparison  what- 
ever between  the  officers  of  the  Southern 
confederacy  and  the  officers  now  in  the 
service  of  this  Government.  They  can- 
not compare  a  moment  in  talent  or  ex- 
perience. They  have  some  ten  or  a 
dozen  officers  formerly  of  the  Army  of 
the  United  States  who  are  men  of  talent, 


men  recognized  as  men  of  talent,  and 
they  have  given  them  important  appoint- 
ments ;  but  when  those  men  seceded  from 
the  Army  of  the  United  States  they  did 
not  take  all  the  talent  or  all  the  experi- 
ence from  the  army.  Far  more  talent 
and  far  more  experience  were  left  in  the 
Army  of  the  United  States  than  those 
gentlemen  took  away  with  them.  In  re- 
gard to  these  appointments  generally, 
men  have  everywhere  been  sought  who 
have  heretofore  served  in  the  army,  or 
who  have  had  a  military  education.  In 
spite  of  all  our  shortcomings — which  are 
great,  and  I  admit  them  to  be  great — 
the  Senator  will  find,  if  he  consults  men 
who  know  very  well  the  condition  of  the 
confederates  in  the  field,  that  they  have 
men  of  inexperience  j  men  of  as  little 
experience  in  regard  to  field  duties  as 
can  be  found  in  the  regiments  that  have 
been  raised  to  support  the  Government 
of  the  country.  The  truth  is,  that,  in 
bringing  into  the  field — as  we  have  to- 
day— two  hundred  and  forty-odd  thou- 
sand men,  brought  in  in  less  than  ninety 
days,  we  must  necessarily  have  a  great 
many  men  of  inexperience  ;  but  in  spite 
of  that,  and  of  the  suddenness  of  this 
movement,  we  have  many  men  of  a  great 
deal  of  experience  and  ability  ;  and  there 
never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the 
country  when  men  of  talent,  men  of  cul- 
ture, men  of  experience,  men  of  fortune, 
men  who  have  mastered  all  that  could 
be  mastered  in  the  colleges  and  institu- 
tions of  learning  of  the  country,  are 
seeking,  as  they  are  now  seeking,  ad- 
mission into  the  army.  There  are  to- 
day pending  before  the  War  Office  many 
hundreds,  and  I  may  say  many  thousands, 
of  applications  ;  I  have  seen  it  estimated 
as  high  as  seven  thousand.  I  know  that 
from  my  own  State,  where  men  generally 


366 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


have  avoided  seeking  the  army,  we  have 
from  one  to  two  hundred  men  who  are 
asking  for  admissions  ;  who  would  take 
a  second  lieutenant's  commission  and  re- 
joice over  it ;  some  of  them  men  who 
are  distinguished  for  their  scholarship, 
for  their  attainments,  for  personal  char- 
acter ;  men  who  do  not  go  into  the  army 
for  any  other  purpose  than  to  serve  the 
country  ;  men  who  have  fortunes  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars  to  live  upon. 
Why,  sir,  some  gentlemen  of  that  kind 
have  been  appointed  ;  men  who  do  not 
go  in  the  army  for  pay,  but  who  go  into 
it  because  they  want  to  serve  the  coun- 
try in  this  great  crisis  ;  and  they  prefer 
to  go  into  the  army  rather  than  to  go 
into  the  volunteers  ;  and  I  must  confess, 
myself,  that  I  sympathize  in  that ;  for, 
if  I  had  to  be  pressed  into*  the  ser- 
vice, I  would  rather  go  into  the  army 
and  serve  five  years  than  into  the  vol- 
unteers and  serve  three  years,  at  the 
same  pay,  for  the  comforts  of  life,  for 
safety,  for  everything  connected  with  a 
soldier." 

Two  days  after,  on  the  eve  of  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  Sen- 
ator Dixon  of  Connecticut  seconded  the 
demand  for  action,  and  glancing  into  the 
future  saw  all  obstacles  rapidly  yielding 
to  the  one  indomitable  principle  of  the 
territorial  integrity  of  the  Union.  "  Men 
and  money,"  said  he,  "in  any  number 
and  to  any  amount  it  is  our  business  to 
grant  to  the  Administration.  That  being 
done — no  halting,  no  delay,  no  thought 
of  peace,  till  the  supremacy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  shall  be  an 
acknowledged  fact  throughout  our  entire 
domain.  I  rejoice  at  the  signs  which  in- 
dicate early  and  energetic  action  on  the 
part  of  the  Government ;  for  of  all  things, 
in  my  judgment,  delay  is  most  to  be 


dreaded.  Temporary  defeat  may  not  be 
fatal ;  but  the  slow  canker  of  tardy  in- 
action will  rust  into  the  very  heart  and 
spirit  of  the  people.  This  war  is  to  them 
a  serious  and  costly  business.  They  de- 
mand that  it  be  short,  decisive,  terrific 
and  overwhelming  ;  and  if  in  any  quar- 
ter they  are  thwarted  of  this  purpose, 
their  indignation  will  be  proportioned  to 
their  disappointment.  The  events  of  the 
day  are  marked  by  rapidity  of  move- 
ment. At  the  commencement  of  the 
last  session  of  Congress,  little  more  than 
six  months  ago,  the  great  rebellion  which 
has  now  reached  its  height,  involving  no 
less  than  eleven  States,  was  onty  threat- 
ened. To-day,  whatever  may  be  its  con- 
tinuance in  point  of  time,  we  may  feel 
assured  that,  if  the  popular  will  shall  be 
carried  into  execution,  it  is  already  more 
than  half  suppressed.  That  it  cannot,  if 
properly  treated,  grow  from  a  rebellion 
into  a  successful  revolution,  is  already 
decided.  Its  end  is  certain,  though  its 
length  of  duration  may  be  uncertain. 
The  United  States  of  America  are  to 
remain  one  nation.  The  territorial  in- 
tegrity of  the  Union  is  to  be  preserved 
inviolate.  This  is  what  the  people  of 
the  United  States  mean  by  the  immense 
sacrifices  they  are  now  making — this  and 
nothing  less.  Whatever  stands  in  the 
way  of  this,  whether  it  be  a  political 
creed  or  a  vested  right,  whether  it  be 
democracy  or  slavery,  must  go  down 
and  perish.  And  this  is  true,  not  mere- 
ly because  twenty  millions  of  people 
have  so  determined,  but  because,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  a  great  nation  like  this 
cannot  be  overthrown  and  destroyed, 
without,  in  its  dying  struggles,  if  die  it 
must,  overwhelming  all  the  institutions 
created  by  its  laws  in  a  common  ruin. 
How,  then,  can  the  peculiar  institution 


ADVANCE   OF  THE  ARMY. 


367 


of  the  South  escape  destruction,  when 
it  shall  be  found  to  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  preservation  of  the  Government  ? 


Yet,  in  utter  blindness  to  this  obvious 
idea,  the  maddened  South  is  rushing 
upon  its  fate.7' 


CHAPTEE    XX  Y. 


THE    MOVEMENT    TOWARD    MANASSAS. 


AT  the  beginning  of  July,  six  weeks 
after  the  first  formal  entrance  of  the  na- 
tional army  upon  the  soil  of  Virginia, 
there  were  indications  at  Washington 
and  the  camps  in  its  vicinity  of  the  ex- 
pected grand  attack  upon  the  enemy, 
and  loudly  called  for  advance  toward 
the  seat  of  the  rebel  government  at 
Richmond.  It  was  one  of  the  striking 
circumstances  of  this  early  period  of  the 
war  that  all  its  movements  were  watched 
with  a  jealous  impatience,  and  a  demand 
for  immediate  action  quite  dispropor- 
tioned  to  the  means  and  opportunities 
for  preparation.  If  it  had  been  simply 
a  border  foray  which  had  been  deter- 
mined upon,  the  issue  of  which  would 
have  decided  the  questions  at  stake,  the 
eagerness  of  the  public  would  have  been 
better  justified  ;  but  they  had  yet  to  learn, 
notwithstanding  the  alarming  symptoms 
which  had  shown  themselves,  the  enor- 
mous magnitude  of  the  rebellion,  and  the 
necessity  of  taking  corresponding  means 
for  its  suppression.  It  was  only  by  slow 
degrees  that  the  majority  of  the  people 
at  the  North  could  be  brought  to  contem- 
plate the  real  nature  and  spirit  of  the 
great  conspiracy  suddenly  attacking  the 
national  Constitution  and  liberties.  Ac- 
customed to  freedom  of  debate  and  the 
license  of  electioneering  oratory,  they 
had  grown  indifferent  to  the  language 
of  treason,  and  could  hardly  be  brought 


to  believe  in  its  realities  till  they  were 
forced  upon  their  attention  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet.  "  Fearing  no  evil  be- 
cause they  meant  none,"  they  made  no 
.preparation  for  a  struggle  for  which  their 
assailants,  strong  in  their  inveterate  pur- 
pose of  alienation,  were  fully  equipping 
themselves  ;  and  when  the  conflict  was 
commenced  it  seemed  an  easy  matter, 
in  the  name  of  Justice  and  Freedom,  to 
overcome  an  enemy  pronounced  essen- 
tially weak  in  the  utter  unreasonable- 
ness and  futility  of  his  cause.  When  it 
was  understood,  therefore,  that  the  safety 
of  the  capital  was  provided  for,  and  that 
an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men  was  gath- 
ered at  Washington,  the  cry  was  urgent 
that  they  should  be  at  once  led  against 
the  enemy.  This  must  be  a  short  war, 
said  the  politicians  and  moneyed  men 
who  would  avoid  the  hazard  to  their 
cause  and  the  public  welfare  of  its  gi- 
gantic expenses.  The  statesmen  also 
felt  the  importance  of  bringing  to  a 
speedy  termination  a  struggle  which  in 
its  interruption  of  the  commerce  of  the 
world  was  fast  endangering  the  peace  of 
the  nation  with  foreign  countries.  Strike 
a  prompt  and  decisive  blow  at  the  rebel- 
lion, or  it  will  gain  its  ends  simply  by 
time,  was  the  advice  of  disinterested 
spectators  of  the  position.  These  and 
other  general  considerations  of  the  kind 
were  now  enforced  with  additional  spirit 


368 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


by  the  northern  and  western  representa- 
tives who  had  just  assembled  at  Wash- 
ington, in  the  extra  session  of  Congress 
which  had  met  at  the  call  of  the  Presi- 
dent on  the  day  of  Independence.  The 
army  authorities  might  have  hesitated, 
but  they  also  felt  the  necessit}'  for  ac- 
tion, and  there  was  moreover  a  special 
motive  for  an  immediate  movement,  in 
the  near  approach  of  the  expiration  of 
the  term  of  service  of  the  three  months 
militia  who  had  been  first  called  into  the 
field.  So  an  advance  with  a  view  to  an 
engagement  was  resolved  upon. 

An  acute  observer  at  Washington  at. 
this  period,  the  Hon.  Henry  J.  Eay- 
mond,  in  his  editorial  correspondence 
with  the  New  York  Times,  has  given 
us  a  vivid  picture  of  the  motives  and  in- 
fluences, the  doubts,  the  difficulties  and 
necessities  by  which  the  Administration 
and  the  War  Department  were  hampered 
and  controlled.  Writing  from  the  capi- 
tal on  the  14th  of  July,  on  the  eve  of  the 
advance  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  he 
says,  "The  whole  country  is  impatient 
for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 
This  impatience  finds  vent  in  all  the 
leading  public  journals,  and  is  fully 
shared  by  Congress.  In  some  quarters 
it  takes  the  shape  of  direct  and  bitter 
censure  of  the  Administration,  or  some 
influential  member  of  it,  who  is  supposed 
to  be  responsible  for  the  tardy  progress 
of  events.  There  are  plenty  of  men  who 
declare,  and  a  few,  doubtless,  who  be- 
lieve, that  Mr.  Seward  still  cherishes  the 
hope  of  compromising  our  present  diffi- 
culties, and  is  using  all  his  influence  to 
retard  the  progress  of  our  armies  with  a 
view  to  that  end.  Others  are  confident 
that  the  President  does  not  comprehend 
the  real  nature  of  the  crisis  which  is  upon 
the  country,  or  the  necessity  of  a  prompt 


and  vigorous  policy.  One  member  of  the 
Cabinet  has  publicly  declared  that  Gen- 
eral Scott  is  utterly  incompetent  to  the 
conduct  of  the  war — that  he  never  was 
a  soldier — that  he  blundered  all  through 
the  Mexican  war,  and  is  about  to  close 
his  career  by  compromising  the  honor 
and  welfare  of  the  country  now.  All 
this  sounds  incredible.  But  it  is  actually 
true,  and  shows  to  what  a  degree  men's 
judgments  have  been  warped  by  the 
startling  events  of  the  day,  and  how  far 
passion  and  zeal  will  lead  to  the  most 
cruel  injustice.  There  is  not  a  man  on 
this  continent  more  anxious  to  sustain 
the  authority  of  the  Government  and 
crush  this  rebellion,  thoroughly  and  for- 
ever, than  General  Scott ;  not  one  more 
hostile  to  every  attempt  at  compromise, 
or  more  fertile  in  suggestions  for  efficient 
action,  than  Mr.  Seward  ;  nor  one  who 
more  thoroughly  understands  the  wide 
sweep  of  the  issues  involved,  and  the 
deadly  nature  of  the  warfare  waged 
upon  the  American  Eepublic,  than  Presi- 
dent Lincoln.  The  Administration  has 
no  reason  to  complain  of  the  impatience 
of  the  people,  but  it  has  a  right  to  ask 
that  it  shall  not  prompt  to  rash  or  un- 
charitable accusations.  They  assert  that 
the  movement  of  the  main  army  is  quite 
as  rapid  as  consists  with  its  safety,  and 
that  it  is  much  better  to  advance  slowly, 
holding  every  foot  of  ground  once  occu- 
pied, than  to  push  on  recklessly,  and  be 
compelled,  even  in  a  single  instance,  to 
retrace  its  steps.  Probably  this  is  true. 
But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  public 
sentiment  is  a  powerful  element  of  strength 
in  this  war — that  it  must  be  secured  and 
kept  in  full  vigor  even  at  some  expense 
of  scientific  routine,  and  that  the  present 
temper  of  our  people  demands  swift  and 
sudden  blows — a  bold  and  dashing  poli- 


THE   MILITARY   POSITION. 


369 


cy  ;  and  it  is  a  fair  question  for  those  in 
authority  to  consider  whether  it  would 
not  be  better  to  meet  and  satisfy  this 
temper,  even  at  the  cost  of  occasional 
reverses,  than  to  lose  the  advantage  of 
its  support.  In  their  present  mood  a 
slight  defeat  would  only  rouse  and  ex- 
asperate our  people  ;  while  delay  and 
apparent  inaction  discourages  and  dis- 
gusts them.  This  is  the  reasoning  of 
those  who  demand  an  instant  advance  ; 
but  if  that  advance  were  to  end  disas- 
trously, they  would  probably  be  the  first 
to  throw  the  blame  upon  those  who  had 
yielded  to  their  advice." 

To  this  significant  passage  we  may  add 
the  writer's  review  of  some  of  the  more 
striking  military  data  of  the  position. 
"  Very  much  of  this  criticism,  moreover," 
he  adds,  "is  the  result  of  entire  ignorance 
of  the  nature  and  wants  of  an  army.  Men 
who  fight  must  be  fed  ;  and  they  must 
not  be  taken  into  any  place  or  position 
where  they  cannot  have  food,  shelter  and 
the  means  of  fighting.  In  going  into  an 
enemy's  country,  they  must  take  with 
them  all  their  tents,  provisions,  spades, 
and  other  tools  for  throwing  up  intrench- 
ments,  cannon,  ammunition  and  whatever 
else  they  expect  to  use.  To  arrive  with- 
out these  is  simply  to  insure  their  starv- 
ation or  swift  destruction  by  the  enemy. 
And  to  carry  them  requires  wagons, 
horses,  teamsters,  time  and  space.  It  is, 
of  course,  the  purpose  of  an  army  to 
reduce,  as  much  as  possible,  the  amount 
of  baggage  for  which  transportation  is 
required.  But  when  reduced  to  the  low- 
est point,  fifteen  wagons  with  four  horses 
each,  to  each  full  regiment  of  infantry,  is 
a  fair  allowance.  For  an  army  of  50,000 
men  are  thus  required  750  wagons  and 
3,000  horses,  which  would  extend  in 
single  file,  each  wagon  occupying  only 
47 


100  feet,  something  more  than  fifteen 
miles.  All  these  wagons  had  to  be 
made,  and  all  these  horses  purchased, 
before  any  considerable  movement  in 
advance  was  possible.  This  number  was 
required  for  the  troops  expected  to  ad- 
vance from  Washington  alone.  Half  as 
many  were  wanted  for  General  Patter- 
son's column,  and  at  least  200  wagons 
and  800  horses  for  General  Butler's 
column.  This  makes  no  account  of  the 
horses  needed  for  the  artillery  and  the 
cavalry.  It  is  merely  the  number  re- 
quisite to  convey  the  indispensable  bag- 
gage, or,  as  the  Romans  accurately  and 
expressively  styled  it,  the  impedimenta 
of  advancing  infantry.  It  is  not  reason- 
able to  expect  that  all  these  things  can 
be  extemporized,  and  it  is  foolhardy  and 
reckless  of  the  lives  of  our  citizen- 
soldiers  to  demand  that  they  shall  be 
ignored.  General  McClellan's  splendid 
successes  in  Western  Virginia  are  quoted 
to  show  that  movements  may  be  made 
without  all  this  preparation.  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  he  has  com- 
paratively a  small  body  of  men  to  care 
for,  that  he  is  moving  in  a  friendly  coun- 
try where  supplies  are  easy  of  access, 
that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  keeping  his 
communications  open  and  that  he  leaves 
no  enemy  in  his  rear.  This  is  not  the  case 
with  either  of  the  other  columns.  Gen- 
eral Patterson  has  25,000  men  to  pro- 
vide for  ;  General  Butler,  though  with  a 
smaller  force,  is  almost  surrounded  by 
the  enemy,  and  the  central  column  is 
very  large  and  requires  an  immense 
amount  of  transportation. 

"But  all  these  difficulties  have  been 
surmounted,  and  the  causes  of  past  de- 
lays, whether  valid  or  not,  are  rapidly' 
disappearing.     Horses,  mules  and  wag- 
ons  are   coming  into  the  city  in  great 


370 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


numbers;  and  ever3Tthing  is  ready  for 
an  advance.  There  is  a  general  impres- 
sion that  an  advance  must  of  necessity 
be  a  sudden  and  violent  movement, — im- 
plying a  vehement  assault,  and  a  conse- 
quent battle.  The  reality  may  and  prob- 
ably will  be  very  different,  Great 
armies  do  not  move  in  solid  masses,  nor 
does  an  advance  imply  a  concentration 
of  forces  upon  a  single  point.  On  the 
contrary,  one  regiment  is  pushed  forward 
in  one  direction  to-day  and  another  in 
quite  a  different  direction  to-morrow. 
And  so  it  will  be  in  this  case.  General 
Patterson  will  move  his  forces  down  from 
Martinsburg  towards  Winchester,  spread- 
ing them  out  in  order  to  cover  more 
points  and  check  probable  movements 
of  the  enemy  to  penetrate  to  his  rear. 
General  McDowell  will  push  forward  his 
forces  gradually,  each  regiment  feeling 
its  way  as  it  moves  along.  If  any  regi- 
ment or  brigade  finds  an  enemy  in  pos- 
session of  the  position  it  is  ordered  to 
occupy,  its  first  business  will  be  to  dis- 
lodge him  ;  and  if  he  is  in  too  strong 
force,  reinforcements  will  be  brought  up 
to  aid  the  effort.  Thus  it  may  be  several 
days  before  any  collision  takes  place  be- 
tween the  opposing  forces,  although  the 
advance  may  begin  at  once.  If  the  ene- 
my has  concentrated  his  forces  at  any 
one  point,  and  made  preparation  for  a 
resolute  resistance,  this  will  of  course 
compel  us  to  combine  our  strength  suffi- 
ciently to  drive  him  off.  According  to 
present  appearances,  the  main  body  of 
our  forces  across  the  Potomac  will  move 
forward  on  Tuesday  morning,  the  16th. 
It  is  not  likely  that  they  will  advance 
jnore  than  eight  or  ten  miles  the  first 
day.  On  Wednesday  or  Thursday  they 
will  probably  go  on,  if  not  sooner  resist- 
ed, to  Manassas  Junction,  arid  unless  all 


our  advices  hitherto  have  deceived  us. 
we  may  expect  there  to  meet  the  rebels 
in  considerable  force,  and  thoroughly  in- 
trenched. I  doubt  whether  an  attack 
will  be  made  upon  them  directly  in  front  ; 
if  at  all  practicable,  I  presume  the  effort 
will  be  to  throw  forces  between  Manassas 
and  Winchester,  so  as  to  prevent  Gene- 
ral Johnston  from  joining  the  main 
body,  and  also  to  turn  their  right  flank 
As  a  matter  of  course,  this  is  mainly 
speculation,  and  the  events  of  the  coming 
week  may  prove  it  to  be  without  founda- 
tion. But  the  Government  will  certainly 
move  forward  immediately  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  war.  The  capture  of  Rich- 
mond has  undoubtedly  become  a  matter 
of  necessity,  since  that  city  has  been 
made  the  capital  of  the  Confederate 
States.  At  the  outset  of  the  rebellion,  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  the  pro- 
gramme of  operation  did  not  embrace  the 
seizure  of  this  city.  While  it  was  merely 
the  capital  of  a  State  it  was  a  matter  of 
little  consequence  who  should  hold  it. 
General  Scott  believed  that  80,000  men, 
carefully  disciplined  during  the  summer, 
and  sent  down  the  Mississippi  as  soon  as 
the  frosts  should  make  it  safe,  could  hold 
every  important  point  upon  that  river, 
New  Orleans  included  ;  and  that  this, 
with  a  rigid  blockade  of  the  Atlantic 
coast,  would  compel  the  rebellious  States 
to  sue  for  peace,  and  end  the  war  with 
the  least  possible  loss  of  life.  The  reb- 
els, however,  saw  fit  to  make  Virginia 
the  seat  of  war,  and  to  establish  their 
capital  within  reach  of  Washington. 
This  required  a  change  of  policy,  and 
they  will  unquestionably  see  reason  ere 
long  to  repent  their  temerity.  Unless 
the  administration  is  compelled  by  the 
public  impatience  to  dissipate  its  strength 
in  movements  having  no  direct  bearing 


THE    CAMP   AT   MANASSAS. 


371 


on  the  main  results  of  the  war,  the  early 
autumn  will  undoubtedly  witness  a  blow 
which  will  break  the  back  of  this  great 
rebellion." 

From  this  instructive  survey  of  the 
national  position  we  may  turn  to  a  strik- 
ing account  of  the  rebel  camp  before 
Washington,  as  it  was  presented  by  a 
correspondent  of  the  New  Orleans  Picay- 
une, in  a  letter  written  from  Manassas 
Junction  on  the  7th  of  July.  "  This 
place,"  says  he,  "still  continues  the 
headquarters  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac. 
There  are  many  indications  of  an  intend- 
ed forward  movement,  the  better  to  in- 
vite the  enemy  to  an  engagement,  but 
the  work  of  fortification  still  continues. 
By  nature,  the  position  is  one  of  the 
strongest  that  could  have  been  found  in 
the  .whole  States.  About  half-way  be- 
tween the  eastern  spur  of  the  Blue  Kidge 
and  the  Potomac,  below  Alexandria,  it 
commands  the  whole  country  between  so 
perfectly  that  there  is  scarcely  a  possi- 
bility of  its  being  turned.  The  right 
wing  stretches  off  toward  the  headwaters 
of  the  Occoquan,  through  a  wooded  coun- 
try, which  is  easily  made  impassable  by 
the  felling  of  trees.  The  left  is  a  rolling 
table-land,  easily  commanded  from  the 
successive  elevations,  till  you  reach  a 
country  so  rough  and  so  rugged  that  it  is 
a  defence  to  itself.  *  The  key  to  the  whole 
position,  in  fact,  is  precisely  the  point 
which  General  Beauregard  chose  for  his 
centre,  and  which  he  has  fortified  so 
strongly  that,  in  the  opinion  of  mili- 
tary men,  5,000  men  could  there  hold 
20,000  at  bay.  The  position,  in  fact,  is 
fortified  in  part  by  nature  herself.  It  is 
a  succession  of  hills,  nearly  equidistant 
from  each  other,  in  front  of  which  is  a 
ravine  so  deep  and  so  thickly- wooded, 
that  it  is  impassable  only  at  two  points, 


and  those  through  gorges  which  fifty  men 
can  defend  against  a  whole  army.  It 
was  at  one  of  these  points  that  the  Wash- 
ington Artillery  were  at  first  encamped, 
and  though  only  half  the  battalion  was 
then  there,  and  we  had  only  one  company 
of  artillery  to  support  us,  we  slept  as 
soundly  under  the  protection  of  our  guns 
as  if  we  had  been  in  a  fort  of  the  amplest 
dimensions.  Of  the  fortifications  super- 
added  here  by  General  Beauregard  to 
those  of  nature,  it  is,  of  course,  not  pro- 
per for  me  to  speak.  The  general  read- 
er, in  fact,  will  have  a  sufficiently  precise 
idea  of  them  by  conceiving  a  line  of  forts 
some  two  miles  in  extent,  zig-zag  in  form, 
with  angles,  salients,  bastions,  casemates, 
and  everything  that  properly  belongs  to 
works  of  this  kind.  The  strength  and 
advantages  of  this  position  at  Manassas 
are  very  much  increased  by  the  fact  that 
fourteen  miles  further  on  is  a  position  of 
similar  formation,  while  the  country  be- 
tween is  admirably  adapted  to  the  sub- 
sistence and  intrenchment  of  troops  in 
numbers  as  large  as  they  can  easily  be 
maneuvred  on  the  real  battle-field. 
Water  is  good  and  abundant ;  forage 
such  as  is  everywhere  found  in  the  rich 
farming  districts  of  Virginia,  and  the 
communication  with  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try easy.  Here,  overlooking  an  exten- 
sive plain  watered  by  mountain  streams 
which  ultimately  find  their  way  to  the 
Potomac,  and  divided  into  verdant  fields 
of  wheat  and  oats  and  corn,  pasture  and 
meadow,  are  the  headquarters  of  the  ad- 
vanced forces  of  the  army  of  the  Potom- 
ac. They  are  South  Carolinians,  Louisi- 
anians,  Alabamians,  Mississippians  and 
Virginians,  for  the  most  part ;  the  first 
two,  singularly  enough,  being  in  front, 
and  that  they  will  keep  it,  their  friends 
at  home  may  rest  assured.  Never 


372 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


I  seen  a  finer  body  of  men — men  who 
were  more  obedient  to  discipline,  or 
breathed  a  more  self-sacrificing  patriot- 
ism. 

"  As  might  be  expected  from  the 
skill  with  which  he  has  chosen  his  posi- 
tion, and  the  system  with  which  he  en- 
camps and  moves  his  men,  General 
Beauregard  is  very  popular  here.  I 
doubt  if  Napoleon  himself  had  more  the 
undivided  confidence  of  his  army.  By 
nature,  as  also  from  a  wise  policy,  he  is 
very  reticent.  Not  an  individual  here 
knows  his  plans,  or  a  single  move  of  a 
regiment  before  it  is  made,  and  then  onlv^ 
the  colonel  and  his  men  know  where  it 
goes  to.  There  is  not  a  man  here  who 
can  give  anything  like  a  satisfactory  an- 
swer how  many  men  he  has,  or  where 
his  exact  lines  are.  For  the  distance  of 
fourteen  miles  around  you  see  tents 
everywhere,  and  from  them  you  can 
make  a  rough  estimate  of  his  men ;  but 
how  many  more  are  encamped  on  the 
by-roads  and  in  the  forests  none  can  tell. 
The  new-comer,  from  what  he  sees  at 
first  glance,  puts  down  the  number  at 
about  50,000  men  ;  those  who  have  been 
here  longest  estimate  the  force  at  40,000, 
50,000,  and  some  even  at  60,000  strong. 
And  there  is  the  same  discrepancy  as  to 
the  quantity  of  his  artillery.  So  close 
does  the  General  keep  his  affairs  to  him- 
self, his  left  hand  hardly  knows  what  his 
right  hand  doeth,  and  so  jealous  is  he  of 
this  prerogative  of  a  commanding  officer, 
that  I  verily  believe  that  if  he  suspected 
his  coat  of  any  acquaintance  with  the 
plans  revolving  within  him,  he  would 
cast  it  from  him.  The  General's  head- 
quarters is  a  little  farm-house,  about 
fifteen  feet  by  twenty,  fronting  on  one  of 
the  roads  that  leads  to  Alexandria.  The 
ground  floor  is  divided  into  two  rooms. 


The  front  one  is  filled  with  desks,  at 
which  clerks  sit  writing,  or  engaged  in 
business  of  a  varied  character.  The 
back  one  appears  to  be  used  as  a  state- 
room or  kitchen.  Above,  the  same  divi- 
sion continues,  and  the  front  room  is  the 
General's  apartment.  It  is  about  fifteen 
feet  long  by  ten  wide,  and  hung  with 
maps  of  the  State  and  country  around. 
In  the  centre  is  a  plain  pine  table,  on 
which  lie,  neatly  folded  up,  what  the  vis- 
itor would  naturally  take  to  be  plans, 
specifications,  surveys,  geometrical  draw- 
ings, etc.,  and,  by  their  side,  military 
reports.  Everything  has  the  air  of  neat- 
ness, coolness,  and  mathematical  calcu- 
lation. Of  course  there  is  nothing  in  the 
room  but  what  pertains  to  the  office,  and 
to  most  eyes  it  would  appear  somewhat 
bare ;  but  what  there  is,  is  arranged 
with  so  much  taste,  that  the  general  im- 
pression is  by  no  means  unpleasing.  The 
General  is  in  his  room  the  greater  part 
of  the  day,  apparently  occupied  with  his 
plans  and  reports.  Then  hour  after  hour 
he  sits  alone  by  his  neat  little  pine  table, 
maps,  plans  and  specifications  before 
him,  and  large  windows  open  behind  and 
around  him — at  first  sight  the  cold,  cal- 
culating, unsympathizing  mathematician. 
.Every  now  arid  then  an  aid  enters  with 
a  report  or  a  message,  which  is  delivered 
in  military  style,  deliberately  examined 
in  silence,  the  corresponding  order 
promptly  written  out  or  delivered  in  as 
few  words  as  possible,  and  our  mathem- 
atical iceberg  is  alone  again.  When  a 
visitor  drops  in,  however,  at  a  leisure 
moment,  the  formality  of  the  officer  read- 
ily gives  way  to  that  easy  interchange  of 
civilities  which  characterizes  our  people 
at  home,  but  nothing  more.  Even  at  the 
table,  when  the  General  is  daily  sur- 
rounded by  the  most  distinguished  gen- 


THE   UNION   ARMY. 


373 


tlemen  of  the  country,  there  appears  to 
be  a  distance  which  I  suppose  is  natural 
to  his  position,  but  which  is  rarely  found 
elsewhere.  The  leading  characteristic 
of  General  Beauregard's  mind  is  clear- 
ness of  perception.  Superadded  to  this 
is  a  strictly  mathematical  education. 
This  you  see  in  every  word  and  look, 
even  in  the  expression  of  his  face.  Sines, 
cosines  and  tangents  stick  out  every- 
where. In  person  he  is  slender,  but 
compactly  built,  and  extremely  neat. 
Add  to  this  a  precision  of  manner  slight- 
ly modified  by  the  ease  which  character- 
izes the  well-bred  man  of  the  world,  and 
3Tou  have  a  correct  idea  of  the  man 
whose  word  is  law  and  gospel  through- 
out one  of  the  largest,  most  intelligent, 
and  best  appointed  armies  ever  assem- 
bled on  the  American  continent.  In  his 
personal  staff  the  General  has  been  pecu- 
liarly fortunate.  They  are  principally 
from  South  Carolina,  the  same  he  had 
with  him  at  the  siege  of  Fort  Sumter  ; 
all  of  them  accomplished,  discreet  gentle- 
men of  the  most  pleasing  manners. 
Among  themj[  have  been  happy  to  meet 
Colonel  Preston,  so  long  a  resident  and 
so  well  known  in  Louisiana,  whose  genial 
society  must  be  a  happy  relief  to  the 
severe  labors  of  the  day.  The  General's 
mess  is  very  much  in  keeping  with  his 
character,  and  simple  enough  for  Napo- 
leon himself.  It  is  served  on  a  long  pine 
table,  set  in  an  open  piazza  of  the  farm- 
house, and  all  his  friends  are  hospitably 
welcomed  to  it  three  times  a  day.  The 
General  sits  nearly  in  the  middle,  his 
aids  immediately  on  one  side,  and  his 
latest  guests  on  the  other  ;  the  rest  of 
the  company  as  they  may  choose  or 
chance  to  seat  themselves.  The  viands 
are  such  as  the  country  around  affords  ; 
only  the  rice  was  "  imported,"  and  with 


it,  I  suspect,  a  South  Carolina  cook,  for 
every  kernel  was  as  independent  as  the 
State  from  which  it  came." 

General  McDowell  continued  in  com- 
mand of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  at  the 
head  of  the  military  department  of  North- 
eastern Virginia.  The  force  at  his  dis- 
posal at  the  beginning  of  July  consisted 
of  about  forty-five  regiments  of  volun- 
teers, chiefly  from  New  York  and  the 
Eastern  States,  with  several  from  the 
West,  a  large  portion  of  the  whole  being 
called  out  under  the  first  requisition  of 
the  President  for  three  months  only. 
The  remainder  were  three  years'  volun- 
teers, but,  having  come  into  the  field 
later,  possessed  even  less  than  their  com- 
rades of  the  advantages  of  military  drill 
and  discipline.  With  them  were  mixed 
a  slight  sprinkling  of  regular  infantry,  a 
few  companies  of  United  States  cavalry, 
and  several  light  batteries  of  the  United 
States  artillery.  The  general,  staff  and 
field  officers  assigned  to  the  commands 
included  a  number  of  the  most  meritori- 
ous officers  of  the  former  small  but  effi- 
cient national  army  ;  the  company  officers 
being  mostly  taken  from  civil  life,  were 
of  course  less  experienced  and  less 
efficient  in  their  degree.  More  than  one 
name  of  distinguished  fame  in  the  subse- 
quent annals  of  the  war  in  departments 
widely  removed  from  each  other,  first 
became  prominently  known  to  the  public 
in  connection  with  the  army  of  the  Po- 
tomac. 

As  the  composition  of  this  army  soon 
became  a  matter  of  general  interest,  we 
may  here  give  the  details  of  its  organiza- 
tion as  they  were  presented  in  the  gen- 
eral orders  of  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  8th  of  July.  The  entire  force  was 
arranged  in  five  divisions.  The  1st  was 
assigned  to  Brigadier-General  Daniel 


374 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


Tyler  of  the  Connecticut  militia.  It  em- 
braced the  brigades  of  Colonel  Erasmus 
D.  Keyes,  of  the  llth  United  States  In- 
fantry, composed  of  the  1st,  2d  and  3d 
regiments  of  Connecticut  Volunteers,  the 
4th  Maine  regiment  Volunteers,  Captain 
Varian's  New  York  battery,  and  a  com- 
pany of  the  2d  United  States  Cavalry  ;  a 
second  brigade,  formed  of  the  1st  and  2d 
regiments  Ohio  Volunteers,  the  2d  New 
York  Volunteers,  and  a  light  battery 
company  of  the  3d  United  States  Artil- 
lery ;  a  third  brigade,  commanded  by 
Colonel  William  T.  Sherman  of  the  13th 
Infantry,  embracing  Colonel  Corcoran 's 
69th  Irish  regiment,  New  York  Militia, 
Colonel  Cameron's  79th  Scotch  regiment, 
New  York  Militia,  the  13th  New  York 
regiment  Volunteers,  the  2d  regiment 
Wisconsin  Volunteers,  and  a  light  bat- 
tery company  of  the  3d  United  States 
Artillery  ;  and  a  fourth  brigade,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  J.  B.  Richardson  of 
the  Michigan  Volunteers,  embracing  the 
2d  and  3d  regiments  Michigan  Volun- 
teers, the  1st  regiment  Massachusetts 
Volunteers,  and  the  12th  regiment  New 
York  Volunteers.  The  Second  Division 
was  commanded  by  Colonel  David  Hun- 
ter of  the  3d  United  States  Cavalry,  and 
consisted  of  two  brigades.  The  first  was 
commanded  by  Colonel  Andrew  Porter 
of  the  16th  United  States  Infantry,  and 
was  composed  of  a  battalion  of  Eegular 
Infantry,  the  8th  and  14th  regiments  of 
New  York  Militia,  a  squadron  of  the  2d 
United  States  Cavalry,  and  a  light  bat- 
tery of  the  5th  United  States  Artillery. 
The  Second,  led  by  Colonel  Ambrose  E. 
Burnside,  of  the  Rhode  Island  Volun- 
teers, embraced  the  1st  and  2d  Rhode 
Island  regiments  Volunteers,  the  71st 
New  York  Militia,  the  2d  regiment  New 
Hampshire  Volunteers,  and  a  battery  of 


light  artillery  of  the  2d  Rhode  Island 
regiment.  The  Third  Division  was  com- 
manded by  Colonel  S.  P.  Heintzelman 
of  the  17th  United  States  Infantry,  in 
charge  lately  of  Alexandria,  and  was 
composed  of  the  brigade  of  Colonel 
W.  B.  Franklin  of  the  12th  regiment 
United  States  Infantry,  with  the  4th 
regiment  Pennsylvania  Militia,  the  5th 
regiment  Massachusetts  Militia,  the  1st 
regiment  Minnesota  Volunteers,  a  com- 
pany of  the  2d  United  States  Cavalry, 
and  a  light  battery  of  the  1st  United 
States  Artillery  ;  of  the  brigade  of  Col- 
onel 0.  B.  Wilcox  of  the  Michigan 
Volunteers,  with  the  1st  regiment  Mich- 
igan Volunteers,  the  llth  regiment 
New  York  Volunteers,  and  a  light  bat- 
tery company  of  the  2d  United  States 
Artillery  ;  of  the  brigade  of  Colonel  0. 
0.  Howard  of  the  Maine  Volunteers,  in- 
cluding the  2d,  4th  and  5th  regiments 
Maine  Volunteers,  and  the  2d  Vermont 
regiment  Volunteers.  The  Fourth  and 
Fifth  Divisions  constituted  the  reserve. 
The  one  composed  of  the  1st,  2d,  3d  and 
4th  New  Jersey  Militia  regiments — three 
months'  Volunteers — and  the  1st,  2d  and 
3d  New  Jersey  Militia  regiments — three 
years'  Volunteers — was  commanded  by 
Brigadier  -  General  Theodore  Runyon, 
New  Jersey  Militia  ;  the  other,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Dixon  S.  Miles  of  the 
2d  United  States  Infantry,  consisted  of 
two  brigades  ;  the  first,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Louis  Blenker  of  the  New  York 
Volunteers,  included  the  8th  and  29th 
New  York  regiments  Volunteers,  the 
New  York  Garibaldi  Guard,  and  the 
24th  regiment  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  ; 
the  second  brigade,  commanded  by  Col- 
onel Thomas  A.  Davies,  New  York  Vol- 
unteers, was  composed  of  the  16th,  18th, 
31st  and  32d  regiments  New  York  Vol- 


ADVANCE  TO   FAIRFAX   COURT-HOUSE. 


375 


unteers,  and  a  light  battery  company  of 
the  2d  United  States  Artillery. 

General  McDowell's  staff  consisted  of 
Captain  James  B.  Fry,  assistant  Adjutant- 
General  ;  Aides-de-Camp — 1st  Lieuten- 
ant Henry  W.  Kingsbury,  5th  United 
States  Artillery,  Major  Clarence  S. 
Brown  and  Major  James  S.  Wadsworth, 
New  York  State  Militia  ;  Acting  Inspec- 
tor-General— Major  William  H.  Wood, 
17th  United  States  Infantry  ;  Engineers 
—Major  John  G.  Barnard,  1st  Lieuten- 
ant Frederick  E.  Prime  ;  Topographical 
Engineers — Captain  Amiel  W.  Whipple, 
1st  Lieutenant  Henry  L.  Abbot,  2d  Lieu- 
tenant Haldimand  S.  Putnam  ;  Quarter- 
master's Department  —  Captain  0.  H. 
Tillinghast  ;  Captain  Horace  F.  Clark, 
of  New  York,  Commissary  of  Subsist- 
ence ;  Surgeon — William  S.  King  ;  As- 
sistant Surgeon — David  L.  Magruder. 

The  grand  march  from  Washington 
and  its  immediate  vicinity,  under  this 
general  arrangement,  began  on  the  16th 
of  July,  with  the  movement  of  the  main 
divisions  toward  the  most  advanced  po- 
sition of  the  enemy  at  Fairfax  Court- 
House.  General  Hunter's  central  col- 
umn took  the  direct  road,  the  division  of 
General  Tyler  pursued  the  Vienna  route 
to  the  right,  while  General  Miles  with 
his  command  took  the  extreme  left. 
Having  marched  about  eight  or  nine 
miles,  the  army  encamped  for  the  night. 
The  next  day  it  was  early  in  motion. 
General  McDowell  was  with  the  centre, 
and  at  noon  saw  its  advance  safely  ar- 
rived at  Fairfax  Court-House.  The 
enemy,  who  were  supposed  to  be  in  force 
in  the  vicinity,  evidently  avoided  a  con- 
flict. They  left,  however,  some  consid- 
erable obstructions  of  hewn  down  trees 
on  the  road,  but  these  were  readily  clear- 
ed away  by  the  axemen.  No  opposition 


was  encountered  at  the  village.  The 
enemy  had  occupied  it  in  the  morning, 
and,  warned  of  the  approach  of  the 
Union  troops,  had  fled  in  haste,  leaving 
provisions,  intrenching  tools  and  person- 
al effects  behind.  The  secession  flag, 
which  Colonel  Burnside's  Rhode  Island 
ers,  who  were  in  advance,  found  still  fly 
ing  on  the  Court-House,  was  taken  down, 
and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  raised  by  *i 
corporal  of  the  brigade  in  its  stead.  The 
Union  soldiers,  rejoicing  in  their  easy 
progress  and  the  flight  of  the  enemy, 
which  they  interpreted  as  the  first  stage 
of  a  victory  and  a  compliment  to  their 
superiority,  held  possession  of  the  town, 
and  were  not  scrupulous  in  ransacking 
the  abandoned  homes.  Several  build- 
ings, left  by  their  owners,  were  broken 
open  and  pillaged,  and  others,  chiefly 
barns  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  were 
set  fire  to  and  consumed  on  the  pretence 
that  a  Union  man  had  been  shot  from  one 
of  them.  Some  of  the  soldiers,  in  the 
evening,  dressed  in  female  apparel  which 
they  had  found  in  the  wardrobes  of  the 
plundered  houses,  walked  the  streets 
with  their  bearded  comrades,  jocularly 
replying  to  the  passers-by  as  if  it  were 
a  holiday  entertainment  or  carnival  upon 
which  they  had  entered.  "This, "says 
an  observer,  "to  the  superficial  looker- 
on  gave  the  scene  a  merry  show  ;  but  I 
noticed  that  the  shuddering  inhabitants 
regarded  it  with  fear  and  undisguised 
abhorrence.  One  female,  hearing  me 
condemn  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers,  as 
a  fellow  passed  by  with  a  pair  of  ladies' 
ruffled  drawers  hauled  up  over  his  pan- 
taloons, said  she  '  thought  it  was  reallj 
too  bad  that  the  clothes  of  Mr.  Smith's 
poor  dead  mother,  which  had  been  pack- 
ed away  for  several  years  untouched, 
should  be  desecrated  in  that  coarse,  vul- 


376 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


gar  way.'  I  myself  half  shuddered  as 
she  turned  this  idea  on  the  fellow's  con- 
duct, and  I  made  up  my  mind  thence- 
forth to  contribute  my  share  of  effort  to 
put  a  check  upon  such  shocking  license."* 
This  disgraceful  conduct,  however, 
was  not  left  solely  to  be  condemned  by 
civilians  and  lookers-on.  The  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  and  his  officers  immedi- 
ately took  prompt  measures  to  repress 
the  license  which  they  must  have  felt  as 
an  ill  omen  for  the  conduct  of  at  least  a 
portion  of  the  comparatively  undisciplin- 
ed troops  assigned  to  them.  "  I  am  dis- 
tressed,'7 wrote  General  McDowell,  with 
feeling,  in  a  dispatch  to  Washington  an- 
nouncing the  military  movements  of  the 
day,  "  to  have  to  report  excesses  by  our 
troops.  The  excitement  of  the  men 
found  vent  in  burning  and  pillaging, 
which,  however,  was  soon  checked.  It 
depressed  us  all  greatly."  The  follow- 
ing stringent  order,  dated  from  his  head- 
quarters at  Fairfax  Court-House,  was 
directed  against  these  depredations.  "  It 
is  with  the  deepest  mortification  the 
General  commanding  finds  it  necessary 
to  reiterate  his  orders  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  property  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district  occupied  by  the  troops 
under  his  command.  Hardly  had  we 
arrived  at  this  place,  when,  to  the  horror 
of  every  right-minded  person,  several 
houses  were  broken  open,  and  others 
were  in  flames,  by  the  act  of  some  of 
those  who,  it  has  been'  the  boast  of  the 
loyal,  came  here  to  protect  the  oppressed 
and  free  the  country  from  the  domination 
of  a  hated  party.  The  property  of  this 
people  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  troops  who, 
we  rightly  say,  are  the  most  intelligent, 
best-educated,  and  most  law-abiding  of 

*  Editorial  Correspondence  of  Mr.  George  Wilkes  to  the 
Spirit  of  the  Times.  August  3,  1862. 


any  that  were  ever  under  arms.  But  do 
not  therefore  the  acts  of  yesterday  cast 
the  deeper  stain  upon  them  ?  It  has 
been  claimed  by  some  that  their  particu- 
lar corps  were  not  engaged  in  these  acts. 
This  is  of  but  little  moment ;  since  the 
individuals  are  not  found  out,  we  are  all 
alike  disgraced.  Commanders  of  regi- 
ments will  select  a  commissioned  officer 
as  a  provost-marshal,  and  ten  men  as  a 
police  force  under  him,  whose  special  and 
sole  duty  it  shall  be  to  preserve  the 
property  from  depredations,  and  to  ar- 
rest all  wrong-doers  of  whatever  regi- 
ment or  corps  they  may  be.  Any  per- 
sons found  committing  the  slightest  dep- 
redation, killing  pigs  or  poultry,  or  tres- 
passing on  the  property  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, will  be  reported  to  headquarters, 
and  the  least  that  will  be  done  to  them 
will  be  to  send  them  to  the  Alexandria 
jail.  It  is  again  ordered  that  no  one 
shall  arrest  or  attempt  to  arrest  any  cit- 
izen not  in  arms  at  the  time,  or  search  or 
attempt  to  search  any  house,  or  even  to 
enter  the  same  without  permission.  The 
troops  must  behave  themselves  with  as 
much  forbearance  and  propriety  as  if 
they  were  at  their  own  homes.  They 
are  here  to  fight  the  enemies  of  the  coun- 
try, not  to  judge  and  punish  the  unarmed 
and  defenceless,  however  guilty  they  may 
be.  When  necessary,  that  will  be  done 
by  the  proper  person." 

The  other  columns,  meanwhile,  were 
advancing  on  the  right  and  left.  Gen- 
eral McDowell  would  have  followed  the 
enemy  to  Centreville,  but  the  men  were 
too  much  exhausted.  He  reported  as 
the  casualties  of  the  day,  an  officer  and 
three  men  slightly  wounded  in  Miles' 
division. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  enemy  from  their 
outposts  at  Fairfax  Court-House,  and 


COLONEL  RICHARDSON'S   RECONNOISSANCE. 


377 


immediately  after  from  Centreville,  was 
in  accordance  with  express  instructions 
from  their  commander-in-chief,  General 
Beauregard,  who,  as  he  himself  after- 
wards asserted,  was  "opportunely  in- 
formed "  of  the  determination  of  General 
McDowell  to  advance  upon  Manassas. 
He  claims,  indeed,  the  retreat  as  a 
highly  creditable  maneuvre  in  face  of, 
and  in  immediate  proximity  to,  a  largely 
superior  force,  despite  a  well-planned, 
well-executed  effort  to  cut  off  the  retreat 
of  Bonham's  brigade — first  at  German- 
town,  and  subsequently  at  Centreville, 
whence  he  withdrew  by  my  direction 
after  midnight,  without  collision,  although 
enveloped  on  three  sides  by  their  lines." 
General  Beauregard  further  claims  for 
his  retreat  "  the  intended  effect  of  deceiv- 
ing the  enemy  as  to  his  ulterior  purposes, 
and  leading  him  to  anticipate  an  unre- 
sisted  passage  of  Bull  Run." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  opinion 
in  the  Union  army,  however,  in  this  first 
step  of  its  advance,  an  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  state  of  affairs  was  gain- 
ed by  the  costly  reconnoissance  of  the 
next  day,  the  18th.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing the  division  of  General  Tyler  was  set 
in  motion  to  move  against  and  occupy 
Oentreville.  Colonel  Richardson  went 
forward  with  his  brigade,  and  found  the 
place  had  been  abandoned  by  the  enemy 
in  the  night.  It  was  then  determined  by 
General  Tyler  to  follow,  for  purposes  of 
observation,  one  of  the  main  routes  by 
which  their  camp  might  be  approached. 
"  I  took,"  says  he.  "  a  squadron  of  caval- 
ry and  two  light  companies  from  Rich- 
ardson's brigade,  with  Colonel  Richard- 
son to  make  a  reconnoissance,  and,  in 
feeling  our  way  carefully,  we  soon  found 
ourselves  overlooking  the  strong  position 
of  the  enemy,  situated  at  Blackburn's 
48 


Ford,  or  Bull  Run.  A  moment's  obser- 
vation discovered  a  battery  on  the  oppo- 
site bank,  but  no  great  body  of  troops, 
although  the  usual  pickets  and  small  de- 
tachments showed  themselves  on  the  left 
of  the  position.  Suspecting,  from  the 
natural  strength  which  I  saw  the  position 
to  possess,  that  the  enemy  must  be  in 
force,  and  desiring  to  ascertain  the  ex- 
tent of  that  force  and  the  position  of  his 
batteries,  I  ordered  up  the  two  rifled 
guns,  Ayres'  battery,  and  Richardson's 
entire  brigade,  and  subsequently  Sher- 
man's brigade  in  reserve,  to  be  ready  for 
any  contingency.  As  soon  as  the  rifled 
guns  came  up,  I  ordered  them  into  bat- 
tery on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  nearly  a 
mile  from  a  single  battery  which  we 
could  see  placed  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  run.  Ten  or  a  dozen  shots  were 
fired,  one  of  them  seeming  to  take  effect 
on  a  large  body  of  cavalry,  who  evident- 
ly thought  themselves  out  of  the  range. 
The  battery  we  had  discovered  on  our 
arrival  fired  six  shots  and  discontinued 
fire.  Finding  that  our  fire  did  not  pro- 
voke the  enemy  to  discover  his  force  and 
his  batteries,  I  ordered  Colonel  Richard- 
son to  advance  his  brigade,  and  to  throw 
out  skirmishers  to  scour  the  thick  woods 
with  which  the  whole  bottom  of  Bull  Run 
was  covered.  This  order  was  skillfully 
executed,  and  the  skirmishers  came  out 
of  the  wood  into  the  road,  and  close  to 
the  ford  without  provoking  any  consider- 
able fire  from  the  enemy.  Desiring  to 
make  a  further  attempt  to  effect  the  ob- 
ject of  the  movement,  and  discovering 
an  opening  low  down  on  the  bottom  of 
the  stream,  where  a  couple  of  howitzers 
could  be  put  into  battery,  I  ordered  Cap- 
tain Ayres  to  detach  a  section,  put  him- 
self on  the  ground  poirted  out  to  him, 
and  sent  a  squadron  of  cavalry  to  sup- 


378 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


port  this  movement.  The  moment  Cap- 
tain Ayres  opened  his  fire,  the  enemy 
replied  with  volleys  which  showed  that 
the  whole  bottom  was  filled  with  troops, 
and  that  he  had  batteries  established  in 
different  positions  to  sweep  all  the  ap- 
proaches by  the  road  leading  to  Black- 
burn's Ford.  Captain  Ayres  maintained 
himself  most  gallantly,  and  after  firing 
away  all  his  canister  shot  and  some 
spherical  case  with  terrible  effect,  as  we 
afterwards  learned,  withdrew  his  pieces 
safely  and  rejoined  his  battery.  This 
attack  on  Captain  Ayres  accomplished 
the  object  I  desired,  as  it  showed  that 
the  enemy  was  in  force,  and  disclosed  the 
position  of  his  batteries,  and  had  I  been 
at  hand  the  movement  would  have  ended 
here  ;  but  Colonel  Richardson,  having 
previously  given  an  order  for  the  12th 
New  York  to  deploy  into  line  and  ad- 
vance into  the  woods,  in  an  attempt  to 
execute  this  order  the  regiment  broke, 
(with  the  exception  of  two  companies,  A 
and  I,  who  stood  their  ground  gallantly,) 
and  was  only  rallied  in  the  woods  some 
mile  and  a  half  in  the  rear.  The  fire 
which  the  regiment  encountered  was  se- 
vere, but  no  excuse  for  the  disorganiza- 
tion which  it  produced.  Having  satisfied 
myself  that  the  enemy  was  in  force,  and 
also  as  to  the  position  of  his  batteries,  I 
ordered  Colonel  Richardson  to  withdraw 
his  brigade,  which  was  skillfully  though 
unwillingly  accomplished,  as  he  request- 
ed permission,  with  the  1st  Massachusetts 
and  2d  and  3d  Michigan  regiments,  to 
charge  the  enemy  and  drive  him  out.  It 
is  but  justice  to  these  regiments  to  say 
that  they  stood  firm,  maneuvred  well, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  would  have  backed 
up  manfully  the  proposition  of  their  gal- 
lant commander.  After  the  infantry  had 
been  withdrawn,  I  directed  Captain 


Ayres  and  Lieutenant  Benjamin,  who 
commanded  the  two  20-pounders  to  open 
their  fire  both  on  the  battery  which  enfi- 
laded the  road  leading  to  the  ford  and  on 
the  battery  which  we  had  discovered  in 
the  bottom  of  Bull  Run,  which  we  knew 
to  be  surrounded  by  a  large  body  of 
men.  This  fire  was  continued  from  *> 
until  4  o'clock,  firing  415  shots.  The 
fire  was  answered  from  the  enemy's 
batteries,  gun  for  gun,  but  was  discon- 
tinued the  moment  we  ceased  firing. 
The  concentrated  position  of  the  enemy, 
and  the  fact  that  the  elevation  of  our 
battery  and  the  range  were  both  favora- 
ble, induce  the  belief  that  the  enemy  suf- 
fered severely  from  our  fire,  and  this 
belief  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that,  on 
the  ensuing  day,  until  12  M.,  ambulances 
were  seen  coming  and  going  from  and  to 
Manassas,  two  miles  distant."* 

In  the  accompanying  official  report  of 
Colonel  Richardson,  the  loss  in  this  affair 
is  stated  at  nineteen  killed,  thirty -eight 
wounded,  and  twenty-six  missing.  Among 
other  incidents  of  the  day,  he  mentions 
that  "  his  skirmishers  advanced  so  close 
to  the  enemies  works  and  batteries  that 
two  mounted  officers  were  killed  under 
the  breastworks,  and  one  of  our  men  was 
shot  through  the  shoulder  with  a  revolv- 
er by  one  of  the  enemy's  officers,  and  one 
of  their  cannoneers  was  bayoneted  by 
one  of  our  men  while  the  former  was  en- 
gaged in  loading  his  gun.  Our  skirmish- 
ers, also,  in  falling  back,  had  several  of 
their  wounded  bayoneted  by  order  of 
the  enemy's  officers."! 

We  have  also  a  report  of  this  action 
from  General  Beauregard.  It  is  an  elab- 


*  General  Tyler's  Report  to  General  McDowell,  July  27. 
1861. 

f  Colonel  Richardson's  Report  to  Brigadier-General 
Tyler,  July  19,  1861. 


BLACKBURN'S  FORD. 


379 


orate  document  of  considerable  length, 
in  which  the  dispositions  of  his  forces  and 
the  particulars  of  the  encounter  in  the 
vicinity  of  Mitchell's  and  Blackburn's 
Fords  and  of  Bull  Bun,  are  set  forth  with 
minuteness.  The  effective  troops,  of 
which  he  enumerates  some  twenty  regi- 
ments— Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  Miss- 
issippi, Alabama  and  Virginia  Volun- 
teers, with  various  light  batteries  and 
companies  of  Virginia  cavalry  —  rested 
on  Bull  Run  from  Union  Mills  Ford  to 
the  Stone  Bridge  on  the  main  road  from 
Centre ville,  a  distance  of  about  eight 
miles.  This  force,  as  stated  by  General 
Beauregard,  with  which' the  Union  army 
had  to  deal  was  thus  disposed  :  "  E well's 
brigade  occupied  a  position  in  the  vicin- 
it3r  of  Union  Mills  Ford.  It  consisted 
of  Rhode's  5th  and  Siebel's  7th  regiments 
of  Alabama,  and  Sevmour's  5th  regiment 

«/  o 

of  Louisiana  Volunteers,  with  four  12- 
pounder  howitzers,  of  Walton's  battery, 
and  Harrison's,  Green's  and  Campbell's 
companies  of  Virginia  cavalry.  D.  R. 
Jones'  brigade  was  in  position  in  the  rear 
of  McLean's  Ford,  and  consisted  of  Jen- 
kins'  5th  South  Carolina,  and  Bunt's  15th 
and  Fetherstone's  18th  regiments  of 
Mississippi  Volunteers,  with  two  brass 
6 -pounder  guns  of  Walton's  battery,  and 
one  company  of  cavalry.  Longstreet's 
brigade  covered  Blackburn's  Ford,  and 
consisted  of  Moore's  1st,  Garland's  llth 
and  Grose's  17th  regiments  Virginia  Vol- 
unteers, with  two  6-pounder  brass  guns 
of  Walton's  battery.  Bonham's  brigade 
held  the  approaches  to  Mitchell's  Ford  ; 
it  was  composed  of  Kershaw's  2d,  Wil- 
liams' 3d,  Bacon's  7th  and  Cash's  8th 
ivgiinents  South  Carolina  Volunteers  ; 
of  Shields'  and  Del  Kemper's  batteries, 
and  of  Flood's,  Radford's,  Payne's,  Ball's, 
Wickman's  and  Powell's  companies  of 


Virginia  cavalry,  under  Colonel  Radford. 
Cocke's  brigade  held  the  Ford  below  and 
in  vicinity  of  the  Stone  Bridge,  and 
consisted  of  Wither's  18th,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Strange's  19th,  and  R.  T.  Pres- 
ton's 28th  regiments,  with  Latham's  bat- 
tery and  one  company  of  cavalry,  Virgi- 
nia Volunteers.  Evans  held  my  left 
flank  and  protected  the  Stone  Bridge 
crossing,  with  Sloane's  4th  regiment 
South  Carolina  Volunteers,  Wheat's  Spe- 
cial Battalion  Louisiana  Volunteers,  four 
6-pounder  guns  and  two  companies  of 
Virginia  cavalry.  Early's  brigade,  con- 
sisting of  Kemper's  7th,  Early's  24th 
regiment  of  Virginia  Volunteers,  Hays' 
7th  regiment  Louisiana  Volunteers,  and 
three  rifle  pieces  of  Walton's  battery. 
Lieutenant  Squires'  at  first  were  held  in 
position  in  the  rear  of,  and  as  a  support 
to,  Swell's  brigade,  until  after  the  devel- 
opment of  the  enemy  in  heavy  offensive 
force,  in  front  of  Mitchell's  and  Black- 
burn's Fords,  when  it  was  placed  in  rear 
of,  and  nearly  equidistant  between,  Mc- 
Lean's, Blackburn's,  and  Mitchell's  Fords. 
Pending  the  development  of  the  enemy's 
purpose,  about  ten  (10)  o'clock  A.M.,  I 
established  my  headquarters  at  a  central 
point — McLean's  farm-h«juse —  near  to 
McLean's  and  Blackburn's  Fords,  where 
two  6-pounders  of  Walton's  battery  were 
in  reserve  ;  but,  subsequently  during  the 
engagement,  I  took  post  to  the  left  of 
my  reserve." 

Having  thus  duly  chronicled  the  va- 
rious positions  of  his  army,  General 
Beauregard  proceeds  to  narrate  the  inci- 
dents of  the  18th  July — to  which  it  will 
be  observed  he  gives  the  name  of  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run — the  second  engage- 
ment to  which  that  title  is  generally 
given  being  called  by  the  Confederates 
the  battle  of  Manassas.  "  Of  the  topo- 


380 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


graphical  features  of  the  country  thus 
occupied,  it  must  suffice  to  say  that  Bull 
Run  is  a  small  stream  running  in  this 
locality,  nearly  from  West  to  East,  to 
its  confluence  with  the  Occoquan  River, 
about  twelve  miles  from  the  Potomac, 
and  draining  a  considerable  scope  of 
country,  from  its  source  in  Bull  Run 
Mountain  to  a  short  distance  of  the  Po- 
tomac at  Occoquan.  At  this  season, 
habitually  low  and  sluggish,  it  is,  how- 
ever, rapidly  and  frequently  swollen  by 
the  summer  rains  until  unfordable.  The 
banks  for  the  most  part  are  rocky  and 
steep,  but  abound  in  long-used  fords. 
The  country,  on  either  side  much  broken 
and  thickly  wooded,  becomes  gently  roll- 
ing and  open  as  it  recedes  from  the 
stream.  On  the  Northern  side  the 
ground  is  much  the  highest,  and  com- 
mands the  other  bank  completely.  Roads 
traverse  and  intersect  the  surrounding 
country  in  almost  every  direction.  Fin- 
ally, at  Mitchell's  Ford,  the  stream  is 
about  equidistant  between  Centreville 
and  Manassas,  some  six  miles  apart.  On 
the  morning  of  the  18th,  finding  that  the 
enemy  was  assuming  a  threatening  atti- 
tude, in  addition  to  the  regiments  whose 
positions  have  been  already  stated,  I 
ordered  up  from  Camp  Pickens,  as  a 
reserve,  in  rear  of  Bonham's  brigade, 
the  effective  men  of  six  companies  of 
Kelley's  8th  regiment  Louisiana  Volun- 
teers, and  Kirkland's  llth  regiment 
North  Carolina  Volunteers,  which,  hav- 
ing arrived  the  night  before  en  route  for 
Winchester,  I  had  halted  in  view  of  the 
existing  necessities  of  the  service.  Sub- 
sequently the  latter  was  placed  in  posi- 
sition  to  the  left  of  Bonham's  brigade. 

"  Appearing  in  heavy  force  in  front  of 
Bonham's  position,  the  enemy,  about 
meridian,  opened  fire,  with  several  20- 


pounder  rifle  guns  2rom  a  hill,  over  one 
and  a  half  miles  from  Bull  Run.  At  the 
same  time  Kemper,  supported  by  two 
companies  of  light  infantry,  occupied  a 
ridge  on  the  left  of  the  Centreville  road, 
about  six  hundred  yards  in  advance  of 
the  ford,  with  two  6-pounder  (smooth) 
guns.  At  first  the  firing  of  the  enemy 
was  at  random,  but  by  half-past  12  p.  M., 
he  had  obtained  the  range  of  our  posi- 
tion, and  poured  into  the  brigade  a 
shower  of  shot,  but  without  injury  to  us 
in  men,  horses  and  guns.  From  the  dis- 
tance, however,  our  guns  could  not  reply 
with  effect,  and  we  did  not  attempt  it, 
patiently  awaiting  a  more  opportune  mo- 
ment. Meanwhile  a  light  battery  was 
pushed  forward  by  the  enemy,  where- 
upon Kemper  threw  only  six  solid  shot, 
with  the  effect  of  driving  back  both  the 
battery  and  its  supporting  force.  This 
is  understood  to  have  been  Ayres'  bat- 
tery, and  the  damage  must  have  been 
considerable  to  have  obliged  such  a  ret- 
rograde movement  on  the  part  of  that 
officer.  The  purposes  of  Kemper's  posi- 
tion having  now  been  fully  served,  his 
pieces  and  support  were  withdrawn 
across  Mitchell's  Ford,  to  a  point  pre- 
viously designated,  and  which  command- 
ed the  direct  approaches  to  the  ford. 

"About  half-past  11  o'clock  A.  M.,  the 
enemy  was  also  discovered  by  the  pick- 
ets of  Longstreet's  brigade  advancing  in 
strong  columns  of  infantry,  with  artillery 
and  cavalry,  on  Blackburn's  Ford.  At 
meridian  the  pickets  fell  back  silently 
before  the  advancing  fire  across  the  ford, 
which,  as  well  as  the  entire  southern 
bank  of  the  stream  for  the  whole  front  of 
Longstreet's  brigade,  was  covered  at  the 
water's  edge  by  an  extended  line  of  skir- 
mishers, while  two  6-pounders  of  Walton's 
battery,  under  Lieutenant  Garnett,  were 


GENERAL  BEAUREGARD'S  REPORT. 


381 


advantageously  placed  to  command  the 
direct  approach  to  the  ford,  but  with 
orders  to  retire  to  the  rear  as  soon  as 
commanded  by  the  enemy.  The  north- 
ern bank  of  the  stream,  in  front  of  Long- 
street's  position,  rises  with  a  stetp  slope 
at  least  fifty  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
water,  leaving  a  narrow  berme  in  front 
of  the  ford  of  some  twenty  yards.  This 
ridge  formed  for  them  an  admirable  na- 
tural parapet,  behind  which  they  could, 
and  did  approach,  under  shelter,  in 
heavy  force,  within  less  than  100  yards 
of  our  skirmishers  ;  the  southern  shore 
was  almost  a  plain,  raised  but  a  few  feet 
above  the  water  for  several  hundred 
3rards,  then  rising  with  a  very  gradual, 
gentle  slope  and  undulations  back  to 
Manassas.  On  the  immediate  bank  there 
was  a  fringe  of  trees,  but  with  little,  if 
any,  undergrowth  or  shelter,  while  on  the 
other  shore  there  were  timber  and  much 
thick  brush  and  covering.  The  ground 
in  the  rear  of  our  skirmishers,  and  occu- 
pied by  our  artillery,  was  an  old  field 
extending  along  the  stream  about  one 
mile,  and  immediately  back  or  about 
half  a  mile  to  a  border  or  skirting  of 
dense,  second-growth  pines.  The  whole 
of  the  ground  was  commanded  at  all 
points  by  the  ridge  occupied  by  the  en- 
emy's musketry,  as  was  also  the  country 
to  the  rear,  for  a  distance  much  beyond 
the  range  of  20-pounder  rifle  guns,  by  the 
range  of  hills  on  which  their  batteries  were 
planted,  and  which,  it  may  be  further 
noted,  commanded  also  all  our  approaches 
from  this  direction  to  the  three  threatened 
fords.  Before  advancing  his  infantry, 
the  enemy  maintained  a  fire  of  rifled  ar- 
tillery from  the  batteries  just  mentioned 
for  half  an  hour,  then  he  pushed  forward 
a  column  of  over  3,000  infantry  to  the 
assault,  with  such  a  weight  of  numbers 


as  to  be  repelled  with  difficulty  by  the 
comparatively  small  force  at  not  more 
than  twelve  hundred  bayonets,  with 
which  Brigadier-General  Longstreet  met 
him  with  characteristic  vigor  and  intre- 
pidity. Our  troops  engaged  at  this  time 
were  the  1st  and  17th,  and  four  compa- 
nies of  the  llth  regiment  Virginia  Vol- 
unteers ;  their  resistance  was  resolute, 
and  maintained  with  a  steadiness  worthy 
of  all  praise*;  it  was  successful,  and  the 
enemy  was  repulsed.  In  a  short  time, 
however,  he  returned  to  the  contest  with 
increased  force  and  determination,  but 
was  again  foiled  and  driven  back  by  our 
skirmishers  and  Longstreet's  reserve  com- 
panies, which  were  brought  up  and  em- 
ployed at  the  most  vigorously  assailed 
points  at  the  critical  moment. 

"  It  was  now  that  Brigadier-General 
Longstreet  sent  for  reinforcements  from 
Early's  brigade,  which  I  had  anticipated 
by  directing  the  advance  of  General 
Early,  with  two  regiments  of  infantiy  and 
two  pieces  of  artillery.  As  these  came 
upon  the  field  the  enemy  had  advanced 
a  third  time  with  heavy  numbers  to  force 
Longstreet's  position.  Hay's  regiment, 
7th  Louisiana  Volunteers,  which  was  in 
advance,  wa-«  placed  on  the  bank  of  the 
stream,  under  some  cover,  to  the  imme- 
diate right  and  left  of  the  ford,  relieving 
Corse's  regiment,  17th  Virginia  Volun- 
teers ;  this  was  done  under  a  heavy  fire 
of  musketry,  with  promising  steadiness. 
The  7th  Virginia,  under  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Williams,  was  then  formed  to  the 
right,  also  under  heavy  fire,  and  pushed 
forward  to  the  stream,  relieving  the  1st 
regiment  Virginia  Volunteers.  At  the 
same  time  two  rifle  guns,  brought  up 
with  Early's  brigade,  were  moved  down 
in  the  field  to  the  right  of  the  road,  so  as 
to  be  concealed  from  the  enemy's  artille- 


381 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


ry  by  the  girth  of  timber  on  the  immedi- 
ate bank  of  the  stream,  and  there  opened 
fire,  directed  only  by  the  sound  of  the 
enemy's  musketry.  Unable  to  effect  a 
passage,  the  enemy  kept  up  a  scattering 
fire  for  some  time.  Some  of  our  troops 
had  pushed  across  the  stream,  and  several 
small  parties  of  Corse's  regiment,  under 
command  of  Captain  Mayre,  met  and 
drove  the  enemy  with  the  bayonet ;  but 
as  the  roadway  from  the* ford  was  too 
narrow  for  a  combined  movement  in 
force,  General  Longstreet  recalled  them 
to  the  south  bank.  Meanwhile,  the  re- 
mainder of  Early 's  infantry  and  artillery 
had  been  called  up — that  is,  six  compa- 
nies of  the  24th  regiment  Virginia  Vol- 
unteers, under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hair- 
ston,  and  five  pieces  of  artillery,  one  rifle 
gun  and  four  6-pounder  brass  guns,  in- 
cluding two  6-pounder  guns  under  Lieu- 
tenant Garnett,  which  had  been  pre- 
viously sent  to  the  rear  by  General 
Longstreet.  This  infantry  was  at  once 
placed  in  position  to  the  left  of  the  ford, 
in  a  space  unoccupied  by  Hays,  and  the 
artillery  was  unlimbered  in  battery  to 
the  right  of  the  road  in  a  line  with  the 
two  guns  already  in  action.  A  scatter- 
ing fire  of  musketry  was  still  kept  up  by 
the  enemy  for  a  short  time,  but  that  was 
soon  silenced. 

"  It  was  at  this  stage  of  the  affair  that 
a  remarkable  artillery  duel  was  com- 
menced and  maintained  on  our  side  with 
a  long-trained  professional  opponent,  su- 
perior in  character  as  well  as  in  the 
number  of  his  weapons,  provided  with 
improved  munitions  and  every  artillery 
appliance,  and  at  the  same  time  occupy- 
ing the  commanding  position.  The  re- 
sults were  marvellous,  and  fitting  precur- 
sors to  the  artillery  achievements  of  the 
21st  of  July.  In  the  outset,  our  fire 


was  directed  against  the  enemy's  infan- 
try, whose  bayonets,  glean  ing  above  the 
tree-tops,  alone  indicated  their  presence 
and  force.  This  drew  the  attention  of  a 
battery  placed  on  a  high  commanding 
ridge,  and  a  duel  began  in  earnest.  For 
a  time  the  aim  of  the  adversary  was  in- 
accurate, but  this  was  quickly  corrected, 
and  shot  fell  and  shells  burst  thick  and 
fast  in  the  midst  of  our  battery,  wound- 
ing in  the  course  of  the  combat  Captain 
Eschelman,  five  privates,  and  the  horse 
of  Lieutenant  Richardson.  From  the 
position  of  our  pieces  and  the  nature  of 
the  ground,  their  aim  could  only  be  di- 
rected at  the  smoke  of  the  enemy's  artil- 
lery ;  how  skillfully  and  with  what  exe- 
cution this  was  done  can  only  be  realized 
by  an  eye-witness.  For  a  few  moments 
their  guns  were  silenced,  but  were  soon 
reopened.  By  direction  of  General 
Longstreet  his  battery  was  then  advanced 
by  hand  out  of  the  range  now  ascertained 
by  the  enemy,  and  a  shower  of  spherical 
case,  shell  and  round  shot  flew  over  the 
heads  of  our  gunners  ;  but  one  of  our 
pieces  had  become  7wr>$  de  combat  from 
an  enlarged  vent.  From  the  new  posi- 
tion our  guns  fired  as  before,  with  no 
other  aim  than  the  smoke  and  flash  of 
their  adversaries'  pieces — renewed  and 
urged  the  conflict  with  such  signal  vigor 
and  effect,  that  gradually  the  fire  of  the 
enemy  slackened,  the  intervals  between 
their  discharges  grew  longer  and  longer, 
finally  to  cease,  and  we  fired  a  last  gun 
at  a  baffled,  flying  foe,  whose  heavy 
masses  in  the  distance  were  plainly  seen 
to  break  and  scatter,  in  wild  confusion 
and  utter  rout,  strewing  the  ground  with 
cast-away  guns,  hats,  blankets  and  knap- 
sacks, as  our  parting  shells  were  thrown 
among  them.  In  their  retreat  one  of 
their  pieces  was  abandoned,  but  from 


EFFECT   OF  THE   MOVEMENT. 


383 


the  nature  of  the  ground  it  was  not  sent 
for  that  night,  and  under  cover  of  dark- 
ness the  enemy  recovered  it.  The  guns 
engaged  in  this  singular  conflict  on  our 
side  were  three  6-pounder  rifle  pieces 
and  four  ordinary  6-pounders,  all  of 
Walton's  battery — the  Washington  Ar- 
tillery of  New  Orleans." 

"  As  a  part  of  the  history  of  this  en- 
gagement," adds  General  Beauregarcl, 
calling  to  mind  doubtless  the  frequent 
statements  of  advantages  of  this  kind 
sheltering  the  Confederate  troops,  "I 
desire  to  place  on  record  that,  on  the 
18th  of  July,  not  one  yard  of  intrench- 
ment,  not  one  rifle-pit  sheltered  the  men 
at  Blackburn's  Ford,  who,  officers  and 
men,  with  rare  exceptions,  were  on  that 
day  for  the  first  time  under  fire,  arid 
who,  taking  and  maintaining  every  posi- 
tion ordered,  cannot  be  too  much  com- 
mended for  their  soldierty  behavior." 

The  casualties  of  the  Confederate  force 
are  given  by  General  Beauregard  at  fifteen 
killed,  including  two  missing,  and  fifty- 
three  wounded,  several  of  them  mor- 
tally."* 

This  expedition  or  reconnoissance  of 
General  Tyler  was  accompanied  by  Major 
Barnard,  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  who,  in  his  published 
letter  on  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  has  given 

*  General  ISeauregard's  Report  to  General  Cooper,  Ad- 
jutant and  Iuspector-Gen'1,  C.  S.  A.  Manassas,  August,  1861. 


a  critique  of  the  affair.  In  fact,  he 
seems  to  have  considered  it  something  of 
an  unnecessary  trial  of  strength,  and  in- 
judiciously carried  far  beyond  the 
bounds  of  the  simple  observation  of  the 
enemy's  force,  which  was  designed. 
After  the  position  of  the  enemy's  battery 
was  ascertained  by  the  replies  to  the  fire 
of  the  Parrott  guns  and  battery  of  rifled 
6-pounders,  the  affair,  he  thinks,  should 
have  ended ;  "  but  General  Tyler, 
though  warned  that  no  serious  engage- 
ment was  intended  at  this  point,  persist- 
ing in  the  belief  that  the  enemy  would 
run  whenever  menaced  by  serious  attack, 
had  determined,  I  believe,  to  march  to 
Manassas  that  day.  Had  he  made  a 
vigorous  charge  and  crossed  the  stream 
at  once,  it  is  quite  possible,  so  much  de- 
pends upon  moral  effect  in  operating 
with  raw  troops,  that  he  might  have  suc- 
ceeded. But  he  only  filed  his  brigade  down 
to  the  stream,  drew  it  up  parallel  to  the 
other  shore,  and  opening  an  unmeaning 
fusilade,  the  results  of  which  were  all  in 
favor  of  the  enemy,  and  before  which, 
overawed  rather  by  the  tremendous  vol- 
ley directed  at  them  than  suffering  from 
heavy  loss,  one  of  the  regiments  broke 
in  confusion  and  the  whole  force  retired. 
This  foolish  affair  had  a  marked  effect 
upon  the  moral '3  of  our  raw  forces."* 

*  The  C.  S.  A.  a»J  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run.     By  J   G 
Barnard ;  pp.  48-9. 


CHAPTER    XXYI. 


THE    BATTLE     OP     BULL    RUN. 


THE  day  following  the  engagement 
described  in  the  last  chapter,  the  19th 
of  July,  was  passed  by  General  McDow- 
ell and  his  staff  in  a  thorough  reconnois- 
sance  of  the  region  round  about  the  ad- 
vanced Union  lines,  the  result  of  which, 
in  connection  with  General  T}7ler's  prac- 
tical experience  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Blackburn's  Ford,  was  a  conviction  that 
the  strength  and  position  of  the  enemy 
rendered  it  unadvisable,  without  a  diver- 
sion, to  risk  the  main  attack  directly  in 
front,  or  make  the  attempt,  of  which 
much  had  been  said,  to  gain  Manassas  by 
an  approach  from  the  east.  Above 
Stone  Bridge,  however,  the  ground  ap- 
peared more  practicable.  The  stream, 
Bull  Run,  might  readily  be  forded,  and 
though  there  were  no  good  roads  leading 
from  the  camps  in  that  direction,  the 
country  afforded  no  serious  obstacle  to  the 
movement  of  troops.  It  was  accordingly 
resolved,  by  a  flank  movement,  to  turn 
the  enemy's  position  on  their  left  with  a 
sufficient  force  which  should  cooperate 
with  a  direct  attack  on  their  position  at 
Stone  Bridge,  and  thus  open  the  turnpike 
road  from  Centreville,  and  cut  off  the 
railway  communication  of  Manassas  with 
the  army  of  Johnston  in  and  about  Win- 
chester. 

In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  General 
McDowell,  on  the  20th,  issued  the  fol- 
lowing military  orders  for  an  advance 
early  the  following  morning.  "  The  en- 
emy has  planted  a  batter}'  on  the  War- 


ren ton  turnpike  to  defend  the  passage  of 
Bull  Run  ;  has  seized  the  stone  bridge 
and  made  a  heavy  abattis  on  the  right 
bank,  to  oppose  our  advance  in  that  di- 
rection.    The  ford  above  the  bridge  is 
also  guarded,  whether  with  artillery  or 
not  is  not  positively  known,  but  every 
indication  favors  the  belief  that  he  pro- 
poses to  defend  the  passage  of  the  stream 
It  is  intended  to  turn  the  position,  force 
the  enemy  from  the  road,  that  it  may  be 
reopened^   and,  if  possible,  destroy  the 
railroad  leading  from  Manassas  to  the 
valley  of  Virginia,  where  the  enemy  has 
a  large  force.     As  this  may  be  resisted 
by  all  the  force  of  the  enemy,  the  troops 
will  be  disposed  as  follows  :    The  first 
division  (General  Tyler's)  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Richardson's  brigade,  will,  at 
half-past  2  o'clock  in  the  morning  pre- 
cisely, be  on  the  Warrenton  turnpike  to 
threaten  the  passage  of  the  bridge,  but 
will  not  open  fire  until  full  daybreak. 
The  second  division  (Hunter's)  will  move 
from  its  camp  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing precisely,  and,  led  by  Captain  Wood- 
bury,  of  the  Engineers,  will,  after  pass- 
ing Cub  Run,  turn  to  the  right  and  pass 
the  Bull  Run  stream  above  the  ford  at 
Sudley's  Spring,  and  then  turning  down 
to  the  left,  descend  the  stream  and  clear 
away  the  enemy  who  may  be  guarding 
the  lower  ford  and  bridge.     It  will  then 
bear  off  to  the  right  and  make  room  for 
the  succeeding  division.     The  third  divi- 
sion (Heintzelman's)  will  march  at  half- 


DISPOSITION  OF  THE  UNION  FORCES. 


385 


past  2  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  follow 
the  road  taken  by  the  second  division, 
but  will  cross  at  the  lower  ford  after  it 
has  been  turned  as  above,  and  then, 
going  to  the  left,  take  place  between  the 
stream  and  second  division.  The  fifth 
division  (Miles')  will  take  position  on  the 
Centreville  Heights,  (Richardson's  brig- 
ade will,  for  the  time,  form  part  of  the 
fifth  division,  and  will  continue  in  its 
present  position.)  One  brigade  will  be 
in  the  village,  and  one  near  the  present 
station  of  Richardson's  brigade.  This 
division  will  threaten  the  Blackburn 
Ford,  and  remain  in  reserve  at  Centre- 
ville. The  commander  will  open  fire 
with  artillery  only,  and  will  bear  in  mind 
that  it  is  a  demonstration  only  he  is  to 
make.  He  will  cause  such  defensive 
works,  abattis,  earthworks,  etc.,  to  be 
thrown  up  as  will  strengthen  his  position. 
Lieutenant  Prime,  of  the  Engineers,  will 
be  charged  with  this  duty.  These  move- 
ments may  lead  to  the  gravest  results, 
and  commanders  of  divisions  and  brig- 
ades should  bear  in  mind  the  immense 
consequences  involved.  There  must  be 
no  failure,  and  every  effort  must  be  made 
to  prevent  straggling.  No  one  must  be 
allowed  to  leave  the  ranks  without  spe- 
cial authority.  After  completing  the 
movements  ordered,  the  troops  must  be 
held  in  order  of  battle,  as  they  may  be 
attacked  at  any  moment." 

A  general  engagement  was  evidently 
looked  for  in  these  dispositions,  which 
were  well  planned,  and  had,  as  we  shall 
see,  the  effect  of  taking  the  enemy  by 
surprise,  and  disconcerting  their  scheme 
of  attack  upon  the  Union  lines.  "  It 
had  been  my  intention,'1  says  General 
McDowell  in  his  subsequent  final  report 
of  the  action  which  ensued — a  master- 
piece of  military  narrative  in  its  clear- 
49 


ness,  simplicity  and  truthfulness,  "  to 
move  the  several  columns  out  on  the 
road  a  few  miles  on  the  evening  of  the 
20th,  so  that  they  would  have  a  shorter 
march  in  the  morning  ;  but  I  deferred  to 
those  who  had  the  greatest  distance  to 
go,  and  who  preferred  starting  early  in 
the  morning  and  making  but  one  move. 
On  the  evening  of  the  20th,  my  command 
was  mostly  at  or  near  Centreville.  The 
enemy  was  at  or  near  Manassas,  distant 
from  Centreville  about  seven  miles  to 
the  southwest.  Centreville  is  a  village 
of  a  few  houses,  mostly  on  the  west  side 
of  a  ridge  running  nearly  north  and 
south.  The  road  from  Centreville  to 
Manassas  Junction  was  along  this  ridge, 
and  Crosses  Bull  Run  about  three  miles 
from  the  former  place.  The  Warrenton 
turnpike,  which  runs  nearly  east  and 
west,  goes  over  this  ridge,  through  the 
village,  and  crosses  Bull  Run  about  four 
miles  from  it,  Bull  Run  having  a  course 
between  the  crossing  from  northwest  to 
southeast.  The  first  division  (Tyler's) 
was  stationed  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Warrenton  turnpike,  and  on  the  eastern 
slope  of  the  Centreville  ridge,  two  brig- 
ades on  the  same  road,  and  a  mile  and  a 
half  in  advance;  to  the  west  of  the  ridge, 
and  one  brigade  on  the  road  from  Cen- 
treville to  Manassas,  where  it  crosses 
Bull  Run  at  Blackburn's  Ford,  where 
General  Tyler  had  the  engagement  of 
the  18th.  The  second  division  (Hun- 
ter's) was  on  the  Warrenton  turnpike, 
one  mile  east  of  Centreville.  The  third 
division  (Heintzelrnan's)  was  on  a  road 
known  as  the  Old  Braddock  road,  which 
comes  in-to  Centreville  from  the  south- 
east, about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
village.  The  fifth  division  (Miles')  was 
on  the  same  road  with  the  third  division, 
and  between  it  and  Centreville. 


386 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


"On  Friday  night,  the  10th,  a  train 
of  subsistence  arrived,  and  on  Saturday 
its  contents  were  ordered  to  be  issued  to 
the  command,  and  the  men  required  to 
have  three  days'  rations  in  their  haver- 
sacks. On  Saturday  orders  were  issued 
for  the  available  force  to  march.  My 
personal  reconnoissance  of  the  roads  to 
the  South  had  shown  that  it  was  not 
practicable  to  carry  out  the  original  plan 
of  turning  the  enemy's  position  on  their 
right.  The  affair  of  the  18th  at  Black- 
burn's Ford  showed  that  he  was  too 
strong  at  that  point  for  us  to  force  a 
passage  there  without  great  loss,  and  if 
we  did  that  it  would  bring  us  in  front  of 
his  strong  position  at  Manassas,  which 
was  not  desired.  Our  information  was 
that  the  stone  bridge,  over  which  the 
Warrenton  road  crossed  Bull  Run,  to 
the  west  of  Centreville,  was  defended 
by  a  battery  in  position,  and  the  road  on 
his  side  of  the  stream  impeded  by  a 
heavy  abattis.  The  alternative  was, 
therefore,  to  turn  the  extreme  left  of  his 
position.  Reliable  information  was  ob- 
tained of  an  undefended  ford  about  three 
miles  above  the  bridge,  there  being  an- 
other ford  between  it  and  the  bridge, 
which  was  defended.  It  was  therefore 
determined  to  take  the  road  to  the  upper 
ford,  and  after  crossing,  to  get  behind 
the  forces  guarding  the  lower  ford  and 
the  bridge,  and  after  occupying  the  War- 
renton road  east  of  the  bridge,  to  send 
out  a  force  to  destroy  the  railroad  at  or 
near  Gainesville,  and  thus  break  up  the 
communication  between  the  enemy's 
forces  at  Manassas  and  those  in  the 
valley  of  Virginia,  before  Winchester, 
which  had  been  held  in  check  by  Major- 
General  Patterson. 

"Brigadier-General  Tyler  was  directed 
to  move  with  three  of  his  brigades  on 


the  Warrenton  road,  and  commence  can- 
nonading the  enemy's  batteries,  while 
Hunter's  division,  moving  after  him, 
should,  after  passing  a  little  stream  called 
Cub  Run,  turn  to  the  right  and  north, 
and  move  around  to  the  upper  ford,  and 
there  turn  south  and  get  behind  the  en- 
emy. Colonel  Heintzelman's  division  was 
to  follow  Hunter's  as  far  as  the  turning1 

_  c 

off  place  to  the  lower  ford,  where  he  was 
to  cross  after  the  enemy  should  have 
been  driven  out  by  Hunter's  division  ; 
the  fifth  division  (Miles')  to  be  in  reserve 
on  the  Centreville  Ridge.  I  had  felt 
anxious  about  the  road  from  Manassas 
by  Blackburn's  Ford  to  Centreville, 
along  the  ridge,  fearing  that  whilst  we 
should  be  in  force  to  the  front,  and  en- 
deavoring to  turn  the  enemy's  position, 
we  ourselves  should  be  turned  by  him  by 
this  road  ;  for  if  he  "should  once  obtain 
possession  of  this  ridge,  which  overlooks 
all  the  country  to  the  west  to  the  foot  of 
the  spurs  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  we  should 
have  been  irretrievably  cut  off  and  de- 
stroyed. I  had,  therefore,  directed  this 
point  to  be  held  in  force,  and  sent  an  en- 
gineer to  extemporize  some  field-works 
to  strengthen  the  position.  The  fourth 
division  (Runyon's)  had  not  been  brought 
to  the  front  further  than  to  guard  our 
communications  by  way  of  Vienna  and 
the  Orange  and  Alexandria  Railroad. 
His  advanced  regiment  was  about  seven 
miles  in  the  rear  of  Centreville.  The 
divisions  were  ordered  to  march  at  half- 
past  2  o'clock*  A.  M.,  so  as  to  arrive  on 
the  ground  early  in  the  day,  and  thus 
avoid  the  heat  which  is  to  be  expected 
at  this  season.  There  was  delay  in  the 
first  division  getting  out  of  its  camp  on 
the  road,  and  the  other  divisions  were, 
in  consequence,  between  two  and  three 
hours  behind  the  tine  appointed  —  a 


OPENING   OF  THE  BATTLE. 


387 


great  misfortune,  as  events  turned  out. 
The  wood  road  leading  from  the  War- 
reuton  turnpike  to  the  upper  ford  was 
much  longer  than  we  counted  upon,  the 
general  direction  of  the  stream  being 
oblique  to  the  road,  and  we  having  the 
obtuse  angle  on  our  side. 

"General  Tyler  commenced  with  his 
artillery  at  half- past  6  A.  M.,  but  the  en- 
emy did  not  reply,  and  after  some  time 
it  became  a  question  whether  he  was  in 
any  force  in  our  front,  and  if  he  did  not 
intend  himself  to  make  an  attack,  and 
make  it  by  Blackburn's  Ford.  After 
firing  several  times,  and  obtaining  no  re- 
sponse, I  held  one  of  Heintzelman's  brig- 
ades in  reserve,  in  case  we  should  have 
to  send  any  troops  back  to  reinforce 
Miles'  division.  The  other  brigades 
moved  forward  as  directed  in  the  gener- 
al orders.  On  reaching  the  ford  at  Sud- 
ley's  Spring,  I  found  part  of  the  leading 
brigade  of  Hunter's  division  (Burnside's) 
had  crossed,  but  the  men  were  slow  in 
getting  over,  stopping  to  drink.  As  at 
this  time  the  clouds  of  dust  from  the 
direction  of  Manassas  indicated  the  im- 
mediate approach  of  a  large  force,  and 
fearing  it  might  come  down  on  the  head 
of  the  column  before  the  division  could 
all  get  over  and  sustain  it,  orders  were 
sent  back  to  the  heads  of  regiments  to 
break  from  the  column  and  come  for- 
ward separately  as  fast  as  possible. 
Orders  were  sent  by  an  officer  to  the 
reserve  brigade  of  Heintzelman's  division 
to  come  by  a  nearer  road  across  the 
fields,  and  an  aide-de-camp  was  sent  to 
Brigadier-General  Tyler  to  direct  him  to 
press  forward  his  attack,  as  large  bodies 
of  the  enemy  were  passing  in  front  of 
him  to  attack  the  division  which  had 
crossed  over.  The  ground  between  the 
stream  and  the  road  leading  from  Sud- 


ley's  Spring  south,  and  over  which  Burn- 
side's  brigade  marched,  was  for  about  a 
mile  from  the  ford  thickly  wooded,  whilst 
on  the  right  of  the  road  for  about  the 
same  distance  the  country  was  divided 
between  fields  and  woods.  About  a  mile 
from  the  road  the  country  on  both  sides 
of  the  road  is  open,  and  for  nearly  a 
mile  further  large  rolling  fields  extend 
down  to  the  Warrenton  turnpike,  which 
crosses  what  became  the  field  of  battle 
through  the  valley  of  a  small  water- 
course, a  tributary  of  Bull  Eun. 

"  Shortly  after  the  leading  regiment  of 
the  first  brigade  reached  the  open  space, 
and  whilst  others  and  the  second  brig- 
ade were  crossing  to  the  front  and  right, 
the  enemy  opened  his  fire,  beginning 
with  artillery  and  following  up  with  in- 
fantry. The  leading.brigade  (Burnside's) 
had  to  sustain  this  shock  for  a  short  time 
without  support,  and  did  it  well.  The 
battalion  of  regular  infantry  was  sent  to 
sustain  it,  and  shortly  afterwards  the 
other  corps  of  Porter's  brigade,  and  a 
regiment  detached  from  Heintzelman's 
division  to  the  left,  forced  the  enemy 
back  far  enough  to  allow  Sherman's  and 
Keyes'  brigades  of  Tyler's  division  to 
cross  from  their  position  on  the  Warren- 
ton  road.  These  drove  the  right  of  the 
enemy,  understood  to  have  been  com- 
manded by  Beauregard,  from  the  front 
of  the  field,  and  out  of  the  detached 
woods,  and  down  to  the  road,  and  across 
it  up  the  slopes  on  the  other  side.  Whilst 
this  was  going  on,  Heintzelman's  division 
was  moving  down  the  field  to  the  stream, 
and  up  the  road  beyond.  Beyond  the 
Warrenton  road,  and  to  the  left  of  the 
road,  down  which  our  troops  had  march- 
ed from  Sudley's  Spring,  is  a  hill  with  a 
farm-house  on  it.  Behind  this  hill  the 
enemy  had,  early  in  the  day,  some  of 


388 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


his  most  annoying  batteries  planted. 
Across  the  road  from  this  hill  was  an- 
other hill,  or  rather  elevated  ridge,  or 
table  of  land.  The  hottest  part  of  the 
contest  was  for  the  possession  of-  this 
hill  with  a  house  on  it.  The  force  en- 
gaged here  was  Heintzelman's  division. 
Wilcox's  and  Howard's  brigades  on  the 
right,  supported  by  part  of  Porter's  brig- 
ade and  the  cavalry  under  Palmer,  and 
Franklin's  brigade  of  Heintzelman's  divi- 
sion, Sherman's  brigade  of  Tyler's  divi- 
sion in  the  centre  and  up  the  road,  whilst 
Keyes'  brigade  of  Tyler's  division  was  on 
the  left,  attacking  the  batteries  near  the 
stone  bridge.  The  Rhode  Island  battery 
of  Burnside's  brigade  also  participated  in 
this  attack  by  its  fire  from  the  north  of 
the  turnpike.  The  enemy  was  under- 
stood to  have  been  -commanded  by  J.  E. 
Johnston.  Rickett's  battery,  which  did 
such  effective  service  and  played  so  bril- 
liant a  part  in  this  contest,  was,  together 
with  Griffin's  battery,  on  the  side  of  the 
hill,  and  became  the  object  of  the  special 
attention  of  the  enemy,  who  succeeded— 
our  officers  mistaking  one  of  his  regiments 
for  one  of  our  own,  aud  allowing  it  to 
approach  without  firing  upon  it — in  dis- 
abling the  battery,  and  then  attempted 
to  take  it.  Three  times  was  he  repulsed 
by  different  corps  in  succession,  and 
driven  back,  and  the  guns  taken  by 
hand,  the  horses  being  killed,  and  pulled 
away.  The  third  time  it  was  supposed 
by  us  all  that  the  repulse  was  final,  for 
he  was  driven  entirely  from  the  hill,  and 
so  far  beyond  it  as  not  to  be  in  sight,  and 
all  were  certain  the  day  was  ours.  He 
had  before  this  been  driven  nearly  a  mile 
and  a  half,  and  was  beyond  the  Warren- 
ton  road,  which  was  entirely  in  our  pos- 
session from  the  stone  bridge  westward, 
and  our  engineers  were  just  completing 


the  removal  of  the  abattis  across  the  road, 
to  allow  our  reinforcement  (Schenck's 
brigade  and  Ayres'  battery)  to  join  us. 
"  The  enemy  was  evidently  disheart- 
ened and  broken.  But  we  had  been  fight- 
ing since  half-past  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  it  was  after  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.  The  men  had  been  up  since 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  had  made 
what  to  those  unused  to  such  things 
seemed  a  long  march  before  coming  into 
action,  though  the  longest  distance  gone 
over  was  not  more  than  nine  and  a  half 
miles  ;  and  though  they  had  three  days' 
provisions  served  out  to  them  the  day 
before,  many  no  doubt  either  did  not  eat 
them,  or  threw  them  away  on  the  march, 
or  during  the  battle,  and  were  therefore 
without  food.  They  had  done  much 
severe  fighting.  Some  of  the  regiments 
which  had  been  driven  from  the  hill  in 
the  first  two  attempts  of  the  enemy  to 
keep  possession  of  it  had  become  shaken, 
were  unsteady,  and  had  many  men  out 
of  the  ranks.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
the  enemy's  reinforcements  came  to  his 
aid  from  the  railroad  train,  understood 
to  have  just  arrived  from  the  valley  with 
the  residue  of  Johnston's  army.  They 
threw  themselves  in  the  woods  on  our 
right  and  towards  the  rear  of  Our  right, 
and  opened  a  fire  of  musketry  on  our 
men,  which  caused  them  to  break  and 
retire  down  the  hillside.  This  soon  de- 
generated into  disorder,  for  which  there 
was  no  remedy.  Every  effort  was  made 
to  rally  them,  even  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  enemy's  fire,  but  in  vain.  The  bat- 
talion of  regular  infantry  alone  moved 
up  the  hill  opposite  to  the  one  with  the 
house  on  it,  and  there  maintained  itself 
until  our  men  could  get  down  to  and 
across  the  Warrenton  turnpike,  on  the 
way  back  to  the  position  we  occupied  in 


"3 


1    I 


85 


GENERAL  McDOWELL'S  REPORT. 


389 


the  morning.  The  plain  was  covered 
with  the  retreating  troops,  and  they 
seemed  to  infect  those  with  whom  they 
came  in  contact.  The  retreat  soon  be- 
came a  rout,  and  this  soon  degenerated 
still  further  into  a  panic.  Finding  this 
state  of  affairs  was  beyond  the  efforts  of 
all  those  who  had  assisted  so  faithfully 
during  the  long  and  hard  day's  work  in 
gaining  almost  the  object  of  our  wishes, 
and  that  nothing  remained  on  the  field 
but  to  recognize  what  we  could  no  longer 
prevent,  I  gave  the  necessary  orders  to 
protect  their  withdrawal,  begging  the 
men  to  form  in  line,  and  offer  the  appear- 
ance at  least,  of  organization.  They  re- 
turned by  the  fords  to  the  Warrrenton 
road,  protected,  by  my  order,  by  Colonel 
Porter's  force  of  regulars.  Once  on  the 
road,  and  the  different  corps  coming  to- 
gether in  small  parties,  many  without 
officers,  they  became  intermingled,  and 
all  organization  was  lost. 

"  Orders  had  been  sent  back  to  Miles' 
division  for  a  brigade  to  move  forward 
and  protect  this  retreat,  and  Colonel 
Blenker's  brigade  was  detached  for  this 
purpose,  and  was  ordered  to  go  as  far 
forward  as  the  point  where  the  road  to 
the  right  left  the  main  road.  By  refer- 
ring to  the  general  order  it  will  be  seen 
that,  while  the  operations  were  to  go  on 
in  front,  an  attack  was  to  be  made  at 
Blackburn's  Ford  by  the  brigade  (Rich- 
ardson's) stationed  there.  A  reference 
to  his  report,  and  to  that  of  Major  Hunt, 
commanding  the  artillery,  will  show  that 
this  part  of  the  plan  was  well  and  effect- 
ively carried  out.  It  succeeded  in  de- 
ceiving the  enemy  for  a  considerable 
time,  and  in  keeping  in  check  a  part  of 
his  force.  The  fire  of  the  artillery  at 
this  point  is  represented  as  particularly 
destructive.  At  the  time  of  our  retreat, 


seeing  great  activity  in  this  direction, 
much  firing,  and  columns  of  dust,  I  be- 
came anxious  for  this  place,  fearing  if  it 
were  turned  or  forced  the  whole  stream 
of  our  retreating  mass  would  be  captured 
or  destroyed.  After  providing  for  the 
protection  of  the  retreat  by  Porter's  and , 
Blenker's  brigades,  I  repaired  to  Rich- 
ardson's, and  found  the  whole  force  or- 
dered to  be  stationed  for  the  holding  of 
the  road  from  Manassas  by  Blackburn's 
Ford  to  Centreville,  on  the  march,  under 
the  orders  from  the  division  commander 
for  Centreville.  I  immediately  halted 
it,  and  ordered  it  to  take  up  the  best 
line  of  defence  across  the  ridge  that  their 
position  admitted  of,  and  subsequently 
taking  in  person  the  command  of  this 
part  of  the  army,  I  caused  such  disposi- 
tion of  the  forces,  which  had  been  added 
to  by  the  1st  and  2d  New  Jersey  and 
the  De  Kalb  regiments,  ordered  up  from 
Runyon's  reserve,  before  going  forward, 
as  would  best  serve  to  check  the  enemy. 
The  ridge  being  held  in  this  way,  the  re- 
treating current  passed  slowly  through 
Centreville  to  the  rear.  The  enemy  fol- 
lowed us  from  the  ford  as  far  as  Cub 
Run,  and  owing  to  the  road  becoming 
blocked  up  at  the  crossing,  caused  us 
much  damage  there,  for  the  artillery 
could  not  pass,  and  several  pieces  and 
caissons  had  to  be  abandoned.  In  the 
panic,  the  horses  hauling  the  caissons 
and  ammunition  were  cut  from  their 
places  by  persons  to  escape  with,  and  in 
this  very  much  confusion  was  caused,  the 
panic  aggravated,  and  the  road  encum- 
bered. Not  only  were  pieces  of  artillery 
lost,  but  also  many  of  the  ambulances 
carrying  the  wounded. 

"By  sundown  most  of  our  men  had 
gotten  behind  Centreville  Ridge,  and  it 
became  a  question  whether  we  should  or 


390 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


not  endeavor  to  make  a  stand  there. 
The  condition  of  our  artillery  and  its 
ammunition,  and  the  want  of  food  for  the 
men,  who  had  generally  abandoned  or 
thrown  away  all  that  had  been  issued  the 
day  before,  and  the  utter  disorganization 
and  consequent  demoralization  of  the 
mass  of  the  army,  seemed  to  all  who 
were  near  enough  to  be  consulted — divi- 
sion and  brigade  commanders  and  staff- 
to  admit  of  no  alternative  but  to  fall 
back  ;  the  more  so  as  the  position  of 
Blackburn's  Ford  was  then  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  enemy,  and  he  was  already 
Burning  our  left.  On  sending  the  officers 
of  the  staff  to  the  different  camps,  they 
found,  as  they  reported  to  me,  that  our 
decision  had  been  anticipated  by  the 
troops,  most  of  those  who  had  come  in 
from  the  front  being  already  on  the  road 
to  the  rear,  the  panic  with  which  they 
came  in  still  continuing  and  hurrying 
them  along.  At  —  o'clock  the  rear- 
guard (Blenker's  brigade)  moved,  cover- 
ing the  retreat,  which  was  effected  dur- 
ing the  night  and  next  morning.  The 
troops  at  Fairfax  station  leaving  by  the 
cars,  took  with  them  the  bulk  of  the  sup- 
plies which  had  been  sent  there.  My 
aide-de-camp,  Major  Wadsworth,  stayed 
at  Fairfax  Court-House  till  late  in  the 
morning,  to  see  that  the  stragglers  and 
weary  and  worn-out  soldiers  were  not 
•eft  behind." 

From  this  account  of  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  as  it  is  succinctly  narrated  by  the 
Union  general  with  the  candor  of  a  gen- 
tleman and  soldier,  we  may  turn  to  the 
complement  of  the  picture  in  the  official 
report  of  the  rebel  commander,  General 
Beauregard.  Like  his  statement  of  the 
preceding  engagement  at  Blackburn's 
Ford,  it  is  a  minute,  elaborate  and  well 
presented  exhibition  of  the  military  move- 


ments of  the  day.  Time  was  taken  for 
its  preparation,  and  its  writer  had  con- 
sequently the  advantage,  of  which  he 
availed  himself,  of  the  published  reports 
of  the  Union  officers  ;  so  that  the  paper 
is  much  more  complete  than  is  usual  with 
documents  of  this  kind.  It  bears  date 
August  26,  1861,  but  was  not  given  to 
the  public  for  some  time  after,  and  then, 
as  it  was  said,  in  a  somewhat  abridged 
form,  curtailed  of  the  comments  of  the 
writer  on  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the 
campaign  by  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment. The  report  was  not  in  fact  pub- 
lished till  more  than  six  months  after 
the  battle  which  it  described,  about  the 
time  of  General  Beauregard's  departure 
from  Manassas  for  a  new  field  of  opera- 
tions in  the  South. 

Immediately  on  the  advance  of  Gener- 
al McDowell  from  before  Washington, 
on  the  17th  July,  as  appears  from  this 
document,  General  Beauregard  apprised 
the  Confederate  War  Department  at 
Eichmond,  by  telegraph,  of  the  fact, 
when  government  orders  were  at  once 
transmitted  for  the  reinforcement  of  his 
command.  General  Johnston  was  direct- 
ed to  bring  his  forces,  i£  possible,  from 
Winchester,  and  General  Holmes,  who 
was  in  the  rear  of  Manassas,  in  Eastern 
Virginia,  at  Fredericksburg,  was  sent 
forward  with  his  brigade.  On  being  ad- 
vised of  these  measures,  General  Beaure- 
gard at  first  intended  that  one  portion 
of  Johnston's  force  should  advance  by  a 
route  below  Leesburg  and  take  the  Union 
forces  on  their  right  flank  and  in  the 
rear  at  Centreville  ;  but  it  was  found 
that  the  means  of  transportation  did  not 
admit  of  this,  and  a  junction  of  the  forces 
was  resolved  upon  within  the  lines  of 
Bull  Eun,  with  the  view  of  an  immediate 
attack  on  the  enemy.  General  Johnston 


THE   LINE   OF  DEFENCE. 


391 


having   evaded  his  antagonist,  General 
Patterson,  by  a  skillful  disposition  of  his 
advance   guard,   under   Colonel   Stuart, 
leaving  his  sick,  about  1,700  in  number, 
under  the  care  of  a  small  militia  force  at 
Winchester,  moved  with  the  remainder 
of  his  army   through  Ashby's    Gap  to 
Piedmont,  a  station  of  the  Manassas  Gap 
Railroad.     From  this  point  the  infantry 
were  to  be  transported  to  the  camp  of 
General  Beauregard  by  rail,  while  the 
cavalry  and  artillery  were  ordered  to 
continue  their  march.-    About  noon  on 
the  20th,  having  been  preceded  by  two 
Georgia,  and  Jackson's  brigade  of  five 
Virginia   regiments,   General   Johnston, 
accompanied  by  General  Bee  with  two 
regiments  from  Alabama  and  Mississippi, 
arrived  at  Manassas,  and  being  the  senior 
of  General  Beauregard  in  rank,  assumed 
the  command  of  the  entire  force.     The 
untoward  detention   of  some   5,000  of 
General  Johnston's  army,  which  he  ex- 
pected to  follow  him  immediately  on  the 
railway,  but  which  were  detained  in  con- 
sequence of  the  imperfect  means  of  trans- 
portation, with  the  advance  in  force  of 
McDowell's  army,  compelled  a  disposition 
of  the   enemy's  command  to'  repel  the 
threatened  attack  on  their  defensive  line 
of  Bull  Run.     At  half-past  four  on  the 
morning  of  the  21st,  the  day  of  the  bat- 
tle, the  Confederate  forces,  says  General 
Beauregard,  were  thus  arranged  : 

"  EwelPs  brigade,  constituted  as  on  the 
18th  of  July,  remained  in  position  at 
Union  Mills  Ford,  his  left  extending 
along  Bull  Run,  in  the  direction  of  Mc- 
Lean's Ford,  and  supported  by  Holmes' 
brigade,  2d  Tennessee  and  1st  Arkansas 
regiments  a  short  distance  in  the  rear — 
that  is,  at  and  near  Camp  Wigfall.  D. 
R.  Jones'  brigade,  from  Swell's  left,  in 
front  of  McLean's  Ford  and  along  the 


stream  to  Longstrect's  position.     It  was 
unchanged  in  organization,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  Early's  brigade,  also  unchang- 
ed, placed  behind  a  thicket  of  young 
pines,  a  short  distance  in  the  rear  of 
McLean's  Ford.      Longstreet's   brigade 
held  its  former  ground  at  Blackburn's 
Ford,  from  Jones'  left  to  Bonham's  right, 
at  Mitchell's  Ford,  and  was  supported 
by  Jackson's  brigade,  consisting  of  Col- 
onels James  L.  Preston's  4th,  Harper's 
5th,  Allen's  2d,    the  27th,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Echoll's,  and  the  33d,  Cumming's 
Virginia  regiments,  2,611  strong,  which 
were  posted  behind  the  skirting  of  pines 
to  the  rear  of  Blackburn's  and  Mitchell's 
Fords,  and  in  the  rear  of  this  support 
was  also  Barksdale's  13th  regiment  Mis- 
sissippi Volunteers,  which  had  lately  ar- 
rived from  Lynchburg.     Along  the  edge 
of  a  pine  thicket,  in  rear  of  arid  equi- 
distant from  McLean's  and  Blackburn's 
Fords,  ready  to  support  either  position, 
I  had  also  placed  all  of  Bee's  and  Bar- 
tow's  brigades  that  had  arrived — namely, 
two  companies  of  the  llth  Mississippi, 
Lieu  tenant- Colon  el  Liddell,  the  2d  Mis- 
sissippi, Colonel  Falkner,  and  the  Alaba- 
ma, with  the  7th  and  8th  Georgia  regi- 
ments (Colonel  Gartrell  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Gardner),  in  all  2,732  bayonets. 
Bonham's  brigade,  as  before,  held  Mitch- 
ll's   Ford,   its   right  near   Longstreet's 
[eft,  its  left  extending  in  the  direction  of 
Cocke's  right.     It  was  organized  as  at 
the  end  of  the  18th  of  July,  with  Jack- 
son's brigade,  as  before  said,  as  a  sup- 
port.     Cocke's   brigade,    increased    by 
seven  companies  of  the  8th,  Hunton's  ; 
three  companies  of  the  49th,  Smith's  Vir- 
ginia regiments  ;  two  companies  of  cav- 
alry, and  a  battery  under  Rogers  of  four 
6-pounders,  occupied  the  line  in  front 
and  rear  of  Bull  Run,  extending  from  the 


392 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


direction  of  Bonhara's  left,  and  guarding 
Island,  Ball's  and  Lewis'  Fords,  to  the 
right  of  Evans'  demi-brigade,  near  the 
Stone  Bridge,  also  under  General  Cocke's 
command.  The  latter  held  the  Stone 
Bridge,  and  its  left  covered  a  farm  ford 
about  one  mile  above  the  bridge.  Stuart's 
cavalry,  some  three  hundred  men  of  the 
army  of  the  Shenandoah,  guarded  the 
level  ground  extending  in  rear  from 
Bonham's  left  to  Cocke's  right.  Two 
companies  of  Radford  cavalry  were  held 
in  reserve  a  short  distance  in  rear  of 
Mitchell's  Ford,  his  left  extending  in  the 
direction  of  Stuart's  right.  Colonel  Pen- 
dleton's  reserve  battery  of  eight  pieces 
was  temporarily  placed  in  rear  of  Bon- 
ham's  extreme  left.  Major  Walton's 
reserve  battery  of  five  guns  was  in  posi- 
tion on  McLean's  farm,  in  a  piece  of 
woods  in  rear  of  Bee's  right.  Hampton's 
legion  of  six  companies  of  infantry,  six 
hundred  strong,  having  arrived  that 
morning  by  the  cars  from  Richmond, 
was  subsequently,  as  soon  as  it  arrived, 
ordered  forward  to  a  position  in  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  Lewis  House,  as  a 
support  for  any  troops  engaged  in  that 
quarter.  The  effective  force  of  all  arms 
of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  on  that 
eventful  morning,  including  the  garrison 
of  Camp  Pickens,  did  not  exceed  21,833 
and  29  guns.  The  army  of  the  Shenan- 
doah, ready  for  action  on  the  field,  may 
be  set  at  6,000  men  and  20  guns.  That 
is,  when  the  battle  begun,  Smith's  brig- 
ade and  Fisher's  North  Carolina  came 
up  later,  and  made  total  of  army  of 
Shenandoah  engaged  of  all  arms,  8,334. 
Hill's  Virginia  regiment,  550,  also  arriv- 
ed, but  was  posted  as  reserve  to  right 
flank.  The  brigade  of  General  Holmes 
mustered  about  1,265  bayonets,  six  guns 
and  a  company  of  cavalry  about  90  strong. 


"  Informed  at  half-past  five  A.  M.,  by 
Colonel  Evans,"  continues  General  Beau- 
regard,  "that  the  enemy  had  deployed 
some  1,200  men  [these  were  what  Colo- 
nel Evans  saw  of  General  Schenck's  bri- 
gade of  General  Tyler's  division  and  two 
other  heavy  brigades,  in  all  over  9,000 
men  and  thirteen  pieces  of  artillery- 
Carlisle's  and  Ayres's  batteries.  That 
is,  900  men  and  two  6-pounders,  con- 
fronted by  9,000  men  and  thirteen  pieces 
of  artillery,  mostly  rifled],  with  several 
pieces  of  artillery  in  his  immediate  front. 
I  at  once  ordered  him,  as  also  General 
Cocke,  if  attacked,  to  maintain  their  po- 
sition to  the  last  extremity.  In  my 
opinion  the  most  effective  method  of  re- 
lieving that  flank  was  by  a  rapid,  de- 
termined attack,  with  my  right  wing  and 
centre  on  the  enemy's  flank  and  rear  at 
Centreville,  with  due- precautions  against 
the  advance  of  his  reserves  from  the  di- 
rection of  Washington.  By  such  a  move- 
ment I  confidently  expected  to  achieve 
a  complete  victory  for  my  country  by 
twelve  o'clock  M.  These  new  disposi- 
tions were  submitted  to  General  John- 
ston, who  fully  approved  them,  and  the 
orders  for  their  immediate  execution 
were  at  once  issued.  Brigadier-General 
Ewell  was  directed  to  begin  the  move- 
ment, to  be  followed  and  supported  suc- 
cessively by  Generals  D.  R.  Jones,  Long- 
street  and  Bonham  respectively,  support- 
ed by  their  several  appointed  reserves. 
The  cavalry,  under  Stuart  and  Radford, 
were  to  be  held  in  hand,  subject  to  fu- 
ture orders  and  ready  for  employment 
as  might  be  required  by  the  exigencies 
of  the  battle.  About  half-past  eight 
o'clock  A.  M.  General  Johnston  and  my- 
self transferred  our  headquarters  to  a 
central  position  about  half  a  mile  in  the 
rear  of  Mitchell's  Ford,  whence  we  might 


CHANGE  OF  POSITION. 


393 


watch  the  course  of  events.  Previously, 
as  early  as  half-past  five,  the  Federalists 
in  front  of  Evans'  position,  Stone  Bridge, 
had  opened  with  a  large  3 0-pound er 
Parrott  rifle  gun,  and  thirty  minutes 
later  with  a  moderate,  apparently  tenta- 
tive, fire  from  a  battery  of  rifle  pieces, 
directed  first  in  front  at  Evans',  and 
then  in  the  direction  of  Cocke's  position, 
but  without  drawing  a  return  fire  and 
discovery  of  our  positions,  chiefly  be- 
cause in  that  quarter  we  had  nothing 
but  eight  6-pounder  pieces,  which  could 
not  reach  the  distant  enemy.  As  the 
Federalists  had  advanced  with  an  ex- 
tended line  of  skirmishers  in  front  of 
Evans,  that  officer  promptly  threw  for- 
ward the  two  flank  companies  of  the  4th 
South  Carolina  regiment  and  one  com- 
pany of  Wheat's  Louisiana  battalion,  de- 
ployed as  skirmishers,  to  cover  his  small 
front.  An  occasional  scattering  fire  re- 
sulted, and  thus  the  two  armies  in  that 
quarter  remained  for  more  than  an  hour, 
while  the  main  body  of  the  enemy  was 
marching  its  dubious  way  through  the 
'  big  forest '  to  take  our  forces  in  flank 
and  rear. 

"  By  half- past  eight  A.  M.,  Colonel 
Evans  having  become  satisfied  of  the 
counterfeit  character  of  the  movement 
on  his  front,  and  persuaded  of  an  at- 
tempt to  turn  his  left  flank,  decided  to 
change  his  position  to  meet  the  enemy, 
and  for  this  purpose  immediately  put  in 
motion  to  his  left  and  rear  six  companies 
of  Sloan's  4th  South  Carolina  regiment, 
Wheat's  Louisiana  battalion,  five  com- 
panies, and  two  6-pounders  of  Latham's 
battery,  leaving  four  companies  of  Sloan's 
regiment  under  cover  as  the  sole  imme- 
diate defence  of  the  Stone  Bridge,  but 
giving  information  to  General  Cocke  of 
his  change  of  position  and  the  reasons 
50 


that  impelled  it.  Following  a  road  lead- 
ing by  the  Old  Pittsylvania  (Carter) 
mansion,  Colonel  Evans  formed  in  line 
of  battle  some  four  hundred  yards  in 
rear — as  he  advanced — of  that  house, 
his  guns  to  the  front  and  in  position, 
properly  supported,  to  its  immediate 
right.  Finding,  however,  that  the  enemy 
did  not  appear  on  that  road,  which  was 
a  branch  of  one  running  by  Sudley's 
Springs  Ford  to  Brentsville  and  Dum- 
fries, he  turned  abruptly  to  the  left,  and 
marching  across  the  fields  for  three-quar- 
ters of  a  mile,  about  half-past  nine  A.  M., 
took  a  position  in  line  of  battle  ;  his  left, 
Sloan's  companies,  resting  on  the  main 
Brentsville  road  in  a  shallow  ravine,  the 
Louisiana  battalion  to  the  right,  in  ad- 
vance some  two  hundred  yards,  a  rectan- 
gular course  of  wood  separating  them — 
one  piece  of  his  artillery  planted  on  an 
eminence  some  seven  hundred  yards  to 
the  rear  of  Wheat's  battalion,  and  the 
other  on  a  ridge  near  and  in  rear  of 
Sloan's  position,  commanding  a  reach  of 
the  road  just  in  front  of  the  line  of  bat- 
tle. In  this  order  he  awaited  the  com- 
ing of  the  masses  of  the  enemy  now  draw- 
ing near.  In  the  meantime  about  seven 
o'clock  A.  M.,  Jackson's  brigade,  with 
Imboden's,  and  five  pieces  of  Walton's 
battery,  had  been  sent  to  take  up  a  posi- 
tion along  Bull  Run  to  guard  the  inter- 
val between  Cocke's  right  and  Bonharn's 
left,  with  orders  to  support  either  in  case 
of  need — the  character  and  topographi- 
cal features  of  the  ground  having  been 
shown  to  General  Jackson  by  Captain 
D.  B.  Harris,  of  the  Engineers,  of  this 
army  corps.  So  much  of  Bee's  and  Bar- 
tow's  brigades,  now  united,  as  had  arriv- 
ed— some  2,800  muskets — had  also  been 
sent  forward  to  the  support  of  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Stone  Bridge. 


894 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


"The  enemy  beginning  his  detour 
from  the  turnpike  at  a  point  nearly  half 
way  between  Stone  Bridge  and  Centre- 
ville,  had  pursued  a  tortuous,  narrow 
trace  of  a  rarely-used  road,  through  a 
dense  wood,  the  greater  part  of  his  way, 
until  near  the  Sudley  road.  A  division 
under  Colonel  Hunter,  of  the  Federal 
regular  army,  of  two  strong  brigades, 
was  in  the  advance,  followed  immediately 
by  another  division  under  Colonel  Heintz- 
elman,  of  three  brigades  and  seven  com- 
panies of  regular  cavalry  and  twenty- 
four  pieces  of  artillery  —  eighteen  of 
which  were  rifle  guns.  This  column,  as 
it  crossed  Bull  Run,  numbered  over  six- 
teen thousand  men  of  all  arms,  by  their 
own  accounts.  Burnside's  brigade,  which 
here  as  at  Fairfax  Court-House,  led  the 
advance,  at  about  forty-five  minutes  past 
nine  A.  M.,  debouched  from  a  wood  in  front 
of  Evans'  position,  some  five  hundred 
yards  distant  from  Wheat's  battalion. 
He  immediately  threw  forward  his  skir- 
mishers in  force,  and  they  became  en- 
gaged with  Wheat's  command  and  the 
6-pounder  gun  under  Lieutenant  Left- 
wich.  The  Federalists  at  once  advanced, 
as  they  report  officially,  the  2d  Rhode 
Island  regiment  Volunteers,  with  its 
vaunted  battery  of  six  13-pounder  rifle 
guns.  Sloan's  companies  were  then 
brought  into  action,  having  been  pushed 
forward  through  the  woods.  The  enemy, 
soon  galled  and  staggered  by  the  fire, 
and  pressed  by  the  determined  valor 
with  which  Wheat  handled  his- battery, 
until  he  was  desperately  wounded,  has- 
tened up  three  other  regiments  of  the 
brigade  and  two  Dahlgren  howitzers, 
making  in  all  quite  3,500  bayonets  and 
eight  pieces  of  artillery,  opposed  to  less 
than  800  men  and  two  6-pounder  guns. 
Despite  these  odds,  this  intrepid  command 


of  but  eleven  weak  companies  maintained 
its  front  to  the  enemy  for  quite  an  hour, 
and  until  General  Bee  came  to  their  aid 
with  his  command.  The  heroic  Bee, 
with  a  soldier's  eye  and  recognition  of 
the  situation,  had  previously  disposed 
his  command  with  skill — Imboden's  bat- 
tery having  been  admirably  placed  be- 
tween the  two  brigades  under  shelter 
behind  the  undulations  of  a  hill  about 
150  yards  north  of  the  now  famous  Hen- 
ry House,  and  very  near  where  he  sub- 
sequently fell  mortally  wounded,  to  the 
great  misfortune  of  his'  country,  but  after 
deeds  of  deliberate  and  ever-memorable 
courage. 

"Meanwhile  the  enemy  had  pushed 
forward  a  battalion  of  eight  companies 
of  regular  infantry  and  one  of  their 
best  batteries  of  six  pieces  (four  rifled), 
supported  by  four  companies  of  marines, 
to  increase  the  desperate  odds  against 
which  Evans  and  his  men  had  maintain- 
ed their  stand  with  an  almost  matchless 
tenacity.  G-eneral  Bee,  now  finding 
Evans  sorely  pressed  under  the  crushing 
weight  of  the  masses  of  the  enemy,  at  the 
call  of  Colonel  Evans,  threw  forward  his 
whole  force  to  his  aid  across  a  small 
stream — Young's  Branch  and  Yalley— 
and  engaged  the  Federalists  with  impe- 
tuosity ;  Imboden's  battery  at  the  time 
playing  from  his  well-chosen  position 
with  brilliant  effect  with  spherical  case, 
the  enemy  having  first  opened  on  him 
from  a  rifle  battery,  probably  Griffin's, 
with  elongated  cylindrical  shells,  which 
flew  a  few  feet  over  the  heads  of  our 
men,  and  exploded  in  the  crest  of  the 
hill  immediately  in  rear.  As  Bee  ad- 
vanced under  a  severe  fire,  he  placed  the 
7th  and  8th  Georgia  regiments  under  the 
chivalrous  Bartow,  at  abont  eleven  A.  M., 
in  a  wood  of  second  grown  pines,  to  the 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   ACTION. 


395 


right  and  front  of  and  nearly  perpendi- 
cular to  Evans'  line  of  battle,  the  4th 
Alabama  to  the  left  of  them,  along  a 
fence  connecting  the  position  of  the 
Georgia  regiments  with  the  rectangular 
copse  in  which  Sloan's  South  Carolina 
companies  were  engaged,  and  into  which 
he  also  threw  the  2d  Mississippi.  A 
fierce  and  destructive  conflict  now  en- 
sued ;  the  fire  was  withering  on  both 
sides,  while  the  enemy  swept  our  short, 
thin  lines  with  their  numerous  artillery, 
which,  according  to  their  official  reports, 
at  this  time  consisted  of  at  least  ten  rifle 
guns  and  four  howitzers.  For  an  hour 
did  these  stout-hearted  men  of  the  blend- 
ed command  of  Bee,  Evans  and  Bartow 
breast  an  unintermitting  battle-storm, 
animated,  surely,  by  something  more 
than  the  ordinary  courage  of  even  the 
bravest  men  under  fire  ;  it  must  have 
been  indeed  the  inspiration  of  the  cause, 
and  consciousness  of  the  great  stake  at 
issue,  which  thus  nerved  and  animated 
one  and  all  to  stand  unawed  and  un- 
shrinking in  such  extremity.  Two  Fed- 
eral brigades  of  Heintzelman's  division 
were  now  brought  into  action,  led  by 
Ricketts'  superb  light  battery  of  six 
10-pounder  rifle  guns,  which,  posted  on 
an  eminence  to  the  right  of  the  Sudley 
road,  opened  fire  on  Imboden's  battery— 
about  this  time  increased  by  two  rifle 
pieces  of  the  Washington  Artillery, 
under  Lieutenant  Richardson,  and  al- 
ready the  mark  of  two  batteries,  which 
divided  their  fire  with  Imboden,  and  two 
guns,  under  Lieutenants  Davidson  and 
Leftwitch,  of  Latham's  battery,  posted 
as  before  mentioned.  At  this  time,  con- 
fronting the  enemy,  we  had  still  but 
Evans'  eleven  companies  and  two  guns- 
Bee's  and  Bartow's  four  regiments,  the 
two  companies  llth  Mississippi,  under 


Lieutenant- Colonel  Liddell,  and  the  siy 
pieces  under  Imboden  and  Richardson 
The  enemy  had  two  divisions  of  foui 
strong  brigades,  including  seventeen  com- 
panies of  regular  infantry,  cavalry  and 
artillery,  four  companies  of  marines  and 
twenty  pieces  of  artillery.  [See  official 
reports  of  Colonels  Heintzelman,  Porter, 
etc.]  Against  this  odds,  scarcely  credi- 
ble, our  advance  position  was  still  for  a 
while  maintained,  and  the  enemy's  ranks 
constantly  broken  and  shattered  under 
the  scorching  fire  of  our  men  ;  but  fresh 
regiments  of  the  Federalists  came  upon 
the  field — Sherman's  and  Keyes'  brigades 
of  Tyler's  division — as  is  stated  in  their 
reports,  numbering  over  6,000  bayonets, 
which  had  found  a  passage  across  the 
Run  about  eight  hundred  yards  above 
the  Stone  Bridge,  threatened  our  right. 
"  Heavy  losses  had  now  been  sus- 
tained on  our  side,  both  in  numbers  and 
in  the  personal  worth  of  the  slain.  The 
Georgia  regiment  had  suffered  heavily, 
being  exposed,  as  it  took  and  maintained 
its  position,  to  a  fire  from  the  enemy 
already  posted  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  their  front  and  right,  sheltered  by 
fences  and  other  cover.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gardener 
was  severely  wounded,  as  also  several 
other  valuable  officers  ;  the  Adjutant  of 
the  regiment,  Lieutenant  Branch,  was 
killed,  and  the  horse  of  the  regretted 
Bartow  was  shot  under  him.  The  4th 
Alabama  also  suffered  severely  from  the 
deadly  fire  of  the  thousands  of  muskets 
which  they  so  dauntlessly  fronted  under 
the  immediate  leadership  of  Bee  himself. 
Its  brave  Colonel,  E.  J.  Jones,  was  dan- 
gerously wounded,  and  many  gallant 
officers  fell,  slain  or  hors  de  combat. 
Now,  however,  with  the  surging  mass 
of  over  fourteen  thousand  federal  infan- 


396 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


try  pressing  on  their  front,  and  under 
the  incessant  fire  of  at  least  twenty 
pieces  of  artillery,  with  the  fresh  bri- 
gades of  Sherman  and  Keyes  approach- 
ing— the  latter  already  in  musket  range 
— our  lines  gave  back,  but  under  orders 
from  General  Bee.  The  enemy,  main- 
taining the  fire,  pressed  their  swelling 
masses  onward  as  our  shattered  batta- 
lions retired  ;  the  slaughter  for  the  mo- 
ment was  deplorable,  and  has  filled  many 
a  Southern  home  with  life-long  sorrow. 
Under  this  inexorable  stress  the  retreat 
continued  until  arrested  by  the  energy 
and  resolution  of  General  Bee,  support- 
ed by  Bartow  and  Evans,  just  in  the 
rear  of  the  Robinson  House,  and  Hamp- 
ton's Legion,  which  had  been  already 
advanced,  and  was  in  position  near  it. 
Imboden's  battery,  which  had  been  han- 
dled with  marked  skill,  but  whose  men 
were  almost  exhausted,  and  the  two 
pieces  of  Walton's  battery  under  Lieu- 
tenant Richardson,  being  threatened  by 
the  enemy's  infantry  on  the  left  and 
front,  were  also  obliged  to  fall  back. 
Imboden,  leaving  a  disabled  piece  on 
the  ground,  retired  until  he  met  Jack- 
son's brigade,  while  Richardson  joined 
the  main  body  of  his  battery  near  the 
Lewis  House.  As  our  infantry  retired 
from  the  extreme  front  the  two  6-pound- 
ers  of  Latham's  battery,  before  men- 
tioned, fell  back  with  excellent  judgment 
to  suitable  positions  in  the  rear,  when  an 
effective  fire  was  maintained  upon  the 
still  advancing  lines  of  the  Federalists 
with  damaging  effect,  until  their  ammu- 
nition was  nearly  exhausted,  when  they, 
too,  were  withdrawn  in  the  near  pres- 
ence of  the  enemy,  and  rejoined  their 
captain.  From  the  point  previously  in- 
dicated, where  General  Johnston  and 
myself  had  established  our  headquarters, 


we  heard  the  continuous  roll  of  musketry 
and  the  sustained  din  of  the  artillery, 
which  announced   the   serious   outburst 
of  the  battle  on  our  left  flank,  and  we 
anxiously,  but  confidently,  awaited  simi- 
lar sounds  of  conflict  from  our  front  at 
Centre ville,  resulting  from  the  prescribed 
attack  in  that  quarter  by  our  right  wing. 
"At  half-past    ten   in   the   morning, 
however,  this  expectation  was  dissipated, 
from  Brigadier-General  Ewell  informing 
me,  to  my  profound  disappointment,  that 
my  orders  for  his  advance  had  miscar- 
ried, but  that,  in  consequence  of  a  com- 
munication from  General  D.  R.  Jones, 
he  had  just  thrown  his  brigade  across 
the  stream  at  Union  Mills.    .But,  in  my 
judgment,  it  was  now  too  late  for  the  ef- 
fective  execution   of  the   contemplated 
movement,   which   must   have    required 
quite  three  hours  for  the  troops  to  get 
into  position  for  the  attack  ;  therefore, 
it  became  immediately  necessary  to  de- 
pend  on   new  combinations   and   other 
dispositions  suited  to  the  now  pressing 
exigency.     The  movement  of  the  right 
and  centre,  already  begun  by  Jones  and 
Longstreet,  was  at  once  countermanded 
with  the  sanction  of  General  Johnston, 
and  we  arranged  to  meet  the  enemy  on 
the  field  upon  which  he  had  chosen  to 
give   us   battle.     Under    these   circum- 
stances   our    reserves,    not  already   in 
movement,    were    immediately   ordered 
up  to  support  our  left  flank,  namely— 
Holmes'  two  regiments  and  battery  of 
artillery,  under  Captain  Lindsey  Walk- 
er, of  six   guns,    and   Early's   brigade. 
Two  regiments  from  Bonham's  brigade, 
with  Kemper's   four   6-pounders,    were 
also  called  for,  and,  with  the  sanction 
of  General   Johnston,  Generals   Ewell, 
Jones,  (D.  R.,)  Longstreet  and  Bonham 
were  directed  to  make  a  demonstration 


GENERAL  BEAUREGARD  IN   COMMAND. 


397 


to  their  several  fronts  to  retain  and  en- 
gross the  enemy's  reserves  and  forces  on 
their  flank,  and  at  and  around  Centre- 
ville.  Previously,  our  respective  chiefs 
of  staff — Major  Rhett  and  Colonel  Jor- 
dan— had  been  left  at  my  headquarters 
to  hasten  up  and  give  directions  to  any 
troops  that  might  arrive  at  Manassas. 
These  orders  having  been  duly  dispatch- 
ed by  staff  officers,  at  10  30  A.  M.  Gene- 
ral Johnston  and  myself  set  out  for  the 
immediate  field  of  action,  which  we 
reached  in  the  rear  of  the  Robinson  and 
widow  Henry's  houses,  at  about  12  me- 
ridian, and  just  as  the  commands  of  Bee, 
Bartow  and  Evans  had  taken  shelter  in 
a  wooded  ravine  behind  the  former, 
stoutly  held  at  the  time  by  Hampton 
with  his  legion,  which  had  made  a  stand 
there  after  having  previously  been  as  far 
forward  as  the  turnpike,  where  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Johnston,  an  officer  of 
brilliant  promise,  was  killed,  and  other 
severe  losses  were  sustained.  Before 
our  arrival  upon  the  scene  General 
Jackson  had  moved  forward  with  his 
brigade  of  five  Virginia  regiments  from 
his  position  in  reserve,  and  had  judi- 
ciously taken  post  below  the  brim  of 
the  plateau,  nearly  east  of  the  Henry 
house,  and  to  the  left  of  the  ravine  and 
woods  occupied  by  the  mingled  remnants 
of  Bee's,  Bartow's  and  Evans'  commands, 
with  Imboden's  battery,  and  two  of  Stan- 
ard's  pieces  placed  so  as  to  play  upon 
the  oncoming  enemy,  supported  in  the 
immediate  rear  by  Colonel  J.  L.  Pres- 
ton's and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Echoll's 
regiments,  on  the  right  by  Harper's, 
and  on  the  left  by  Allen's  and  Cum- 
ming's  regiments.  As  soon  as  General 
Johnston  and  myself  reached  the  field, 
we  were  occupied  with  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  ti  heroic  troops,  whose  previous 


stand,  with  scarce  a  parallel,  has  nothing 
more  valiant  in  all  the  pages  of  history, 
and  whose  losses  fitly  tell  why,  at  length, 
their  lines  had  lost  their  cohesion.  It 
was  now  that  General  Johnston  im- 
pressively and  gallantly  charged  to  the 
front  with  the  colors  of  the  4th  Alabama 
regiment  by  his  side,  all  the  field  officers 
of  the  regiment  having  been  previously 
disabled.  Shortly  afterwards  I  placed 
S.  R.  Gist,  Adjutant  and  Inspector-Gen- 
eral of  South  Carolina,  a  volunteer  Aid- 
de-Camp  of  General  Bee,  in  command  of 
this  regiment,  and  who  led  it  again  to 
the  front  as  became  its  previous  beha- 
vior, and  remained  with  it  for  the  rest 
of  the  day.  As  soon  as  we  had  thus 
rallied  and  disposed  our  forces,  I  urged 
General  Johnston  to  leave  the  immediate 
conduct  of  the  field  to  me,  while  he,  re- 
pairing to  Portico — the  Lewis  House — 
should  urge  reinforcements  forward.  At 
first  he  was  unwilling,  but  reminded  that 
one  of  us  must  do  so,  and  that  properly 
it  was  his  place,  he  reluctantly,  but  for- 
tunately, complied  ;  fortunately,  because 
from  that  position,  by  his  energy  and 
sagacity,  his  keen  perception  and  antici- 
pation of  my  needs,  he  so  directed  the 
reserves  as  to  ensure  the  success  of  the 
day. 

"  As  General  Johnston  departed  for 
Portico,  Colonel  Bartow  reported  to  me 
with  the  remains  of  the  7th  Georgia  Vol- 
unteers (Gartrell's),  which  I  ordered  him 
to  post  on  the  left  of  Jackson's  line,  in 
the  edge  of  the  belt  of  pines  bordering 
the  southeastern  rim  of  the  plateau,  on 
which  the  battle  was  now  to  rage  so  long 
and  so  fiercely.  Colonel  William  Smith's 
battalion  of  the  49th  Virginia  Volunteers, 
having  also  come  up  by  my  orders,  I 
placed  it  on  the  left  of  GartrelPs  as  my 
extreme  left  at  the  time.  Repairing  then 


398 


WAR  FOR  THE   UXION. 


to  the  right,  I  placed  Hampton's  Legion, 
which  had  suffered  greatly,  on  that  flank 
somewhat  to  the  rear  of  Harper's  regi- 
ment, and  also  the  seven  companies  of 
•the  8th  (Hinton's)  Virginia  regiment, 
which,  detached  from  Cocke's  brigade  by 
my  orders  and  those  of  General  John- 
ston, had  opportunely  reached  the  ground. 
These,  with  Harper's  regiment,  consti- 
tuted a  reserve  to  protect  our  right  flank 
from  an  advance  of  the  enemy  from  the 
quarter  of  the  Stone  Bridge,  and  served 
as  a  support  for  the  line  of  battle,  which 
was  formed  on  the  right  by  Bee's  and 
Evans'  commands,  in  the  centre  by  four 
regiments  of  Jackson's  brigade,  with  Im- 
boden's  four  6-pounders,  Walton's  five 
guns  (two  rifled),  two  guns  (one  piece 
rifled)  of  Stanard's,  and  two  6-pounders 
of  Rogers'  batteries,  the  latter  under 
Lieutenant  Heaton  ;  and  on  the  left  by 
Gartrell's  reduced  ranks  and  Colonel 
Smith's  battalion,  subsequently  reinforced 
Falkner's  2d  Mississippi  regiment,  and 
by  another  regiment  of  the  army  of 
Shenandoah,  just  arrived  upon  the  field, 
the  6th  (Fisher's)  North  Carolina.  Con- 
fronting the  enemy  at  this  time,  my  force 
numbered,  at  most,  not  more  than  6,500 
infantry  and  artillerists,  with  but  thirteen 
pieces  of  artillery,  and  two  companies 
(Carter's  and  Hoge's)  of  Stuart's  cavalry. 
The  enemy's  force,  now  bearing  hotly 
and  confidently  down  on  our  position, 
regiment  after  regiment  of  the  best 
equipped  men  that  ever  took  the  field- 
according  to  their  own  official  history  of 
the  day — was  formed  of  Colonels  Hun- 
ter's and  Heintzelman's  divisions,  Colo- 
nels Sherman's  and  Keyes'  brigades  of 
Tyler's  division,  and  of  the  formidable 
batteries  of  Ricketts,  Griffin,  and  Arnold 
regulars,  and  2d  Rhode  Island,  and  two 
Dahlgren  howitzers  —  a  force  of  over 


20,000  infantry,  seven  companies  of  reg- 
ular cavalry  and  twenty-four  pieces  of 
improved  artillery.  At  the  same  time 
perilous,  heavy  reserves  of  infantry  and 
artillery  hung  in  the  distance  around  the 
Stone  Bridge,  Mitchell's,  Blackburn's  and 
Union  Mills  Fords,  visibly  ready  to  fall 
upon  us  at  any  moment ;  and  I  was  also 
assured  of  the  existence  of  other  heavy 
corps  at  and  around  Centreville  and  else- 
where, within  convenient  supporting  dis- 
tances. Fully  conscious  of  this  porten- 
tous disparity  of  force,  as  I  posted  the 
lines  for  the  encounter,  I  sought  to  infuse 
into  the  hearts  of  my  officers  and  men 
the  confidence  and  determined  spirit  of 
resistance  to  this  wicked  invasion  of  the 
homes  of  a  free  people,  which  I  felt.  I 
informed  them  that  reinforcements  would 
rapidly  come  to  their  support,  and  we 
must  at  all  hazards  hold  our  posts  until 
reinforced.  I  reminded  them  that  we 
fought  for  our  homes,  our  firesides  and 
for  the  independence  of  our  country.  I 
urged  them  to  the  resolution  of  victory 
or  death  on  that  field.  These  sentiments 
were  loudly,  eagerly  cheered  whereso- 
ever proclaimed,  and  I  then  felt  assured 
of  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  that  army, 
which  would  enable  us  to  wrench  victory 
from  the  host  then  threatening  us  with 
destruction.  Oh,  my  country !  I  would 
readily  have  sacrificed  my  life  and  those 
of  all  the  brave  men  around  me,  to  save 
your  honor  and  to  maintain  your  inde- 
pendence from  the  degrading  yoke  which 
those  ruthless  invaders  had  come  to  im- 
pose and  render  perpetual  ;  and  the 
day's  issue  has  assured  me  that  such 
emotions  must  also  have  animated  all 
under  my  command. 

"In  the  meantime  the  enemy  had 
seized  upon  the  plateau  on  which  Robin- 
son's and  the  Henry  Houses  a  situated 


SCENE  OF  THE  FINAL  CONTEST. 


399 


— the  position  first  occupied  in  the  morn- 
ing by  General  Bee,  before  advancing  to 
the  support  of  Evans.  Ricketts'  battery 
of  six  rifled  guns — the  pride  of  the  Fed- 
eralists, the  object  of  their  unstinted  ex- 
penditure in  outfit  —  and  the  equally 
powerful  regular  light  battery  x>f  Griffin, 
were  brought  forward  and  placed  in  im- 
mediate action,  after  having,  conjointly 
with  the  batteries  already  mentioned, 
played  from  former  positions  with  de- 
structive effect  upon  our  forward  bat- 
talions. 

"The  topographical  features  of  the 
plateau,  now  become  the  stage  of  the 
contending  armies,  must  be  described  in 
outline.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  show 
that  it  is  enclosed  on  three  sides  by 
small  water-courses,  which  empty  into 
Bull  Run  within  a  few  yards  of  each 
other,  half  a  mile  to. the  south  of  the 
Stone  Bridge.  Rising  to  an  elevation  of 
quite  one  hundred  feet  above  the  level 
of  Bull  Run  at  the  bridge,  it  falls  off  on 
three  sides  to  the  level  of  the  enclosing 
streams  in  gentle  slopes,  but  which  are 
furrowed  by  ravines  of  irregular  direc- 
tion and  length,  and  studded  with  clumps 
and  patches  of  young  pines  and  oaks. 
The  general  direction  of  the  crest  of  the 
plateau  is  oblique  to  the  course  of  Bull 
Run  in  that  quarter,  and  on  the  Brents- 
ville  and  turnpike  roads,  which  intersect 
each  other  at  right  angles.  Completely 
surrounding  the  two  houses  before  men- 
tioned, are  small  open  fields,  of  irregular 
outline,  and  exceeding  150  acres  in  ex- 
tent. The  houses,  occupied  at  the  time, 
the  one  by  Widow  Henry  and  the  other 
by  the  free  negro  Robinson,  are  small 
wooden  buildings,  densely  embowered  in 
trees  and  environed  by  a  double  row  of 
fences  on  two  sides.  Around  the  eastern 
and  southern  brow  of  the  plateau,  an  al- 


most .unbroken  fringe  of  second  growth 
pines  gave  excellent  shelter  for  our 
marksmen,  who  availed  themselves  of  it 
with  the  most  satisfactory  skill.  To  the 
west,  adjoining  the  fields,  a  broad  belt 
of  oaks  extends  directly  across  the  crest 
on  both'  sides  of  the  Sudley  road,  in 
which,  during  the  battle,  regiments  of 
both  armies  met  and  contended  for  the 
mastery.  From  the  open  ground  of  this 
plateau  the  view  embraces  a  wide  ex- 
panse of  woods  and  gently  undulating, 
open  country  of  broad  grass  and  grain 
fields  in  all  directions,  including  the 
scene  of  Evans'  and  Bee's  recent  encoun- 
ter with  the  enemy — some  twelve  hun- 
dred yards  to  the  northward. 

"  In  reply  to  the  play  of  the  enemy's 
batteries,  our  own  artillery  had  not  been 
idle  or  unskillful.  The  ground  occupied 
by  our  guns,  on  a  level  with  that  held 
by  the  batteries  of  the  enemy,  was  an 
open  space  of  limited  extent,  behind  a 
low  undulation,  just  at  the  eastern  verge 
of  the  plateau,  some  500  or  600  yards 
from  the  Henry  House.  Here,  as  before 
said,  some  thirteen  pieces,  mostly  6- 
pounders  were  maintained  in  action.  The 
several  batteries  of  Imboden,  Stanard, 
Pendleton  (Rockbridge  artillery),  and 
Alburtis',  of  the  army  of  the  Shenandoah, 
and  five  guns  of  Walton's,  and  Heaton's 
section  of  Rogers'  battery,  of  the  army 
of  the  Potomac,  alternating  to  some  ex- 
tent with  each  other,  and  taking  part  as 
needed  ;  all  from  the  outset  displaying 
that  marvellous  capacity  of  our  people  as 
artillerists  which  has  made  them,  it 
would  appear,  at  once  the  terror  and 
the  admiration  of  the  enemy.  As  was 
soon  apparent,  the  Federalists  had  suf- 
fered severely  from  our  artillery  and 
from  the  fire  of  our  musketry  on  the 
right,  and  especially  from  the  left  flank. 


400 


WAR  FOR   THE   UNION. 


placed  under  cover,  within  whose  galling 
range  they  had  been  advanced.  And 
we  are  told  in  their  official  reports  how 
regiment  after  regiment,  thrown  forward 
to  dislodge  us,  was  broken,  never  to 
recover  its  entire  organization  on  that 
field.  In  the  meantime,  also,  two  com- 
panies of  Stuart's  cavalry  (Carter's  and 
Hoge's)  made  a  dashing  charge  down  the 
Brents ville  and  Sudley  road  upon  the 
Fire  Zouaves — then  the  enemy's  right  on 
the  plateau — which  added  to  their  dis- 
order, wrought  by  our  musketry  on  that 
flank.  But  still  the  press  of  the  enemy 
was  heavy  in  that  quarter  of  the  field, 
as  fresh  troops  were  thrown  forward 
there  to  outflank  us,  and  some  three  guns 
of  a  battery,  in  an  attempt  to  obtain  a 
position  apparently  to  enfilade  our  bat- 
teries, were  thrown  so  close  to  the  33d 
regiment,  Jackson's  brigade,  that  that 
regiment,  springing  forward,  seized  them, 
but  with  severe  loss,  and  was  subse- 
quently driven  back  by  an  overpowering 
force  of  Federal  musketry.  Now,  full 
two  o'clock  P.  M.,  I  gave  the  order  for  the 
right  of  my  line,  except  my  reserves,  to 
advance  to  recover  the  plateau.  It  was 
done  with  uncommon  resolution  and  vig- 
or, and  at  the  same  time  Jackson's  brig- 
ade pierced  the  enemy's  centre  with  the 
determination  of  veterans  and  the  spirit 
of  men  who  fight  for  a  sacred  cause  ; 
but  it  suffered  seriously.  With  equal 
spirit  the  other  parts  of  the  line  made 
the  onset,  and  the  Federal  lines  were 
broken  and  swept  back  at  all  points  from 
the  open  ground  of  the  plateau.  Eally- 
ing  soon,  however,  as  they  were  strongly 
reinforced  by  fresh  regiments,  the  Fed- 
eralists returned,  and  by  weight  of  num- 
bers pressed  our  lines  back,  recovered 
their  ground  and  guns,  and  renewed  the 
offensive.  By  this  time,  between  half- 


past  two  and  three  o'clock  p.  M.,  our  re- 
inforcements pushed  forward,  and  direct- 
ed by  General  Johnston  to  the  required 
quarter,  were  on  hand  just  as  I  had  or- 
dered forward,  to  a  second  effort,  for  the 
recovery  of  the  disputed  plateau,  the 
whole  line,  including  my  reserves,  which, 
at  this  crisis  of  the  battle,  I  felt  called 
upon  to  lead  in  person.  This  attack  was 
general,  and  was  shared  in  by  every  regi- 
ment then  in  the  field,  including  the  6th 
(Fisher's)  North  Carolina  regiment,  which 
had  just  come  up  and  taken  position  on 
the  immediate  left  of  the  49th  Virginia 
regiment.  The  whole  open  ground  was 
again  swept  clear  of  the  enemy,  and  the 
plateau  around  the  Henry  and  Eobinson 
Houses  remained  finally  in  our  posses- 
sion, with  the  greater  part  of  the  Ricketts 
and  Griffin  batteries,  and  a  flag  of  the 
1st  Michigan  regiment,  captured  by  the 
27th  Virginia  regiment  (Lieutenant- Col- 
onel Echolls),  of  Jackson's  brigade.  This 
part  of  the  day  was  rich  with  deeds  of 
individual  coolness  and  dauntless  con- 
duct, as  well  as  well-directed,  embodied 
resolution  and  bravery,  but  fraught  with 
the  loss  to  the  service  of  the  country 
of  lives  of  inestimable  preciousness  at 
this  juncture.  The  brave  Bee  was  mor- 
tally wounded  at  the  head  of  the  4.th 
Alabama  and  some  Mississippians,  in  an 
open  field  near  the  Henry  House,  and  a 
few  yards  distant  the  promising  life  of 
Bartow,  while  leading  the  7th  Georgia 
regiment,  was  quenched  in  blood.  Colo- 
nel F.  J.  Thomas,  Acting  Chief  of  Ord- 
nance, of  General  Johnston's  staff,  after 
gallant  conduct  and  most  efficient  ser- 
vice, was  also  slain.  Colonel  Fisher,  6th 
North  Carolina,  likewise  fell,  after  sol- 
dierly behavior,  at  the  head  of  his  regi- 
ment, with  ranks  greatly  thinned.  With- 
ers' 14th  regiment  of  Cocke's  brigade 


REINFORCEMENTS   ON  THE  FIELD. 


401 


had  come  up  in  time  to  follow  this 
charge,  and  in  conjunction  with  Hamp- 
ton's Legion,  captured  several  rifle  pieces 
which  may  have  fallen  previously  in  pos- 
isession  of  some  of  our  troops  ;  but  if  so, 
had  been  recovered  by  the  enemy.  These 
pieces  were  immediately  turned  and 
effectively  served  on  distant  masses  of 
the  enemy  by  the  hands  of  some  of  our 
officers.  While  the  enemy  had  thus 
been  driven  back  on  our  right  entirely 
across  the  turnpike,  and  beyond  Young's 
Branch  on  our  left,  the  woods  yet  swarm- 
ed with  them,  when  our  reinforcements 
opportunely  arrived  in  quick  succession, 
and  took  position  in  that  portion  of  the 
field.  Kershaw's  2d  and  Cash's  8th 
South  Carolina  regiments,  which  had  ar- 
rived soon  after  Withers',  were  led 
through  the  oaks  just  east  of  the  Sudley- 
Brentsville  road,  brushing  some  of  the 
enemy  before  them,  and  taking  an  ad- 
vantageous position  along  and  west  of 
that  road,  opened  with  much  skill  and 
effect  on  bodies  of  the  enemy  that  had 
been  rallied  under  cover  of  a  strong  Fed- 
eral brigade  posted  in  a  plateau  in  the 
southwest  angle,  formed  by  the  intersec- 
tion of  the  turnpike  with  the  Sudley- 
Brentsville  road.  Among  the  troops 
thus  engaged  were  the  Federal  regular 
infantry.  At  the  same  time  Kemper's 
battery,  passing  northward  by  the  Sud- 
ley-Brentsville  road,  took  position  on 
the  open  space — under  orders  of  Colonel 
Kershaw — near  where  an  enemy's  bat- 
tery had  been  captured,  was  opened  with 
effective  results  upon  the  Federal  right ; 
then  the  mark  also  of  Kershaw  and 
Cash's  regiments.  Preston's  28th  regi- 
ment of  Cocke's  brigade  had,  by  that 
time,  entered  the  same  body  of  oaks,  and 
encountered  some  Michigan  troops,  cap- 
turing their  commander,  Colonel  Wilcox. 
51 


"Another  important  accession  to  our 
forces  had  also  occurred  about  the  same 
time,  at  three  o'clock  p.  M.  Brigadier- 
General  E.  K.  Smith,  with  some  1,700 
infantry  of  Elsey's  brigade,  of  the  army 
of  the  Shenandoah,  and  Beckham's  bat- 
tery, came  upon  the  field  from  Camp 
Pickens,  Manassas,  where  they  had  ar- 
rived by  railroad  at  noon.  Directed 
in  person  by  G-eneral  Johnston  to  the 
left,  then  so  much  endangered,  on  reach- 
ing a  position  in  rear  of  the  oak  woods, 
south  of  the  Henry  House  and  immedi- 
ately east  of  the  Sudley  road,  General 
Smith  was  disabled  by  a  severe  wound, 
and  his  valuable  services  were  lost  at 
that  critical  juncture.  But  the  command 
devolved  upon  a  meritorious  officer  of 
experience,  Colonel  Elzey,  who  led  his 
infantry  at  once  somewhat  further  to  the 
left,  in  the  direction  of  the  Chinn  House, 
across  the  road,  through  the  oaks  skirt- 
ing the  west  side  of  the  road,  and  around 
which  he  sent  the  battery  under  Lieuten- 
ant Beckham.  This  officer  took  up  a 
most  favorable  position  near  that  house, 
whence,  with  a  clear  view  of  the  Feder- 
al right  and  centre,  filling  the  open  fields 
to  the  west  of  the  Brentsville-Sudley 
road,  and  gently  sloping  southward,  he 
opened  fire  with  his  battery  upon, them 
with  deadly  and  damaging  effect.  Col- 
onel Early,  who,  by  some  mischance,  did 
not  receive  orders  until  two  o'clock, 
which  had  been  sent  him  at  noon,  came 
on  the  ground  immediately  after  Elzey, 
with  Kemper's  7th  Virginia,  Hay's  7th 
Louisiana  and  Barksdale's  13th  Missis- 
sippi regiments.  This  brigade,  by  the 
personal  direction  of  General  Johnston, 
was  marched  by  the  Holkham  House, 
across  the  fields  to  the  left,  entirely 
around  the  woods  through  which  Elzey 
had  passed,  and  under  a  severe  fire,  into 


402 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


a  position  in  line  of  battle  near  Chinn's 
House,  outflanking  the  enemy's  right. 
At  this  time,  about  half-past  three  p.  M., 
the  enemy,  driven  back  on  their  left  and 
centre,  and  brushed  from  the  woods  bor- 
dering the  Sudley  road,  south  and  west 
of  the  Henry  House,  had  formed  a  line 
of  battle  of  truly  formidable  proportions, 
of  crescent  outline,  reaching  on  their  left 
from  the  vicinity  of  Pittsylvania  (the 
old  Carter  mansion),  by  Matthew's  and 
in  rear  of  Dogan's,  across  the  turnpike 
near  to  Chinn's  house.  The  woods  and 
fields  were  filled  with  their  masses  of  in- 
fantry and  their  carefully  preserved  cav- 
alry. It  was  a  truly  magnificent,  though 
redoubtable  spectacle,  as  they  threw  for- 
ward in  fine  style,  on  the  broad,  gentle 
slopes  of  the  ridge  occupied  by  their 
main  lines,  a  cloud  of  skirmishers,  pre- 
paratory for  another  attack.  But  as 
Early  formed  his  line,  and  Beckham's 
pieces  playing  upon  the  right  of  the  en- 
emy, Elzey's  brigade,  Gibbon's  10th 
Virginia,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Stuart's  1st 
Maryland  and  Yaughri's  3d  Tennessee 
regiments,  and  Cash's  8th  and  Kershaw's 
2d  South  Carolina,  Withers'  18th  and 
Preston's  28th  Virginia,  advanced  in  an 
irregular  line  almost  simultaneously, 
with  great  spirit,  from  their  several  posi- 
tions upon  the  front  and  flanks  of  the 
enemy  in  their  quarter  of  the  field.  At 
the  same  time,  too,  Early  resolutely  as- 
sailed their  right  flank  and  rear.  Under 
the  combined  attack  the  enemy  was  soon 
forced,  first  over  the  narrow  plateau  in 
the  southern  angle  made  by  the  two 
roads,  so  often  mentioned,  into  a  patch 
01  woods  on  its  western  slope,  thence 
back  over  Young's  branch  and  the  turn- 
pike into  the  fields  of  the  Dugan  farm, 
and  rearward,  in  extreme  disorder  in  all 
available  directions,  towards  Bull  Run. 


The  route  had  now  become  general  and 
complete." 

President  Jefferson  Davis  left  Rich- 
mond by  railway  in  the  morning,  and 
arrived  on  the  field  of  battle  in  the  after- 
noon, when  the  fortune  of  the  day  was 
already  decided.  He  is  said  to  have 
given  but  one  order  on  the  field  :  "  For- 
ward, my  brave  columns  !  Forward  !" 
He  sent  that  night  the  following  dis- 
patch to  Richmond,  which  was  read  in 
the  Confederate  Congress,  which  had 
just  commenced  its  first  session  at  Rich- 
mond, the  following  morning: — "Man- 
assas  Junction,  Sunday  night.  Night 
has  closed  upon  a  hard-fought  field. 
Our  forces  were  victorious.  The  enemy 
was  routed  and  fled  precipitately,  aban- 
doning a  large  amount  of  arms,  ammu- 
nition, knapsacks  and  baggage.  The 
ground  was  strewed  "for  miles  with  those 
killed,  and  the  farm  houses  and  the 
ground  around  were  filled  with  wound- 
ed. Pursuit  was  continued  along  sev- 
eral routes  towards  Leesburg  and  Cen- 
treville,  until  darkness  covered  the  fu- 
gitives. We  have  captured  several  field- 
batteries,  stands  of  arms 'and  Union  and 
State  flags.  Many  prisoners  have  been 
taken.  Too  high  praise  cannot  be  be- 
stowed, whether  for  the  skill  of  the 
principal  officers  or  for  the  gallantry  of 
all  our  troops.  The  battle  was  mainly 
fought  on  our  left.  Our  force  was  15,- 
000  ;  that  of  the  enemy  estimated  at 
35,000." 

The  voluminous  brigade  and  regi- 
mental reports  of  the  battle,  accompany- 
ing General  McDowell's  report,  present 
many  scenes  of  interest,  deeds  of  valor 
gallantly  performed,  intermingled  with 
fatal  effects  of  lack  of  experience,  and 
in  some  cases  of  the  absence  of  the  true 
soldierly  instincts.  Colonel  Keyes  of 


COLONEL  PORTER'S  REPORT. 


4C3 


General  Tyler's  Division  celebrates  the 
gallantry  of  the  Maine  and  Connecticut 
volunteers  under  his  command  ;  their 
ardor  in  the  attack  and  their  steadiness 
in  the  retreat,  instancing  numerous  in- 
dividual acts  of  heroism.  They  did 
much  to  ensure  the  honors  and  after- 
ward diminish  the  misfortunes  of  the 
day.  Colonel  Burnside's  report  is  a 
vigorous,  straightforward  narrative  of 
the  business  of  war  ;  a  story  of  perils 
honorably  encountered ;  of  fidelity  sealed 
in  death.  It  is  uncomfortable  to  find  in 
the  report  of  Colonel  Andrew  Porter, 
the  successor  of  Colonel  Hunter  in  com- 
mand of  the  first  division,  something  more 
than  a  doubt  thrown  upon  the  valor  of 
the  much  vaunted  Zouaves.  They  were 
on  the  right  of  the  Union  line  in  the  last 
conflict.  The  scene  is  thus  described : 
"  At  this  juncture  there  was  a  temporary 
lull  in  the  firing  from  the  rebels,  who 
appeared  only  occasionally  on  the  heights 
in  irregular  formations,  but  to  serve  as 
marks  for  Griffin's  guns.  The  prestige 
of  success  had  thus  far  attended  the 
efforts  of  our  inexperienced  but  gallant 
troops.  The  lines  of  the  enemy  had 
been  forcibly  shifted,  nearly  a  mile  to 
their  left  and  rear.  The  flags  of  eight 
regiments,  though  borne  somewhat  wear- 
ily, now  pointed  towards  the  hill  from 
which  disordered  masses  of  rebels  had 
been  seen  hastily  retiring.  Griffin's  and 
Riekett's  batteries  were  ordered  by  the 
commanding-general  to  the  top  of  the 
hill  on  the  right,  supporting  with  the 
'  Fire  Zouaves '  and  marines,  while  the 
14th  entered  the  skirt  of  wood  on  their 
right  to  protect  that  flank,  and  a  column 
composed  of  the  27th  New  York,  llth 
and  5th  Massachusetts,  2d  Minnesota, 
and  69th  New  York,  moved  up  toward 
the  left  flank  of  the  batteries  ;  but  so 


soon  as  they  were  in  portion  and  before 
the  flanking  supports  had  reached  theirs, 
a  murderous  fire  of  musketry  and  rifles, 
opened  at  pistol  range,  cut  down  every 
canonier  and  a  large  number  of  horses. 
The  fire  came  from  some  infantry  of  the 
enemy,  which  had  been  mistaken  for  our 
own  forces  •  an  officer  in  the  field  hav- 
ing stated  that  it  was  a  regiment  sent  by 
Colonel  Heintzelman  to  support  the  bat- 
teries. The  evanescent  courage  of  the 
'  Zouaves '  prompted  them  to  fire  perhaps 
a  hundred  shots,  when  they  broke  and 
fled,  leaving  the  batteries  open  to  a 
charge  of  the  enemy's  cavalry,  which 
took  place  immediately.  The  marines 
also,  in  spite  of  the  exertions  of  their 
gallant  officers,  gave  way  in  disorder. 
The  14th  on  the  right,  and  the  column 
on  the  left,  hesitatingly  retired,  with  the 
exception  of  the  69th  and  38th  New 
York,  who  nobly  stood  and  returned  the 
fire  of  the  enemy  for  fifteen  minutes 
Soon  the  slopes  behind  us  were  swarming 
with  our  retreating  and  disorganized 
forces,  while  riderless  horses  and  artille- 
ry teams  ran  furiously  through  the  flying 
crowd.  All  further  efforts  were  futile. 
The  words,  gestures,  and  threats  of  our 
officers  were  thrown  away  upon  men  who 
had  lost  all  presence  of  mind,  and  only 
longed  for  absence  of  body.  Some  of 
our  noblest  and  best  officers  lost  their 
lives  in  trying  to  rally  them.  Upon  our 
first  position  the  27th  was  the  first  to 
rally,  under  the  command  of  Major  Bart- 
lett,  and  around  it  the  other  regiments 
engaged  soon  collected  their  scattered 
fragments.  The  battalion  of  regulars, 
in  the  meantime,  moved  steadily  across 
the  field  from  the  left  to  the  right,  and 
took  up  a  position,  where  it  held  the  en- 
tire forces  of  the  rebels  in  check  until 
our  forces  were  somewhat  rallied.  The 


404 


.  FOR  THE    UNION. 


commanding-general  then  ordered  a  re- 
treat upon  Centreville,  at  the  same  time 
directing  me  to  cover  it  with  the  battalion 
of  regulars,  the  cavalry,  and  a  section  of 
artillery.  The  rear-guard  thus  organized 
followed  our  panic-stricken  troops  to 
Centre ville,  resisting  the  attack  of  the 
rebel  cavalry  and  artillery,  and  saving 
them  from  the  inevitable  destruction 
which  awaited  them  had  not  this  body 
been  interposed." 

Colonel  Heintzelman,  who  commanded 
the  Third  Division,  gives  a  more  particu- 
lar account  of  the  part  taken  by  the 
Zouaves,  with  other  important  incidents 
preceding  and  attending  the  retreat. 
"  At  a  little  more  than  a  mile  from  Sud- 
ley's  Ford,"  says  he,  "  we  came  upon  the 
battle-field.  Kickett's  battery  was  post- 
ed on  a  hill  to  the  right  of  Hunter's  divi- 
sion and  to  the  right  of  the  road.  After 
firing  some  twenty  minutes  at  a  battery 
of  the  enemy,  placed  just  beyond  the 
crest  of  a  hill,  on  their  entrance  left,  the 
distance  being  considered  too  great,  it 
was  moved  forward  to  within  about 
1,000  feet  of  the  enemy's  battery.  Here 
the  battery  was  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire 
of  musketry,  which  soon  disabled  it. 
Franklin's  brigade  was  posted  on  the 
right  of  a  wood,  near  the  centre  of  our 
line,  and  on  ground  rising  towards  the 
enemy's  position.  In  the  meantime,  I 
sent  orders  for  the  Zouaves  to  move  for- 
ward to  support  Rickett's  battery  on  its 
right.  As,  soon  as  they  came  up,  I  led 
them  forward  against  an  Alabama  regi- 
ment, partly  concealed  in  a  clump  of 
small  pines  in  an  old  field.  At  the  first 
fire  they  broke  and  the  greater  portion 
of  them  fled  to  the  rear,  keeping  up  a 
desultory  firing  over  the  heads  of  their 
comrades  in  front ;  at  the  same  moment 
they  were  charged  by  a  company  of  se- 


cession cavalry  on  their  rear,  who  came 
by  a  road  through  two  strips  of  wood  on 
our  extreme  right.  The  fire  of  the 
Zouaves  killed  four  and  wounded  one, 
dispersing  them.  The  discomfiture  of 
this  cavalry  was  completed  by  a  fire  from 
Captain  Collum's  company  of  United 
States  cavalry,  which  killed  and  wounded 
several  men.  Colonel  Farnham,  with 
some  of  his  officers  and  men,  behaved 
gallantly,  but  the  regiment  of  Zouaves, 
as  a  regiment,  did  not  appear  again  on 
the  field.  Many  of  the  men  joined 
other  regiments  and  did  good  service  as 
skirmishers.  I  then  led  up  the  Minne- 
sota regiment,  which  was  also  repulsed, 
but  retired  in  tolerably  good  order.  It 
did  good  service  in  the  woods  on  our 
right  flank,  and  was  among  the  last  to 
retire,  moving  off  the  field  with  the  3d 
United  States  infantry.  Next  was  led 
forward  the  1st  Michigan,  which  was 
also  repulsed,  and  retired  in  considera- 
ble confusion.  They  were  rallied,  and 
helped  to  hold  the  woods  on  our  right. 
The  Brooklyn  14th  then  appeared  on  the 
ground,  coming  forward  in  gallant  style. 
I  led  them  forward  to  the  left,  where  the 
Alabama  regiment  had  been  posted  in 
the  early  part  of  the  action,  but  had  now 
disappeared,  but  soon  came  in  sight  of 
the  line  of  the  enemy  drawn  up  beyond 
the  clump  of  trees.  Soon  after  the  firing 
commenced  the  regiment  broke  and  ran. 
I  considered  it  useless  to  attempt  to  rally 
them.  The  want  of  discipline  in  these 
regiments  was  so  great  that  the  most  of 
the  men  would  run  from  fifty  to  several 
hundred  yards  to  the  rear,  and  continue 
to  fire — fortunately  for  the  braver  ones — 
very  high  in  the  air,  and  compelling 
those  in  front  to  retreat.  During  this 
time  Reickell's  battery  had  been  taken 
and  retaken  three  times  by  us,  but  was 


COLONEL  HEINTZELMAN'S  REPORT. 


405 


finally  lost,  most  of  the  horses  having 
been  killed  —  Captain  Eeickell  being 
wounded,  and  1st  Lieutenant  D.  Ramsay 
killed.  Lieutenant  Kirby  behaved  very 
gallantly,  and  succeeded  in  carrying  off 
one  caisson.  Before  this  time  heavy  re- 
inforcements of  the  enemy  were  distinctly 
seen  approaching  by  two  roads  extend- 
ing and  outflanking  us  on  the  right. 
Colonel  Stewart's  brigade  came  on  the 
field  at  this  time,  having  been  detained 
by  the  General  as  a  reserve  at  the  point 
where  we  left  the  turnpike.  It  took  post 
on  a  hill  on  our  right  and  rear,  and  for 
some  time  gallantly  held  the  enemy  in 
check.  I  had  one  company  of  cavalry 
attached  to  my  division,  which  was  joined 
during  the  engagement  by  the  cavalry 
of  Colonel  Stanton's  division.  Major 
Palmer,  who  cannonaded  them,  was  anx- 
ious to  engage  the  enemy.  The  ground 
being  unfavorable,  I  ordered  them  back 
out  of  range  of  fire.  Finding  it  impos- 
sible to  rally  any  of  the  regiments,  we 
commenced  our  retreat  about  half-past 
four  p.  M.  There  was  a  fine  position  a 
short  distance  in  the  rear,  where  I  hoped 
to  make  a  stand  with  a  section  of  Ar- 
nold's battery  and  the  United  States  cav- 
alry, if  I  could  rally  a  few  regiments  of 
infantry.  In  this  I  utterly  failed,  and 
we  continued  our  retreat  on  the  road  we 
had  advanced  on  in  the  morning.  I  sent 
forward  my  staff  officers  to  rally  some 
troops  beyond  the  Run,  but  not  a  com- 
pany would  form.  I  stopped  back  a  few 
moments  at  the  hospital  to  see  what  ar- 
rangements could  be  made  to  save  the 
wounded.  The  few  ambulances  that 
were  there  were  filled  and  started  to  the 
rear.  The  church,  which  was  used  as  a 
hospital,  with  the  wounded  and  some  of 
the  surgeons,  soon  after  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  secession  cavalry  that  fol- 


lowed us  closely.  A  company  of  cav- 
alry crossed  the  rear  and  seized  an 
ambulance  full  of  wounded.  Captain 
Arnold  gave  them  a  couple  of  rounds 
of  '  canister '  from  his  section  of  artil- 
lery, which  sent  them  scampering  away, 
and  kept  them  at  a  respectful  dis- 
tance during  the  remainder  of  our  re- 
treat. At  this  point  most  of  the  strag- 
glers were  in  advance  of  us.  Having 
every  reason  to  fear  a  vigorous  pursuit 
from  the  enemy's  fresh  troops,  I  was  de- 
sirous of  forming  a  strong  rear-guard, 
but  neither  the  efforts  of  the  officers  of 
the  regular  army,  nor  the  coolness  of  the 
regular  troops  with  me,  could  induce 
them  to  form  a  single  company.  We  re- 
lied entirely  for  our  protection  on  one 
section  of  artillery  and  a  few  companies 
of  cavalry.  Most  of  the  road  was  favor- 
able for  infantry,  but  unfavorable  for 
cavalry  and  artillery.  About  dusk,  a? 
we  approached  the  Warrenton  turnpike, 
we  heard  a  firing  of  rifled  cannon  on  our 
right,  and  learned  that  the  enemy  had 
established  a  battery  enfilading  the  road. 
Captain  Arnold,  with  his  section  of  ar- 
tillery, attempted  to  run  the  gauntlet 
and  reached  the  bridge  over  Cub  Run, 
about  two  miles  from  Centreville.  but 
found  it  obstructed  with  broken  vehicles, 
and  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  pieces 
as  they  were  under  the  fire  of  these 
rifled  cannon.  The  cavalry  turned  to 
the  left,  and  after  passing  through  a  strip 
of  woods  and  some  fields,  struck  a  road 
which  led  them  to  some  camps  occupied 
by  our  troops  in  the  morning,  through 
which  we  regained  the  turnpike.  At 
about  eight  P.  M.  we  reached  the  camps 
we  had  occupied  in  the  morning.  Had 
a  brigade  from  the  reserve  advanced  a 
short  distance  beyond  Centreville,  nearly 
one-third  of  the  artillery  lost  might  have 


406 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


been  saved,  as  it  was  abandoned  at  or 
near  this  crossing.  Such  a  rout  I  never 
witnessed  before.  No  efforts  could  in- 
duce a  single  regiment  to  form  after  the 
retreat  had  commenced.  Our  artillery 
was  served  admirably  and  did  much  ex- 
ecution. Some  of  the  volunteer  regi- 
ments behaved  very  well,  and  much 
excuse  can  be  made  for  those  who  fled, 
as  few  of  the  enemy  could  at  any  time 
be  seen.  Eaw  troops  cannot  be  expected 
to  stand  long  against  an  unseen  enemy. 
I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  any  report 
from  the  Zouaves,  as  Colonel  Farnham  is 
still  at  hospital.  Since  the  retreat  more 
than  three-fourths  of  the  Zouaves  have 
disappeared."  The  disorganization  of  the 
Zouaves,  in  fact,  was  so  complete  that, 
ten  days  after  the  battie,  not  a  fourth  of 
them  could  be  got  together  at  their  camp. 
Many  efforts  were  made  for  their  reunion, 
which,  after  various  mishaps,  was  par- 
tially accomplished.  The  regiment  was 
reorganized  and  sent  to  Fortress  Mon- 
roe, but  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing 
year  was  finally  disbanded.  Colonel 
Noah  L.  Farnham,  the  successor  of  Ells- 
worth in  command  of  the  regiment,  died 
the  month  following  the  battle,  at  Wash- 
ington, in  his  thirty-third  year,  of  wounds 
received  in  the  engagement — a  man  of 
courage,  energy  and  steady  resolution. 

By  the  station  of  the  Zouaves  Colonel 
Gorman's  1st  Minnesota  regiment  was 
brought  into  action,  and  sustained  the 
fire  of  the  enemy  at  the  distance  of  fifty 
or  sixty  feet.  So  close  was  the  contest 
that  prisoners  were  taken  on  both  sides, 
the  Unionists  carrying  off  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Boone  of  Mississippi,  of  "the 
highest  rank  taken  in  the  battle."  One 
fifth  of  the  whole  regiment  were  killed, 
wounded,  or  made  prisoners  before  the 
rest  retired.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Farns- 


worth  also  celebrates  with  pride  the  he- 
roism of  his  38th  regiment  of  New  York 
volunteers,  in  their  dash  upon  the  ene- 
my and  recapture  of  Rickett's  battery, 
from  which  its  defenders  had  been  driv- 
en, and  other  acts  of  valor.  A  word 
too  is  due  to  stout  Captain  Blenker's  (in 
command  of  the  1st  brigade  of  the  re- 
serve) resistance  of  the  enemy,  and, 
what  was  more,  his  successful  regula- 
tion of  the  retreat  at  and  about  Centre- 
ville. 

These  instances  might  be  multiplied, 
but  enough  has  been  indicated  to  relieve 
the  conduct  of  the  Union  troops  at  Bull 
Run  from  the  wholesale  aspersions  so 
freely  thrown  upon  them  by  careless  or 
interested  assailants  both  in  this  country 
and  Europe.  The  place  and  time  of  the 
engagement,  its  position  at  the  crisis  of 
the  war,  determining  as  it  did  the  pro- 
longed indefinite  duration  of  the  national 
conflict ;  all  gave  it  an  importance  which, 
simply  as  a  contest  of  armed  men,  it  was 
hardly  entitled  to.  An  undisciplined 
force  of  raw  recruits  less  than  three 
months  in  camp,  after  a  fatiguing  march 
into  an  enemy's  country,  and  hours  of 
fighting  under  a  midsummer's  sun,  were, 
after  gaining  signal  advantages,  over- 
come by  new  assaults  of  fresh  troops 
reinforced  by  constant  accessions.  This 
was  the  fight  of  Bull  Run,  in  itself  far 
from  a  decisive  victory,  since  the  con- 
querors gained  none  of  the  advantages 
which,  had  that  been  the  case,  they  should 
have  promptly  attained.  Washington 
was  before  them,  and  by  its  possession 
they  might,  perhaps,  have  secured  to 
themselves  the  objects  for  which  they 
had  originally  taken  up  arms  ;  yet,  vic- 
torious as  they  were,  they  were  too  irres- 
olute or  too  much  exhausted  to  stretch 
forth  a  hand  to  seize  the  prize.  That, 


RETURNS   OF   KILLED   AND   WOUNDED. 


407 


indeed,  would  have  been  a  triumph.  In 
the  opinion  of  many  who  witnessed  the 
retreat,  and  the  consequent  confusion  at 
the  capital,  it  might  have  been  success- 
fully accomplished.  That  it  was  not 
done,  or  even  attempted,  argues  even 
more  than  the  elaborate  recapitulation 
of  their  deeds  of  valor  in  the  official  re- 
port of  their  commander,  the  substantial 
prowess  of  their  foe.  So  obvious,  in  fact, 
is  the  question,  that  General  Beauregard 
has  felt  it  incumbent  on  himself  to  an- 
swer it.  He  gives  as  a  part  of  the  rea- 
sons, proper  to  be  communicated  for  the 
neglect,  these  statements :  "  An  army 
which  had  fought  like  ours  on  that  day 
against  uncommon  odds,  under  a  July 
sun,  most  of  the  time  without  water  and 
without  food,  except  a  hastily  snatched 
meal  at  dawn,  was  not  in  condition  for 
the  toil  of  an  eager,  effective  pursuit  of 
an  enemy  immediately  after  the  battle. 
On  the  following  day  an  unusually  heavy 
and  unintermitting  fall  of  rain  intervened 
to  obstruct  our  advance  with  reasonable 
prospect  of  fruitful  results.  Added  to 
this,  the  want  of  a  cavalry  force  of  suffi- 
cient numbers,  made  an  efficient  pursuit 
a  military  impossibility." 

General  Johnston,  who  has  also  some- 
thing to  say  on  this  matter,  frankly  ad- 
mits that  he  considered  an  offensive 
movement  against  the  capital  after  the 
battle  utterly  impracticable.  "  The  ap- 
parent firmness,"  he  says,  "  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  troops  at  Centreville,  who  had 
not  been  engaged,  which  checked  our 
pursuit,  the  strong  forces  occupying  the 
works  near  Georgetown,  Arlington  and 
Alexandria  —  the  certainty,  too,  that 
General  Patterson,  if  needed,  would 
reach  Washington  with  his  army  of 
30,000  men  sooner  than  we  could,  and 
the  condition  and  inadequate  means  of 


the  army  in  ammunition,  provisions  and 
transportation,  prevented  any  serious 
thoughts  of  advancing  against  the  capi- 
tal." 

It  remains  to  count  the  immediate  loss 
of  this  hotly-contested  day — the  returns 
of  killed  and  wounded — what  Welling- 
ton, with  more  rough  truth  than  elegance, 
is  said  to  have  called  "  the  butcher's 
bill."  It  is  thus  reported  by  the  respect- 
ive commanders.  General  McDowell, 
from  the  returns  of  his  officers,  reports 
the  Union  loss  at  19  officers  and  462 
non-commissioned  officers  and  privates 
killed,  and  64  officers  and  947  non-com- 
missioned officers  and  privates  wounded. 
1,216  were  reported  missing.  General 
Beauregard  tells  us,  without  distinction 
of  rank,  that  of  the  Confederate  forces,  the 
killed  outright  numbered  269,  the  wound- 
ed 1,483.  He  calculates  the  number  of 
prisoners  of  the  Union  army  taken,  "in- 
cluding the  wounded  who  did  not  die," 
as  not  less  than  1,600.  An  abstract  list 
found  at  Manassas  after  the  evacuation 
gives  550  wounded  and  871  not  wound- 
ed, sent  to  Richmond  and  the  various 
hospitals.  General  Johnston,  in  his  re- 
port of  the  day,  states  the  result  some- 
what differently,  making  the  aggregate 
of  the  Confederate  loss-  378  killed, 
1,489  wounded,  and  30  missing.  Of 
these  he  assigns  to  the  army  of  the 
Potomac  108  killed,  510  wounded,  and 
12  missing  ;  to  the  army  of  the  Shenan- 
doah  270  killed,  979  wounded,  and  18 
missing.  He  claims  as  the  spoils  of  the 
day,  28  pieces  of  artillery,  about  5,000 
muskets,  nearly  500,000  cartridges,  a  gar- 
rison flag,  and  10  colors  captured  in  the 
field  or  in  the  pursuit ;  and  besides  these, 
64  artillery  horses  with  their  harness,  26 
wagons  and  much  camp  equipage,  cloth- 
ing, and  other  property  left  behind. 


CHAPTEE    XXVII. 


INCIDENTS     OF     THE     ENGAGEMENT. 


A  NUMBER  of  gallant  officers  of  the 
Union  army  fell  in  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run.  Among  the  foremost  in  rank  was 
Colonel  James  Cameron,  brother  of  the 
Secretary  of  War,  who  was  mortally 
wounded  while  leading  his  regiment,  the 
New  York  79th  Highlanders,  at  the  height 
of  the  engagement.  He  was  a  native  of 
Philadelphia,  a  printer  and  editor  in  early 
life,  and  had  acquired  reputation  and  for- 
tune in  his  active  furtherance  of  the  public 
improvements  and  industrial  interests  of 
his  State.  His  acquaintance  with  military 
affairs  as  Colonel  of  the  militia,  seconded 
by  his  public  spirit  and  the  eminent  po- 
sition of  his  brother  in  the  Government, 
doubtless  influenced  him  in  leaving  his 
luxuriant  retirement  on  the  banks  of  the 
Susquehanna  and  accepting  the  command 
in  the  discharge  of  which  he  nobly  per- 
ished. He  was  fifty-two  years  old  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  fell  mortally 
struck  by  a  bullet  in  his  left  breast  whilst 
conversing  with  a  lieutenant  of  the  regi- 
ment in  relation  to  taking  off  the  wound- 
ed, dying  on  the  instant.  It  was  said 
that  he  owed  his  death  to  the  rifle  of  Col- 
onel Wade  Hampton  of  South  Carolina, 
who  took  repeated  aim  at  him  as  he  gal- 
lantly led  on  his  regiment.  One  of  his 
biographers  compares  his  fate  to  that 
of  Colonel  Cameron  of  the  British 
79th,  from  which  the  regiment  had  taken 
its  designation,  an  officer  who  fell  at 
Fuentes  de  Onoro,  killed  Toy  a  French 
Colonel  vho  seized  a  musket  from  one  of 


his  men.*  The  body  of  Colonel  Camer- 
on was  carried  from  the  battle-ground  in 
an  ambulance,  and  left  on  the  retreat  to 
be  buried  with  others  by  the  rebels  in  a 
common  grave.  Active  efforts  were 
made  immediately  after  the  engagement 
by  his  friends  and  family  at  Washington 
to  procure  the  remains  for  more  honor- 
able interment,  but  owing  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  war  was  conducted,  they 
proved  ineffectual.  Two  gentlemen — 
Messrs.  Arnold  Harris  and  H.  S.  Mc- 
Graw,  formerly  State -Treasurer  of  Penn- 
sylvania, visited  the  field  the  day  after 
the  battle  in  search  of  the  remains,  were 
seized  as  prisoners  of  War  and  sent  to 
Richmond,  where  they  were  detained  for 
months,  and  part  of  the  time  close  pris- 
oners. Mr.  Harris,  relying  on  his  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Southern  leaders  to 
secure  the  humane  object  for  which  he 
set  out,  addressed  the  following  note  to 
General  Beauregard  :  "  Sir, — I  send  this 
by  a  friend  and  trusty  servant  who 
is  well  known  to  many  officers  in  your 
army.  He  is  sent  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
taining from  you  a  permit  for  Mr.  H.  S. 
McGraw  and  myself  to  pass  your  lines  to 
obtain  the  body  of  Colonel  Cameron, 
who  fell  in  the  action  of  yesterday.  My 
solicitude  in  this  matter  is  an  impulse  of 
private  character.  The  rigid  rules  estab- 
lished at  Washington  with  reference  to 
flags  of  truce,  prevent  me  from  carrying 
out  my  wishes  without  proceeding  as  I 

*  Shea's  Fallen  Brave.     Art.  Colonel  James  Cameron. 


AN  APPEAL  TO  GENERAL  BEAU11EGARD. 


409 


am  now  doing.  I  believe  General  B. 
will  recollect  me  while  a  resident  of  New 
Orleans  ;  but  if  President  Davis,  Gener- 
al Lee  General  Johnston  General  Wig- 
fall,  Colonel  Miles,  Keitt  or  Withers  are 
present  they  will  not  hesitate  to  vouch 
for  me.  General  Bonham,  and  in  fact, 
nearly  all  your  officers  know  me.  In 
addition  to  the  gratification  of  performing 
a  sacred  duty,  I  would  be  highly  delight- 
ed to  meet  in  your  camp  many  of  my 
most  valued  friends.  It  is  proper  for 
me  to  add  that  I  have  not  been  in  any 
manner  connected  with  the  action  of  the 
Government  here,  and  that  I  am  a  neu- 
tral." To  this  appeal  the  following  reply 
was  made  by  General  Beauregard, 
through  his  aide-de-camp  Manning  :— 
"The  General  declines  giving  an  infor- 
mal permit  to  any  one  residing  beyond 
his  advanced  lines  for  any  purpose  which 
may  be  accomplished  by  those  formal 
proceedings  known  to  and  practiced  by 
civilized  belligerent  nations.  By  no  act 
of  his  will  he  lower  the  dignity  of  the 
Confederate  States  as  a  nation,  by  per- 
mitting that  to  be  done  indirectly  which 
the  usages  of  civilized  warfare  accom- 
plish directly.  The  arbitrary  and  unu- 
sual course  adopted  in  such  cases  as  you 
refer  to  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment will  be  the  guide  of  the  General's 
conduct  in  return.  Any  one,  therefore, 
coming  within  his  lines  without  the  pro- 
per flag,  will  be  sent  under  an  escort  to 
the  Confederate  Government  for  exami- 
nation. The  General  deems  proper  for 
me  to  add,  that  humanity  should  teach 
an  enemy  tc  care  for  its  wounded,  and 
Christianity  to  bury  its  dead." 

The  refusal  of  General  Beauregard,  on 
the  ground  of  the  Confederate  States  not 
being  recognized  as  an  independent  bel- 
ligerent nation,  was  one  of  the  embar- 
52 


rassments  necessarily  arising  from  the 
theory  held  by  the  Federal  Government 
of  its  attitude,  not  of  making  foreign  war, 
but  of  suppressing  an  internal  rebellion. 
The  Confederates,  naturally  eager  to 
maintain  their  independent  sovereignty 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  were  jealous  of 
the  punctilio  which,  it  was  found  after- 
wards could,  to  a  certain  extent,  by 
subordinate  officers  and  by  special  acts, 
be  yielded  to  a  state  of  actual  war- 
fare without  compromising  the  principles 
of  government  at  stake.  In  fact,  a  mod- 
ification of  the  original  course  in  the 
transmission  of  flags  of  truce,  the  ex- 
change of  prisoners  and  other  matters, 
became  a  necessity  of  the  war.  Had 
Colonel  Cameron  been  on  the  other  side 
and  fallen  to  the  care  of  the  Unionists, 
his  remains  would,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  tenderness  which  had  then  been 
already  bestowed  in  the  case  of  General 
Garnett,  have  been  cared  for  and  for- 
warded with  every  mark  of  respect  with- 
out solicitation  or  needless  anxiety  to  his 
family  and  friends. 

A  letter  was  also  addressed  to  Gener- 
al Beauregard  shortly  after  the  battle  by 
Mrs.  Sarah  Z.  Evans,  the  sister  of  Colo- 
nel Cameron  at  Washington,  asking  in- 
formation respecting  her  brother.  ' '  With 
a  grieved  and  torn  heart,"  she  wrote, 
"  I  address  you.  If  it  is  in  your  power, 
will  you  give  a  word  of  comfort  to  a  dis- 
tressed spirit  ?  I  allude  to  the  death  of 
the  gallant  Colonel  Cameron,  of  the  Fed- 
eral army,  on  last  Sunday,  the  21st  of 
July.  We  are  all  God's  creatures,  alike 
in  his  sight.  It  is  a  bereaved  sister  that 
petitions.  Colonel  Cameron  received  two 
shots,  immediately  following  each  other, 
that  destroyed  his  life.  The  fate  of  ku 
body  is  the  grief — to  know  wliat  has  be- 
come of  it.  Think  of  the  distress  of  a 


410 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


like  nature  in  Southern  families,  and  let 
us  forgive  as  we  hope  to  be  forgiven. 
All  that  we  have  been  able  to  learn  is, 
that  Colonel  0.  was  carried  to  a  farm- 
house near  the  scene  of  battle.  He  had 
letters  in  his  pocket  declaring  his  name 
and  station.  He  was  rather  a  large 
man,  with  sandy  hair,  somewhat  gray, 
dressed  in  gray  clothes.  Have  mercy 
on  the  bowed  spirit  that  laments  for  the 
beloved  lost — that  would  be  comforted 
to  know  he  had  received  decent  burial. 
Notwithstanding  the  war,  we  are  all 
brothers.  '  God  prosper  the  righteous 
cause.'  In  pity,  have  inquiries  made,  for 
the  love  a  .sister  bears  a  brother,  and 
may  God  show  you  mercy  in  time  of 
trouble."  To  this  touching  epistle,  Gen- 
eral Beauregard,  on  the  5th  of  August, 
wrote  the  following  reply:  "Madam,— 
Your  letter  of  the  26th  ultimo  has  been 
received,  making  some  inquiries  relative 
to  the  body  of  your  late  brother,  Colonel 
Cameron,  United  States  Army,  killed  at 
Manassas  on  the  21st  ultimo.  In  answer, 
I  will  state  that,  upon  inquiry,  I  find  he 
was  interred  with  several  other  bodies 
in  a  grave  about  200  yards  from  the 
house  of  a  Mrs.  Dogan,  on  the  battlefield, 
who  attended  herself  to  this  sad  duty — 
forgetting  in  her  goodness  of  heart  that 
these  very  foes  had  brought  destruction 
and  destitution  upon  her  home  and  fire- 
side— and  that  they  had  crossed  into  her 
country  for  the  purpose  of  subverting  its 
institutions  and  the  form  of  government 
it  had  chosen,  as  a  free  people,  to  estab- 
lish for  itself.  Indeed,  I  fully  agree  with 
you.  May  all  the  distress  of  this  unholy 
war  be  visited  upon  the  heads  of  those 
who  are  responsible  for  it,  and  may  the 
Almighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  in  His 
infinite  goodness  and  wisdom,  (continue 
to)  prosper  the  righteous  cause  !  A  gen- 


tleman of  this  State,  Mr.  Kinlaw  Faunt- 
leroy,  a  private  in  Colonel  Stuart's  cav- 
alry brigade,  has  in  his  possession  a  min- 
iature portrait  of  Colonel  Cameron  and 
wife,  which  he  intends  to  return  to  their 
friends  after  the  war  ;  for  at  present 
no  intercourse  of  the  kind  is  admissi- 
ble between  the  two  contending  parties." 
The  remains  of  Colonel  Cameron  were 
thus  left  uncoffined  in  a  dishonored  grave 
till  the  enemy  having  finally  departed 
from  the  field  before  the  long  deferred 
approach  of  the  Union  army,  the  burial 
place  was  detected  through  information 
given  by  a  negro,  and  the  relics,  as  they 
could  be  gathered,  were  separated  from 
the  promiscuous  dead  and  carried  by  the 
family  of  the  deceased  to  a  reverent  in- 
terment. 

The  brigade  of  General  Sherman,  to 
which  Colonel  Cameron's  regiment  was 
attached,  met  with  another  loss  in  the 
capture  of  Colonel  Michael  Corcoran  of 
the  New  York  69th,  Irish  regiment,  who 
was  destined  to  afford,  in  the  varying 
fortunes  of  his  imprisonment,  a  promi- 
nent illustration  of  the  policy  of  the  war. 
Long  after  others  were  released  from 
confinement,  he  was  held  as  a  hostage, 
and  his  life  was  for  a  time  threatened  to 
save  from  execution  the  Southern  priva- 
teers who  were  tried  in  Northern  ports 
as  pirates.  The  birth,  soldierly  qualities 
and  estimable  character  of  Colonel  Cor- 
coran excited  much  sympathy  and  anxi- 
ety for  his  fate  from  his  fellow-citizens 
generally,  and  especially  from  his  coun- 
trymen, the  natives  of  Ireland,  who  were 
so  largely  represented  in  the  war.  He 
was  the  son  of  an  officer  in  the  British 
service,  had  received  a  limited  education, 
been  employed  in  the  Irish  Constabulary 
force,  and  in  1849,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  had  emigrated  to  New  York,  where 


COLONEL   CORCORAN/ 


411 


he  became  proprietor  of  a  hotel.  Hav- 
ing a  turn  for  military  affairs,  he  entered 
the  ranks  of  the  69th  regiment,  of  the 
city  militia,  soon  rose  to  the  rank  of  Cap- 
tain, and  in  1858  was  elected  Colonel  of 
the  regiment.  His  refusal,  in  that  capa- 
city, to  call  out  his  men  in  honor  of  the 
visit  to  New  York  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  in  the  fall  of  1860,  first  brought 
him  conspicuously  before  the  public. 
After  his  capture  at  Bull  Eun  he  was 
confined  for  a  time  with  the  other  pris- 
oners of  war  in  the  tobacco  warehouse 
at  Richmond,  and  then  removed  to  a 
second  prison  at  Castle  Pinckney,  in 
Charleston  harbor.  His  fellow-prisoner 
at  Richmond,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ely,  of  whose 
journal  we  shall  presently  make  men- 
tion, thus  describes  his  appearance  and 
bears  witness  to  his  equanimity: — "In 
personal  appearance  Colonel  Corcoran  is 
tall  and  slender,  and  has  a  remarkably 
fair  complexion  ;  and  though  apparently 
of  a  delicate  constitution,  he  is  suscepti- 
ble of  enduring  great  fatigue.  In  his 
deportment  he  is  silent  without  being  in- 
different ;  reserved,  but  hospitable  •  earn- 
est, firm,  laborious  and  always  animated 
by  a  feeling  of  the  loftiest  integrity. 
When  he  was  free  and  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment,  there  were  at  least  one  thous- 
and good  substantial  men  who  were 
ready  to  follow  him  into  the  very  jaws 
of  death  ;  but  his  recent  sufferings  as  a 
captive  will  endear  his  name  to  the  true 
patriots  throughout  the  whole  land." 

The  69th  also  lost  its  second  officer, 
Lieutenant- Colonel  James  Haggerty,  a 
native  "of  Ireland,  who  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  in  1849.  His  calling  was 
that  of  a  builder,  an  occupation  in  which 
he  is  spoken  of  as  "most  successful, 
being  a  man  of  energy,  determination 
and  watchfulness,"  qualities  which  he 


appears  to  have  brought  to  his  military 
service,  and  which  were  proved  in  the 
efficiency  of  his  command.  He  was  the 
first  of  his  regiment  to  fall,  mortally 
wounded,  in  an  assault  on  the  enemy, 
immediately  after  crossing  Bull  Run  to 
cooperate  with  Hunter's  advanced  col- 
umn. 

The  Rhode  Island  troops  of  General 
Burnside's  brigade,  which  led  the  way  at 
the  crossing  of  the  upper  ford,  suffered 
greatly,  particularly  the  2d  regiment, 
which  was  first  in  the  action.  Its  loss  in 
officers  was  especially  severe.  Colonel 
John  Stan  ton  Slocum,  who  fell  at  the  very 
outset  of  the  engagement,  was  a  soldier  of 
mark  who,  had  he  lived,  would  doubtless 
have  become  prominent  in  the  war.  A 
native  of  Richmond,  Rhode  Island,  born 
in  1824,  he  had  received  an  excellent 
education,  and  had  early  shown  an  ap- 
titude for  military  service  and  an  alle- 
giance to  the  cause  of  government,  by 
ranking  himself  with  the  armed  defend- 
ers of  his  State  in  the  suppression  of  the 
Dorr  rebellion.  When  the  war  with 
Mexico  occurred,  he  exhibited  great 
alacrity  and  zeal  in  the  enlistment  of  a 
company  which  he  offered  to  the  National 
Government.  On  the  increase  of  the 
army,  his  services  were  accepted,  and  he 
was  appointed  1st  Lieutenant  in  Colonel 
Ransom's  Rhode  Island  regiment  which 
joined  the  column  of  General  Scott,  and 
rendered  distinguished  service  at  Con- 
treras  and  the  storming  of  Chapultepec, 
where  Ransom  fell  facing  the  fire  of  the 
enemy  at  the  head  of  his  men.  For  his 
services  on  that  day  Lieutenant  Slocum 
was  promoted  to  a  Captaincy.  After 
the  war  he  was  engaged  more  or  less  in 
military  matters,  in  the  command  of  a 
militia  company,  and  in  furthering  the 
introduction  of  James's  new  projectile. 


412 


•WAR  FOR    THE   UNION. 


When  Rhode  Island  was  called  upon, 
immediately  after  Sumter,  to  aid  in  the 
suppression  of  the  Rebellion,  Colonel 
Slocum  was  at  once  summoned  by  Gov- 
ernor Sprague,  and  left  for  Washington 
with  the  earliest  detachment  of  troops 
with  the  rank  of  Major  in  Colonel  Burn- 
side's  1st  regiment  of  volunteers.  When 
a  second  regiment  was  called  for,  Major 
Slocum  was  appointed  its  Colonel.  In 
the  flank  movement  at  Bull  Run,  he  was 
with  his  command  in  the  front  of  the 
advancing  column. 

Major  Sullivan  Ballou,  also  a  native 
of  Rhode  Island,  had  just  completed  his 
thirty-second  year,  when  he  fell  in  the 
same  movement  with  Colonel  Slocum. 
He  had  received  no  military  education, 
but  had  been  drawn  to  the  service  by 
his  influential  position  in  Rhode  Island, 
where  he  had  obtained  considerable  dis- 
tinction as  a  politician  and  lawyer.  He 
was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  his  State  in  1857,  and  had  since 
devoted  himself  to  the  legal  profession  in 
which  his  powers  of  reason  and  eloquence 
rendered  him  much  thought  of.  He  ac- 
cepted the  rank  of  Major  at  the  invitation 
of  Colonel  Slocum,  says  his  biographer, 
from  a  "  patriotic  sense  of  duty,  knowing 
full  well  the  danger  to  which  he  would  be 
exposed, — feeling,  at  the  same  time,  that 
terrible  presentiment,  that  he  should  be 
one  of  the  earliest  victims.  He  could 
not  remain  at  home  ;  he  had  urged  others 
to  stand  up  for  their  common  country, 
and  when  the  call  came  to  him  he  could 
not  even  hesitate,  though  he  almost  knew 
he  was  rushing  to  a  speedy  death."  * 
Colonel  Burnside,  in  his  report  of  the 
action  in  which  he  fell,  speaks  of  him  as 
"  deserving  of  the  highest  commendation 
as  a  brave  soldier  and  a  true  man." 

*  Shea's  Fallen  Brave.     Art.  Major  Ballou. 


Captain  Levi  Tower,  who  also  fell  in 
this  engagement,  was  an  Ensign  of  the 
Pawtucket  Light  Guard  when  he  joined 
the  1st  Rhode  Island  regiment  to  pro- 
ceed to  Washington.  He  was  subse- 
quently recalled  to  aid  in  the  formation 
of  the  2d  regiment,  in  which  he  was  ap- 
pointed Captain.  He  was  twenty-six 
years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death,  well 
educated,  earnest  in  his  religious  feel- 
ings, a  devoted  patriot.  "  A  young, 
brave,  and  promising  officer,"  is  the 
eulogy  of  Colonel  Burnside,  "  deeply  la- 
mented by  his  comrades  and  friends." 

Captain  Smith,  of  the  same  regiment, 
who  fell  in  the  same  engagement,  adds 
Colonel  Burnside,  "  was  known  among 
us  for  his  many  good  qualities  of  head 
and  heart.  Lieutenant  Prescott,  of  the 
1st  Rhode  Island  regiment,  was  also 
killed  in  the  early'  part  of  the  action 
while  gallantly  encouraging  his  company. 
He  was  a  noble-hearted  Christian  man, 
whose  memory  will  be  ever  fresh  in  the 
hearts  of  his  friends.  It  is  a  sad  duty," 
concludes  this  true-hearted  officer,  in  his 
official  report,  "  to  record  a  defeat  ac- 
companied with  the  loss  of  so  many 
valuable  lives.  But  defeat  should  only 
make  us  more  faithful  still  to  the  great 
cause  of  humanity  and  civilization,  in 
order  that  every  disaster  should  be  more 
than  compensated  for  by  an  enduring 
victory. 

Nearly  a  year  after,  when  the  battle- 
field of  Bull  Run  was  open  to  inspection, 
upon  the  evacuation  of  Manassas  by  the 
enemy,  Governor  Sprague  of  Rhode 
Island — who  had  been  present  on  the 
field  and  honorably  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  bravery,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  conflict  in  directing  a  battery 
of  light  artillery — visited  the  spot  for  the 
purpose  of  recovering  the  bodies  of  the 


REBEL  TREATMENT   OF  THE  DEAD. 


413 


fallen  officers  of  the  regiments  of  his  State 
who  had  been  left  in  the  rear  at  the  hos- 
pital station,  to  receive  such  burial  as  was 
accorded  by  the  rebels.  There  had  been 
several  wounded  Confederate  officers  at 
the  same  place  who  requested  the  Union 
soldiers  and  other  attendants  to  stay  with 
them  after  the  retreat,  promising  them  a 
safe  return  if  they  remained.  These 
men  now  undertook  to  guide  Governor 
Sprague  to  the  spot  where  his  officers 
were  interred.  "  On  reaching  the  place," 
says  the  Governor  in  his  testimony  be- 
fore the  Committee  of  Congress  on  the 
Conduct  of  the  War,  directed  to  collect 
the  evidence  with  regard  to  the  barbar- 
ous treatment  by  the  rebels  at  Manassas 
of  the  remains  of  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  United  States  killed  in  battle  there, 
"  we  commenced  digging  for  the  bodies 
of  Colonel  Slocum  and  Major  Ballou  at 
the  spot  pointed  out  to  us  by  these  men 
who  had  been  in  the  action.  While  dig- 
ging, some  negro  women  came  up  and 
asked  whom  we  were  looking  for,  and  at 
the  same  time  said  that  '  Colonel  Slogun ' 
had  been  dug  up  by  the  rebels,  by  some 
men  of  a  Georgia  regiment,  his  head  cut 
off,  and  his  body  taken  to  a  ravine  thirty 
or  forty  yards  below,  and  there  burned. 
We  stopped  digging  and  went  to  the 
spot  designated,  where  we  found  coals 
and  ashes  and  bones  mingled  together. 
A  little  distance  from  there  we  found  a 
shirt  (still  buttoned  at  the  neck)  and 
blanket  with  large  quantities  of  hair  upon 
it,  everything  indicating  the  burning  of 
a  body  there.  We  returned  and  dug 
down  at  the  spot  indicated  as  the  grave 
of  Major  Ballou,  but  found  no  body 
there  ;  but  at  the  place  pointed  out  as 
the  grave  where  Colonel  Slocum  was 
buried  we  found  a  box,  which,  upon  be- 
ing raised  and  opened,  was  found  to  con- 


tain the  body  of  Colonel  Slocum.  The 
soldiers  who  had  buried  the  two  bodies 
were  satisfied  that  the  grave  had  been 
opened  ;  the  body  taken  out,  beheaded, 
and  burned,  was  that  of  Major  Ballou, 
because  it  was  not  in  the  spot  where 
Colonel  Slocum  was  buried,  but  rather 
to  the  right  of  it.  They  at  once  said 
that  the  rebels  had  made  a  mistake,  and 
had  taken  the  body  of  Major  Ballou  for 
that  of  Colonel  Slocum.  The  shirt  found 
near  the  place  where  the  body  was  burn- 
ed I  recognized  as  one  belonging  to 
Major  Ballou,  as  I  had  been  very  intim- 
ate with  him.  We  gathered  up  the 
ashes  containing  the  portion  of  his  re- 
mains that  were  left,  and  put  them  in  a 
coffin  together  with  his  shirt  and  the 
blanket  with  the  hair  left  upon  it.  After 
we  had  done  this  we  went  to  that  portion 
of  the  field  where  the  battle  had  first 
commenced,  and  began  to  dig  for  the  re- 
mains of  Captain  Tower.  We  brought  a 
soldier  with  us  to  designate  the  place 
where  he  was  buried.  He  had  been 
wounded  in  the  battle,  and  had  seen  from 
the  window  of  the  house  where  the  cap- 
tain was  interred.  On  opening  the  ditch 
or  trench  we  found  it  filled  with  soldiers, 
all  buried  with  their  faces  downward. 
On  taking  up  some  four  or  five  we  dis- 
covered the  remains  of  Captain  Tower, 
mingled  with  those  of  the  men.  We 
took  them,  placed  them  in  a  coffin,  and 
brought  them  home." 

"In  reply  to  a  question  of  a  member 
of  the  committee  as  to  whether  he  was 
satisfied  that  they  were  buried  intention- 
ally with  their  faces  downward,  Gover- 
nor Sprague's  answer  was,  'Undoubt- 
edly !  Beyond  all  controversy !?  and 
that  '  it  was  done  as  a  mark  of  indignity.' 
In  answer  to  another  question  as  to  what 
their  object  could  have  been,  especially 


414 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


in  regard  to  the  body  of  Colonel  Slocum, 
he  replied,  '  Sheer  brutality,  and  nothing 
else.  They  did  it  on  account  of  his 
courage  and  chivalry  in  forcing  his  regi- 
ment fearlessly  and  bravely  upon  them. 
He  destroyed  about  one-half  of  that 
Georgia  regiment,  which  was  made  up  of 
their  best  citizens.'  When  the  inquiry 
was  put  whether  he  thought  these  bar- 
barities were  committed  by  that  regiment, 
he  responded,  '  by  that  same  regiment,  as 
I  was  told.  While  their  own  dead  were 
buried  with  marble  head  and  foot-stones, 
and  names  upon  them,  ours  were  buried, 
as  I  have  stated,  in  trenches.'  This 
eminent  witness  concludes  his  testimony 
as  follows  :  '  I  have  published  an  order 
to  my  second  regiment,  to  which  these 
officers  were  attached,  that  I  shall  not 
be  satisfied  with  what  they  shall  do 
unless  they  give  an  account  of  one 
rebel  killed  for  each  one  of  their  own 
number.'  "* 

In  addition  to  these  apparently  well- 
authenticated  narratives  of  the  treatment 
of  the  dead,  it  was  currently  reported 
that  it  had  been  a  favorite  occupation  of 
the  rebels  to  unearth  the  bones  of  the 
Union  soldiers  who  had  fallen  in  battle 
and  carve  them  into  various  articles,  as 
rings  and  the  like,  as  trophies  of  the 
field,  "  sometimes  as  the  testimony 
proves,  to  be  used  as  personal  adorn- 
ments, and  one  witness  deliberately 
avers  that  the  head  of  one  of  our  most 
gallant  officers  was  cut  off  by  a  seces- 
sionist to  be  turned  into  a  drinking  cup 
on  the  occasion  of  his  marriage.  Mons- 
trous as  this  revelation  may  appear  to 
be,  your  committee  have  been  informed 
that  during  the  last  two  weeks  the  skull 

*  Senator  Wade's  Report  to  the  Senate  in  behalf  of  the 
Joint  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  present  War. 
April  30,  1862. 


of  a  Union  soldier  has  been  exhibited  in 
the  office  of  the  Sergeant-at-arms  of  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives,  which  had 
been  converted  to  such  a  purpose,  and 
which  had  been  fo'und  on  the  person  of 
one  of  the  rebel  prisoners  taken  in  a  re- 
cent conflict."* 

It  is  painful  to  record  these  mutila- 
tions of  the  remains  of  the  dead,  but  the 
fact,  seemingly  too  well  established,  has 
been  too  loudly  bruited,  as  the  topic  of 
Government  investigation,  to  be  passed 
over  in  silence.  Nor  should  a  notice 
of  these  transactions  be  neglected  in 
a  humanitarian  point  of  view.  It  is  no 
charity  -to  the  living  to  conceal  the 
horrid  atrocities  and  barbarities  of  war 
which  are  liable  to  be  doubly  aggra- 
vated in  a  civil  contest.  Let  us  know 
to  what  the  struggle  tends,  and  who  are 
the  combatants  who  "are  called  forth  to 
the  work  of  slaughter  in  so  fearful  a 
combat.  The  lesson,  if  properly  learnt, 
may  teach  us  something  of  the  duties 
of  good  government  in  the  improve- 
ment of  its  subjects  in  times  of  peace. 
"It  is  almost,"  says  Senator  Wade,  in 
his  report,  "beyond  belief  that  the  men 
fighting  in  such  a  cause  as  ours  are  sus- 
tained by  a  government  which  in  the 
midst  of  violence  and  treachery  has 
given  repeated  evidences  of  its  indul- 
gence, should  have  been  subjected  k 
treatment  never  before  resorted  to  by 
one  foreign  nation  in  a  conflict  with  ano- 
ther." Do  not  such  acts  as  Governor 
Sprague  had  witnessed  indicate  a  degree 
of  ignorance  and  folly  as  remarkable  as 
the  crime  itself?  Insults  to  the  dead  are 
beneath  the  poor  dignity  of  anger  and 


*  Senator  Wade's  Report,  p.  10.  See  also  letter  of  a 
Confederate  soldier  at  Manassas  found  in  a  post-office  in 
North  Carolina  by  the  United  States  forces,  published  in 
the  New  York  Times,  July  22,  1862. 


LOSS   OF   OFFICERS  IN   THE   BATTLE. 


415 


revenge.  They  are  the  peculiarities  and 
crimes  of  ignorance  and  barbarism,  and 
betray  in  any  State  where  they  are 
found  the  existence  of  a  class  unworthy 
or  incapable  of  appreciating  the  lowest 
grade  of  civilization.  War,  in  its  best 
estate,  with  all  the  limitations  which  chi- 
valry has  iniposed  upon  it,  is  the  saddest 
evidence  the  world  affords  of  the  corrup- 
tion and  lack  of  wisdom  in  it.  With  all 
its  courtesies  and  magnanimities,  its 
brave  shows  and  realities  of  self-sacri- 
fice and  valor,  the  honor  which  it  gains  in 
its  devotion  to  lofty  principle,  war  is  still 
of  the  essence  of  barbarism,  the  greatest 
blot  upon  the  civilization  of  the  century  ; 
yet,  to  how  low  a  depth  of  ignominy  it  de- 
scends when  not  content  with  mutilating 
the  living,  it  carries  its  fury  beyond 
death  and  dishonors  the  dead.  Yet,  such 
was  the  degradation  of  the  rebellion,  and 
such  the  men  it  brought  to  assail  the 
capitol  of  the  United  States  with  all  that 
it  represents  of  honor,  integrity,  and  the 
thousand  sources  and  protections  of  na- 
tional prosperity. 

Captain  Otis  H.  Tillinghast,  of  the 
United  States  Artillery,  who  was  on  the 
field  attached  to  the  staff  of  the  Com- 
manding General  with  the  rank  of  As- 
sistant Quartermaster,  was  mortally 
wounded  while  voluntarily  acting  with 
the  artillery  in  the  Second  Division.  A 
native  of  the  State  of  New  York,  he  was 
a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and  though 
only  thirty-seven,  had  seen  much  ser- 
vice in  Mexico,  and  subsequently  in  the 
Boundary  Commission  to  that  country, 
and  in  Florida.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  efficient  officers  on  the  field,  his 
energy  and  spirit  carrying  him  to  the 
post  of  danger  beyond  the  line  of  his 
duties  in  the  position  which  he  held  on 
the  staff.  Colonel  David  Hunter,  com- 


manding the  Second  Division,  was  wound- 
ed early  in  the  action,  and  compelled  to 
leave  the  field.  Born  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  he  was  a  graduate  of  West 
Point  of  1822,  and  commenced  his  mili- 
tary career  as  2d  Lieutenant  in  the  5th 
Infantry,  rose  to  be  1st  Lieutenant,  and 
was  in  1833  appointed  Captain  in  the 
1st  Dragoons.  •  He  resigned  in  1836, 
but  rejoined  the  army  in  1842  as  pay- 
master. He  held  this  office  with  the 
rank  of  Major  when  the  administra- 
tion of  President  Lincoln  called  him  to 
more  active  service  as  Colonel  of  the  3d 
Cavalry.  He  accompanied  Mr.  Lincoln, 
it  will  be  remembered,  when  President 
elect,  in  his  journey  from  Springfield, 
when  his  collar-bone  was  dislocated  in 
an  effort  to  repress  the  crowd  at  Buffalo. 
Colonel  Heintzelman  was  wounded  in 
the  arm  while  leading  his  division  into 
action.  Colonel  Wilcox,  of  the  Michi- 
gan volunteers,  was  wounded  and  taken 
prisoner  while  on  the  hill  in  the  hottest 
of  the  fight.  A  native  of  Detroit,  he 
was  a  graduate  of  West  Point  of  1846, 
was  actively  engaged  in  the  Mexican 
war  as  Lieutenant  of  Artillery,  subse- 
quently resigned  his  commission  to  de- 
vote himself  to  the  study  of  the  law, 
and  was  pursuing  this  profession  in 
Michigan  when  he  was  recalled  to  mili- 
tary service  to  take  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  first  regiment  raised  in  his 
State  for  the  defence  of  Washington  and 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion. 

On  the  side  of  the  Confederates  the 
loss  of  officers  was  heavier  in  proportion 
than  in  the  national  army.  The  victory, 
says  General  Beauregard,  "was  dearly 
won  by  the  death  of  many  officers  and 
men  of  inestimable  value  belonging  to 
all  ranks  of  our  society.  In  the  death 
of  General  Barnard  E.  Bee  the  Confed- 


416 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


eracy  has  sustained  an  irreparable  loss, 
for  with  great  personal  bravery  and 
coolness  he  possessed  the  qualities  of 
an  accomplished  soldier  and  an  able, 
reliable  commander.  Colonels  Bartow 
and  Fisher,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Johnson  of  Hampton's  Legion,  in  the 
fearless  command  of  their  men  gave 
earnest  of  great  usefulness  to  the  ser- 
vice, had  they  been  spared  to  complete 
a  career  so  brilliantly  begun."  General 
Bee,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  was  a 
graduate  of  West  Point  of  1845,  and 
had  served  with  distinction  in  Mexico, 
being  twice  brevetted  for  his  gallant 
conduct  at  Cerro  Gordo  and  at  Chapul- 
tepec.  His  subsequent  achievements  in 
wars  among  the  Indians,  says  the  Charles- 
ton Mercwy  in  an  obituary  notice, 
"  were  such  as  to  attract  towards  him 
the  attention  of  his  State,  and  in  his 
dying  hand  on  the  field  in  which  he  fell 
he  grasped  the  sword  which  South  Caro- 
lina had  taken  pride  in  presenting  him." 
At  the  time  of  his  resignation  from  the 
national  service,  early  in  March  1861, 
he  held  the  rank  of  Captain  of  the  10th 
Infantry.  He  was  immediately  after 
appointed  by  President  Davis  Brigadier- 
General  in  the  Confederate  army.  Col- 
onel Francis  S.  Bartow  of  Georgia  was 
a  young  man  highly  spoken  of  as  a  poli- 
tician and  lawyer  of  his  native  State, 
which  he  represented  in  the  Confederate 
Congress  when  he  was  called  to  the  Col- 
c  nelcy  of  one  of  the  Georgia  regiments. 
Colonel  Charles  F.  Fisher  was  from 
North  Carolina.  General  Edmund  Kir- 
by  Smith  of  "Florida,  Major  of  the  2d 
Cavalry  when  he  left  the  United  States 
service  in  April,  and  Major  Kobert 
Wheat  of  the  Louisiana  Battalion,  emi- 
nent for  his  inroads  upon  Mexican  terrj- 
tory  as  a  marauder  or  filibuster  in  Texas, 


were  among  those  wounded  on  the  battle 
field,  but  were  reported  as  killed  in  the 
first  rumors  of  the  day. 

The  battle  of  Bull  Eun  was  far  too 
important  an  achievement  of  the  enemy 
to  be  passed  over  without  the  improve- 
ment of  a  bulletin.  Accordingly,  a  few 
days  after  the  victory,  the  expected  doc- 
ument appeared,  and,  as  the  honors  of 
the  field  were  fairly  divided  between  the 
two  Confederate  Generals,  Johnston  and 
Beauregard,  the  bulletin  was  signed  by 
both  in  the  order  of  their  rank,  though 
we  may  readily  detect,  in  a  certain  florid 
tone  and  exaggeration,  the  sensation 
hand  of  the  younger  officer.  It  was 
dated  at  the  headquarters  of  the  army 
of  the  Potomac,  Manassas  Junction,  July 
28th: — '-"Soldiers  of  the  Confederate 
States:  One  week  ago  a  countless  host 
of  men,  organized  into  an  army,  with  all 
the  appointments  which  modern  art  and 
practical  skill  could  devise,  invaded  the 
soil  of  Virginia.  Their  people  sounded 
their  approach  with  triumph  and  displays 
of  anticipated  victory.  Their  generals 
came  in  almost  regal  state.  Their  Min- 
ister, Senators  and  women  came  to  wit- 
ness the  immolation  of  this  army  and  the 
subjugation  of  our  people,  and  to  cele- 
brate these  with  wild  revelry.  It  is  with 
the  profoundest  emotions  of  gratitude  to 
an  overruling  God,  whose  hand  is  mani- 
fested in  protecting  our  homes  and  your 
liberties,  that  we,  your  generals  com- 
manding, are  enabled  in  the  name  of  our 
whole  country  to  thank  you  for  that  pa- 
triotic courage,  that  heroic  gallantry,  that 
devoted  daring,  exhibited  by  you  in  the 
action  of  the  18th  and  21st  of  July,  by 
which  the  host  of  the  enemy  was  scatter- 
ed, and  a  signal  and  glorious  victory  was 
achieved.  The  two  affairs  of  the  18th 
and  21st  were  but  the  sustained  and  con- 


MILITARY   CRITICISM. 


417 


tinued  efforts  of  your  patriotism  against 
the  constantly  recurring  colors  of  an  en- 
emy fully  treble  our  numbers,  and  this 
effort  was  crowned,  on  the  evening  of  the 
21st,  with  a  victory  so  complete,  that  the 
invaders  were  driven  from  the  field,  and 
made  to  fly  in  disorderly  ruin  back  to 
their  intrenchments,  a  distance  of  over 
thirty  miles.  They  left  upon  the  field 
nearly  every  piece  of  their  artillery,  a 
large  portion  of  their  arms,  equipments, 
baggage,  stores,  etc.,  etc.,  and  almost 
every  one  of  their  wounded  and  dead, 
amounting,  together  with  the  prisoners, 
to  many  thousands  ;  and  thus  the  North- 
ern hosts  were  driven  by  you  from  Yir- 
ginia. 

"  Soldiers !  we  congratulate  you  on  an 
event  which  insures  the  liberty  of  our  coun- 
try. We  congratulate  every  man  of  you 
whose  glorious  privilege  it  was  to  parti- 
cipate in  this  triumph  of  courage  and 
truth,  to  fight  in  the  battle  of  Manassas. 
You  have  created  an  epoch  in  the  histo- 
ry of  liberty,  and  unborn  nations  will 
rise  up  and  call  you  blessed.  Continue 
this  noble  devotion,  looking  always  to  the 
protection  of  the  just  God,  and,  before 
time  grows  much  older,  we  will  be  hailed 
as  the  deliverers  of  a  nation  of  ten  mil- 
lions of  people.  Comrades  !  Our  broth- 
ers who  have  fallen  have  earned  undy- 
ing renown,  and  their  blood,  shed  in  our 
holy  cause,  is  a  precious  and  acceptable 
sacrifice  to  the  Father  of  Truth  and 
Eight ;  their  graves  are  beside  the  tomb 
of  Washington,  their  spirits  have  joined 
his  in  eternal  communion.  We  will  hold 
the  soil  in  which  the  dust  of  Washington 
is  mingled  with  the  dust  of  our  brothers. 
We  drop  one  tear  on  their  laurels,  and 
move  forward  to  avenge  them.  Soldiers ! 
We  congratulate  you  on  a  glorious  tri- 
umph and  complete  victory.  We  thank 
53 


you  for  doing  your  whole  duty  in  the 
service  of  your  country." 

The  plan  of  the  battle,  as  it  was  or- 
dered, and  up  to  a  certain  point  carried 
out  by  General  McDowell,  has  generally 
met  with  the  approval  of  military  critics 
who  have  looked  into  the  circumstances  of 
the  day,  as  they  were  reported  by  both 
sides.  A  comparison  of  the  reports, 
says  one  whose  judgment  is  entitled  to 
particular  respect  from  his  scientific  re- 
putation and  his  actual  knowledge  from 
participation  in  the  affair,  Major  Bar- 
nard, Chief  Engineer  of  the  army  on 
.General  McDowell's  staff,  will  prove 
that  the  plan  of  battle  was  well  designed, 
and  that  nearly  successful  as  it  was,  it 
would  have  fully  succeeded  had  it  not  been 
for  the  loss  of  precious  time  in  the  move- 
ment and  arrival  of  the  flanking  column 
on  the  ground  in  the  morning.  "  It  was 
not, "he  argues,  "  till  eleven  o'clock  that 
the  rebel  generals  became  fully  conscious 
of  the  true  character  of  the  attack. 
Their  troops  were  distributed  over  a 
line  eight  miles  in  length,  and,  un- 
expectedly attacked  on  their  extreme 
left  flank,  while  their  centre  and  left 
were  fixed  by  our  demonstrations,  they 
had  to  improvise  a  new  line,  and  their 
resources  and  reinforcements  did  not  get 
up  (in  sufficient  force  at  least)  until  the 
fate  of  the  day  was  almost  decided 
against  them.  Nor  could  these  resources 
and  reinforcements  have  sufficed  had  not 
an  additional  arrival  from  the  Shenan- 
doah  (concerning  which  General  Mc- 
Dowell had  stipulated  that  they  should 
be  kept  occupied  elsewhere)  of  three  or 
four  thousand  men  turned  the  day  against 
us.  Nor  should  it,  even  then,  have  de- 
prived us  of  a  victory  we  had  really 
gained,  if  our  raw  and  wearied  troops 
could  have  been  induced  to  hold  (heir 


418 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


position  a  few  minutes  longer.  At  the 
moment  of  the  rout  of  the  centre,  the 
brigade  of  Colonel  Keyes  (Tyler's  Divi- 
sion) had  gained  the  right  and  rear  of 
the  enemy's  position  ;  the  way  was  open 
for  the  .  brigade  of  Schenck  to  pass  the 
Stone  Bridge  and  to  join  Keyes,  while 
the  brigade  of  Howard,  of  Heintzelman's 
division — kept  for  some  time  in  reserve 
at  the  point  where  the  main  column 
turned  off  from  the  Warrenton  turnpike 
— ha,d  just  arrived  on  the  ground  and 
was  ready  to  support  our  exhausted  cen- 
tre and  right.  Thus  the  combination  of 
the  battle — notwithstanding  that  all  those 
accidents  (incidental  to  all  such  combina- 
tions) which  man  cannot  control,  had 
gone  against  us,  had  been,  tactically 
speaking,  successful.  Nor  is  it  all  clear 
that  at  any  moment  of  the  battle  there 
was.  any  considerable  numerical  prepon- 
derance in  our  favor Strate- 
gically speaking,  our  movement  failed, 
through  the  loss  of  time,  so  far  as  it 
consisted  in  bringing,  at  any  time,  su- 
perior numbers  upon  the  decisive  point ; 
on  the  contrary,  the  enemy,  from  his 
more  central  position,  was  enabled  always 
to  maintain  superiority  of  numbers,  and 
by  this  means  finally  deprived  us  of  the 
victory.  It  was  a  success  in  turning  the 
enemy's  strong  defensive  line,  discon- 
certing all  his  arrangements,  and  through 
the  moral  influences  of  this  and  of  our 
being  the  attacking  party,  very  nearly 
gaining  a  decisive  victory.  .  .  I  trust 
that  I  have  shown  that  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  has  a  claim  to  be  considered  some- 
thing more  than  a  '  rout,'  and  a  'panic,' 
and  that  it  was  really  what  Jefferson 
Davis  styles  it  in  his  dispatch  to  the  Con- 
federate Congress,  'a  hard-fought  field.'* 


*  Major  Barnard's  C.  S.  A.  and  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run, 
p.  105.  106,  109,  110 


Looking  at  the  affair  in  a  strategical 
point  of  view,  another  eminent  authority. 
Major-General  Halleck,  in  an  essay  on 
the  art  of  war,  written  for  the  instruction 
of  the  people,  has  pointed  out  the  disad- 
vantages of  position  in  the  forces  of  Mc- 
Dowell and  Patterson  in  their  inability 
promptly  to  cooperate  with  one  another. 
Illustrating  the  military  principle  that 
troops  should  never  be  moved  on  exte- 
rior lines  unless  the  forces  on  each  line 
are  superior  to  the  combined  forces  of 
the  enemy,  after  several  examples  drawn 
from  European  history,  he  instances  the 
campaign  on  the  Potomac  :  "  Patterson's 
and  McDowell's  columns,"  says  he, 
"moved  on  exterior  lines,  leaving  the 
armies  of  Johnston  and  Beau  regard  be- 
tween them ;  they  concentrated  their 
forces  at  Bull  Run  and  defeated  McDow- 
ell's army,  and  might  have  done  the  same 
thing  to  the  army  of  Patterson.  Had 
the  latter  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Lees- 
burg,  he  would  have  threatened  John- 
ston's communications  much  more  effect- 
ually than  at  Martinsburg,  and  at  the 
same  time  would  have  been  near  enough 
to  McDowell  to  assist  him  or  to  receive 
assistance  from  him,  as  circumstances 
might  have  required.  Johnston  must 
then  have  abandoned  Harper's  Ferry  and 
"Winchester  and  united  with  Beauregard, 
or  the  latter  must  have  moved  to  the  as- 
sistance of  the  former  ;  for,  had  they  re- 
mained separate,  both  Patterson  and 
McDowell  could  have  moved  between 
them.  In  that  case,  Beauregard  must 
have  fallen  back  toward  Richmond,  and 
Johnston  must  have  been  isolated.  If 
Johnston  had  fallen  back  upon  Manassas 
Junction,  as  in  fact  he  did,  Patterson 
would  have  been  able  to  assist  McDowell 
at  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  ;  whereas  by 
his  exterior  line  of  operations  he  actually 


ALLEGED   CAUSES   OF  THE  DISASTER. 


419 


gained  nothing."  Of  course  in  these  re- 
marks, which  were  penned  in  California 
before  the  writer  had  entered  upon  his 
distinguished  field  of  duties  on  his  return 
to  the  army  of  the  United  States,  no  cen- 
sure was  implied  of  the  dispositions  ac- 
tually made — for  which  there  may  have 
been  good  and  sufficient  reasons.  They 
are  exhibited  simply  in  their  practical 
relation  to  the  battle  as  it  was  actually 
fought.  Indeed  the  obvious  policy  of 
stationing  Patterson  at  Leesburg,  for 
purposes  of  cooperation  with  McClellan, 
had  been  proposed  by  that  officer  him- 
self previously  to  his  advance  against  the 
enemy  toward  Winchester. 

Another  critical  review  of  this  engage- 
ment has  been  given  to  the  public  in  the 
speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Zachariah 
Chandler  of  Michigan;  in  the  United 
States  Senate  on  the  16th  of  July,  1862. 
As  a  member  of  the  Joint  Committee  on 
the  Conduct  of  the  War,  having  the  vol- 
uminous testimony  taken  by  that  body, 
hitherto  unpublished,  placed  at  his  dis- 
posal, he  had  peculiar  opportunities,  from 
the  facts  before  him,  of  presenting  a 
comprehensive  view  of  the  whole  trans- 
action. Looking  at  the  affair  on  all  sides, 
he  finds  five  special  causes  for  the  disas- 
ter, the  remedying  of  any  one  of  which, 
in  his  opinion,  would  have  saved  the 
field.  The  first  of  these,  and  undoubted- 
ly the  most  important,  was  the  failure  of 
General  Patterson  to  hold  General  John- 
ston and  his  forces  in  check  before  Win- 
chester, and  thereby  prevent  the  rein- 
forcement of  the  army  of  General  Beau- 
regard  in  season  for  the  battle.  Gener- 
al Scott,  though  he  never  expressly  or- 
dered an  attack  to  be  made  by  General 
Patterson,  leaving  the  time  and  manner 
of  the  engagement  to  that  officer's  dis- 
cretion, yet  evidently  expected,  from  the 


orders  which  he  gave,  that  a  battle  would 
be  fought,  or  a  sufficient  demonstration 
would  be  made  to  keep  the  Confederate 
forces  in  the  valley  from  reaching  Man- 
assas.  The  reason  given  by  General 
Patterson  for  not  undertaking  or  accom- 
plishing this,  was  the  impression  he  de- 
rived from  various  sources  of  the  superi- 
ority of  Johnston's  force  at  Winchester, 
an  impression,  says  Mr.  Chandler,  which 
proved  to  be  erroneous.  Had  Patterson 
pushed  the  enemy  to  a  general  engage- 
ment, the  troops  of  Beauregard  at  Man- 
assas  would  have  been  overpowered  with 
little  difficulty  by  the  superior  forces  of 
McDowell.  A  second  cause  of  disaster 
at  Bull  Run  given  by  Mr.  Chandler,  was 
the  failure  to  attack  on  Friday,  before 
the  arrival  of  the  enemy's  reinforcements, 
instead  of  on  the  Sunday  after  they  had 
arrived,  an  error  which  appears  to  be 
chargeable  to  the  delay  in  forwarding 
provisions  from  Washington  and  the  time 
taken  to  gain  information  of  the  position 
of  the  enemy.  The  third  cause — spoken 
of  by  General  McDowell  in  his  report 
as  "  a  great  misfortune" — was  the  stop- 
page of  the  army  for  three  hours  by  the 
delay  of  a  portion  of  the  first  brigade  on 
the  Warrenton  road  to  advance  beyond 
the  turning  off  point  for  the  flank  move- 
ment of  the  second  and  third  divisions 
of  Hunter  and  Heintzelman.  The  loss 
of  these  precious  hours,  between  half- 
past  two  and  half-past  five  in  the  morn- 
ing, brought  the  men,  wearied  by  delay, 
into  action  in  the  heat  of  a  glowing  mid- 
summer day,  and  gave  time  for  the-  ar- 
rival of  a  further  portion  of  Johnston's 
force  by  the  railway,  to  turn  the  fortunes 
of  the  field.  A  fourth  error  assigned  by 
Mr.  Chandler  was  "  the  advancing  of  our 
batteries  1,000  yards  without  adequate 
support,  and  the  unfortunate  mistaking 


420 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


of  a  rebel  regiment  for  the  battery's  sup- 
port." The  latter,  also  alluded  to  by 
General  McDowell  in  his  report,  occur- 
red in  the  attack  on  Captain  Griffin's 
battery.  That  officer,  seeing  a  regiment 
of  Confederates  crossing  a  fence  on  his 
front,  had  given  orders  to  fire  upon 
them,  when  he  was  informed  by  Major 
Barry  that  they  were  the  Union  troops 
ordered  to  his  support.  The  firing  was 
consequently  arrested,  and  the  enemy, 
advancing  in  safety  to  Ahe  charge,  cut 
down  every  cannonier,  killed  a  number 
of  horses,  and  put  what  was  left  of  the 
command  to  a  disastrous  flight.  The 
last  cause  of  the  disaster  enumerated  by 
Mr.  Chandler  was  "  the  failure  to  bring 
the  reserves  into  action  at  the  critical 
jioment — the  reason  assigned  being  the 
insufficient  staff  and  a  lack  of  discipline 
by  brigades." 

It  is  one  of  the  unhappy  circumstances 
of  adversity  that  it  generates  a  thousand 
vexatious  motives  and  suppositions  which 
would  never  have  been  thought  of,  or 
putting  on  another  face,  been  cited  as 
proofs  of  wisdom  or  prowess  had  the 
issue  been  prosperous.  Of  these  croak- 
ings  and  criminations  after  the  fact,  Bull 
Run  was  peculiarly  prolific.  The  keen- 
ly-felt demand  for  action  preceding  the 
battle  which  had  found  expression  in  the 
popular  cry  of  "On  to  Richmond"  was 
now  brought  forward  as  a  main  cause  of 
the  disaster.  It  was  asserted  that  sound 
military  discretion  had  been  overruled  in 
its  judgment  by  the  voice  of  the  news- 
papers, the  influence  of  politicians,  and 
the  demands  of  Members  of  Congress 
and  of  the  Cabinet.  Even  General 
Scott,  it  was  publicly  said,  contrary  to 
his  impressions  and  well-matured  policy, 
had  yielded  to  this  pressure  from  with- 
out in  sanctioning  the  order  for  advance. 


A  conversation  which  he  had  held  on 
the  subject  was  reported  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  by  Mr.  Richardson,  a 
Democratic  member  from  Illinois.  In  a 
skirmishing  debate  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  July  on  the  conduct  of  the  war,  with 
Blair  of  Missouri,  who  discredited  the 
allegation,  he  thus  told  the  story.  "  Gen- 
eral Scott  has  been  forced  to  fight  this 
battle.  I  will  tell  what  occurred  yester- 
day morning.  My  colleagues,  Logan  and 
Washburne,  and  myself  were  present 
with  the  President,  Secretary  of  War, 
and  General  Scott.  In  the  course  of 
our  conversation  General  Scott  remarked, 
'  Sir,  I  am  the  biggest  coward  in  America ! 
I  rose  from  my  seat  immediately.  '  Stay,- 
said  the  General,  'I  will  prove  it.  I 
have  fought  this  battle,  Sir,  against  my 
judgment ;  I  think  tlje  President  of  the 
United  States  ought  to  remove  me  to-day 
for  doing  it.  As  God  is  my  Judge,  after 
my  superiors  had  determined  to  fight  it,  I 
did  all  in  my  power  to  make  the  army 
efficient.  I  deserve  removal  because  I 
did  not  stand  nv  when  my  army  was  not  in 
condition  for  fighting  and  resist  it  to  the 
last.'  '  Your  conversation  seems  to  im- 
ply,' said  the  President,  '  that  I  forced 
you  to  fight  this  battle,'  to  which  Gen- 
eral Scott  answered,  '  I  have  never 
served  a  President  who  has  been  kinder 
to  me  than  you  have  been.'*  The  Gen- 
eral may  have  been  strengthened  in  his 
convictions  by  recollection  of  the  famous 
reply  of  the  Roman  Fabius  to  the  jests 
and  suggestions  of  Minucius,  the  eager 
advocate  in  his  army  for  engaging  the 
enemy.  '  I  should  be  more  faint-hearted 
than  they  make  me,'  said  he,  in  the  nar- 
rative of  Plutarch,  '  ii  through  fear  of 
idle  reproaches,  I  should  abandon  my 
own  convictions.  It  is  no  inglorious 


*  The  Congressional  Globe,  July  26,  1861. 


GENERAL  PATTERSON'S  COLUMN. 


421 


thing  to  have  fear  for  the  safety  of  our 
country,  but  to  be  turned  from  one's 
course  by  men's  opinions,  by  blame,  and 
by  misrepresentations,  shows  a  man  un- 
fit to  hold  an  office  such  as  this,  which, 
by  such  conduct,  he  makes  the  slave  of 
those  whose  errors  it  is  his  business  to 
control.' " 

The  lesson,  thus  admirably  conveyed, 
is  so  illustrative  of  a  sound  general 
principle  that  we  may  be  thankful  to 
General  Scott  for  his  candid  inculcation 
of  its  force,  though  we  may  be  by  no 
means  disposed  to  upbraid  him  with  the 
misfortune  which  pointed  it.  Nor  is 
General  Scott  to  be  understood  as  throw- 
ing the  responsibility  of  the  military 
movement  upon  the  President.  Nearly 
seven  months  after,  in  a  discussion  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  on  the  14th 
of  February,  1862,  on  the  Committee  on 
the  Conduct  of  the  War,  this  subject  was 
brought  up  again.  Mr.  Blair  of  Mis- 
souri, then  stated  that  General  Patterson 
had  telegraphed  to  Headquarters  the 
departure  of  General  Johnston  from 
Winchester,  and  that  it  was  thus  known 
at  Washington  that  Beauregard  had  been 
reinforced  at  Manassas.  "When  this 
information  came  to  the  President,"  said 
Mr.  Blair,  "he  went  to  General  Scott 
to  protest  against  a  movement  on  Man- 
assas, and  Bull  Run.  but  General  Scott 
insisted  on  its  being  made."  The  state- 
ment of  the  telegraph  from  General  Pat- 
terson being  questioned,  Mr.  Blair,  at 
the  next  meeting  of  the  House,  read  this 
dispatch  of  General  Patterson,  furnished 
by  a  member  of  his  staff.  ' '  Charles- 
town,  July  20,  1861.  To  Col.  E.  D. 
Townsend.  Sir  :  With  a  portion  of  his 
force,  General  Johnston  left  Winchester 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  18th,  with  about 
30,000  troops.  R.  Patterson." 


From  the  statements  made  by  Gener- 
al Patterson  in  vindication  of  his  course, 
before  the  1st  City  Troop  at  Philadel- 
phia, some  months  after,  it  would  appear 
that,  while  he  thought  the  enemy  had 
been  too  strong  for  him  to  hazard  an  at- 
tack upon  Winchester,  and  while  he  jus- 
tified his  reluctance  to  enter  upon  more 
vigorous* movements  from  prudential  mo- 
tives, he  seemed  disposed  to  throw  the 
responsibility  of  his  comparative  inaction 
and  failure  to  cooperate  with  the  army 
of  the  Potomac  at  last,  upon  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  alleging  that  the  latter 
had  not  sent  him  constant  and  more  ex- 
plicit instructions.  "On  the  13th  of 
July,"  says  he,  "  he  telegraphed  the  Gen- 
eral-in-Chief that  Johnston  was  in  a  posi- 
tion to  have  his  strength  doubled  just  as 
he  could  reach  him,  and  that  he  would 
rather  lose  the  chance  of  accomplishing 
something  brilliant  than,  by  hazarding 
his  column,  to  destroy  the  fruits  of  the 
campaign  by  defeat,  closing  his  telegram 
thus  :  '  If  wrong  let  me  be  instructed.' 
But  no  instructions  came.  This  was 
eight  days  before  the  battle  of  Manassas. 
On  the  17th  General  Scott  telegraphed  : 
'  McDowell's  first  day's  work  has  driven 
the  enemy  beyond  Fairfax  Court-House. 
To-morrow  the  Junction  will  probably 
be  carried.'  With  this  information  he 
was  happy.  Johnston  had  been  detain- 
ed the  appointed  time,  and  the  work  of 
General  Patterson's  column  had  been 
done.  On  the  18th,  at  half-past  one  in 
the  morning,  he  telegraphed  General  Scott 
the  condition  of  the  enemy's  force  and 
his  own,  and  closed  the  dispatch  by  ask- 
ing, '  Shall  I  attack  ?'  This  was  plain 
English  and  could  not  be  misunderstood, 
but  he  received  no  reply.  He  expected 
to  be  attacked  where  he  was,  and  if  Ma- 
nassas was  not  to  be  attacked  on  that 


422 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


day,  as  stated  in  General  Scott's  dis- 
patch of  the  day  previous,  he  ought  to 
have  been  ordered  down  forthwith  to 
join  in  the  battle,  and  the  attack  delayed 
until  he  came.  He  could  have  been 
there  on  the  day  that  the  battle  was 
fought,  and  his  assistance  might  have 
produced  a  different  result."*  A  fuller 
report  of  General  Scott's  telegram  of  the 
19th  of  July,  cited  by  General  Patter- 
son, adds  to  the  portion  presented  in  his 
speech  the  important  sentence  :  "  Do  not 
let  the  enemy  amuse  and  delay  you  with 
a  small  force  in  front  while  he  reinforces 
the  Junction  with  his  main  body."f  The 
Next  day  General  Scott  sent  another 
telegram  to  General  Patterson  :  "I have 
certainly  been  expecting  you  to  beat  the 
enemy.  If  not,  to  hear  that  you  had 
felt  him  strongly,  or  at  least  had  occu- 
pied him  by  threats  and  demonstrations. 
You  have  been  at  least  his  equal,  and  I 
suppose  superior,  in  number.  Has  he 
not  stolen  a  inarch  and  sent  reinforce- 
ments towards  Manassas  Junction .?  A 
week  is  enough  to  win  a  victory."  To 
which  General  Patterson  the  same  day 
replied:  "The  enemy  has  stolen  no 
march  upon  me.  I  have  kept  him  ac- 
tively employed,  and  by  threats  and 
reconnoissances  in  force  caused  him  to 
be  reinforced.  I  have  accomplished 
more  in  this  respect  than  the  General-in- 
Chief  asked,  or  could  well  be  expected, 
in  face  of  an  enemy  far  superior  in  num- 
bers, with  no  line  of  communication  to 
protect.''^ 

Many  subordinate   reasons   were,    of 
course,  sought  to  be  established  for  the 


*  General  Patterson's  Speech  at  Philadelphia,  November 
16,  1861.  New  York  Times,  November  19,  1861. 

\  Speech  of  Mr.  Chandlei  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
July  16,  1862. 

\  Ibid. 


disaster.  By  some  the  misfortune  was 
thrown  upon  the  officers  ;  by  others  upon 
the  men.  The  company  officers  were 
pronounced  particularly  at  fault.  It  was 
generally  conceded  that  most  of  them,  as 
might  have  been  supposed,  when  so  large 
a  force  was  suddenly  extemporized  from 
civilians,  lacked  experience,  if  they  were 
not  deficient  in  qualities  which  no  routine 
can  supply  the  want  of.  The  sudden  de- 
mand had  been  in  excess  of  the  supply, 
and  Colonels  and  Majors,  it  had  to  be 
confessed,  could  not  be  made  in  an  hour. 
The  men,  too,  it  was  pronounced,  notwith- 
standing many  examples  of  noble  con- 
duct were,  in  large  proportion,  deficient 
in  those  soldierly  instincts  which  indeed 
can  only  be  looked  for  as  the  result  of 
habit  and  patient  drill.  It  was  alleged, 
too,  with  sufficient  reason,  that  the  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  army  were  without 
practice  in  cooperating  maneuvres.  Many 
of  the  regiments,  their  commander  ad- 
mits, went  forward  without  having  been 
together  before  in  a  brigade.  The  subtle 
bonds  of  intercourse  and  sympathy 
which  bind  rank  and  file  together,  and 
nerve  the  company  or  regiment  as  one 
man  in  battle,  were  sadly  deficient.  The 
hastily  supplied  teamsters,  wagoners  and 
others  of  the  transportation  department, 
were  singularly  defective  in  knowledge 
and  feeling  of  their  duties. 

The  term  of  service  of  a  number  of 
the  regiments,  three  months'  men,  was  on 
the  eve  of  expiring  —  a  circumstance 
which  may  have  roused  the  heroic  to 
unusual  exertions,  but  which  must  have 
had  a  discouraging  influence  on  the  ma- 
jority. Indeed,  the  extraordinary  spec- 
tacle was  presented  of  one  of  the  regi- 
ments of  volunteers,  the  4th  Pennsylva- 
nia regiment  and  the  battery  of  volun- 
teer artillery  of  the  New  York  8th  Mill- 


CIVILIANS   ON  THE  FIELD. 


423 


tia,  whose  term  of  service  expired  on  the 
eve  of  the  battle,  spite  of  the  protesta- 
tions of  the  general  commanding  and  the 
urgent  personal  application  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  demanding  their  discharge, 
and  when  it  was  granted,  retreating  igno- 
miriiously  from  their  companions  in  arms. 
The  next  morning,  in  the  brief  memora- 
ble sentence  of  the  official  report  of  Gen- 
eral McDowell,  "when  the  army  moved 
forward  into  battle,  these  troops  moved 
to  the  rear  to  the  sound  of  the  enemy's 
cannon." 

The  number  of  civilians  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  action,  running  about 
hurried  and  exited  at  the  first  symp- 
toms of  danger,  probably  by  their  irre- 
sponsible conduct  and  example  added 
to  the  perils  of  the  retreat ;  though,  as 
they  were  for  the  most  part  of  the  more 
intelligent  classes,  they  may  have  done 
something — as  indeed  we  know  in  some 
cases  they  did — to  check  the  irrational 
panic.  General  Schenck  in  his  brigade 
report  alludes  to  the  unfavorable  influ- 
ence of  their  presence,  with  the  quiet 
remark  that  they  "  ought  never  to  have 
been  there."  One  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  these  persons,  who  became 
widely  known  from  the  circumstances  of 
his  subsequent  captivity,  was  the  Hon. 
Alfred  Ely,  representative  in  Congress 
of  the  29th  New  York  District  in  which 
Rochester  is  situated.  He  left  Washing- 
ton early  on  the  morning  of  the  battle, 
in  a  carriage  hired  for  the  occasion,  in 
company  with  Senator  Foster  of  Connec- 
ticut, Mr.  Julius  Bing,  a  gentleman  of 
literary  reputation,  and  two  officers  of 
the  army.  After  alighting  at  Fairfax 
Court-House,  the  party  proceeded  to 
Centreville,  and  advanced  some  distance 
beyond  it  toward  the  battle-field.  In 
consequence  of  an  accident  to  the  car- 


riage which  it  was  necessary  to  repair, 
they  were  separated  from  one  another, 
and  in  the  retreat  and  pursuit  which 
speedily  followed  each  was  compelled  to 
shift  for  himself.  Mr.  Ely,  while  look- 
ing round  the  field  with  no  intention 
other  than  observing  the  progress  of  the 
conflict,  was  suddenly  awakened  to  the 
danger  of  his  position  by  a  shot  striking 
near  him,  when  he  took  refuge  behind  a 
tree,  and  was  presently  called  to  face  a 
company  of  the  enemy  who  advanced 
from  the  wood.  On  making  his  name 
and  position  known  to  his  captors,  he 
was  taken  before  Colonel  Cash  of  South 
Carolina,  the  commander  of  the  regiment, 
when  that  officer,  drawing  his  pistol  and 
pointing  it  directly  at  the  head  of  his 
prisoner,  cried  out,  "  G — d  d — n  your 
white-livered  soul !  I'll  blow  your  brains 
out  on  the  spot."  Adjutant  Mallins,  how- 
ever, interposed,  and  Mr.  Ely,  duly  im- 
pressed by  the  startling  address  of  the 
rebel  officer,  as  a  salutation  marking 
one  of  the  most  impressive  moments  of 
his  career,  was  passed  over  alive  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  Southern  Confed- 
eracy. He  was  carried  to  Richmond 
and  there  held  a  captive  in  close  con- 
finement, in  the  tobacco  factory  allotted 
to  the  prisoners  of  war,  for  five  months, 
till  he  was  released  at  Christmas  in  ex- 
change for  the  Hon.  Charles  James 
Faulkner,  Mr.  Buchanan's  Minister  Plen- 
ipotentiary to  France,  who  on  his  return 
to  Washington  had  been  arrested  as  a 
prisoner  of  state  for  sympathy  or  com- 
plicity with  the  rebellion.  During  the 
most  of  this  time  Mr.  Ely  kept  a  journal 
of  what  was  going  on  in  the  prison,  which 
he  published  after  his  discharge,  and 
which  presents  a  curious  and  instructive 
account  of  these  novel  scenes  of  the  re- 
bellion. He  was  quartered  with  the  offi- 


424 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


cers  taken  at  Bull  Run,  some  forty  in  num- 
ber, at  the  head  of  whom  was  Colonel 
Corcoran,  including  the  surgeons  who 
remained  on  the  field,  and  several  chap- 
lains. There  were,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  various  discomforts,  but  the 
officers,  though  exposed  to  annoyances 
from  visitors,  were  not,  beyond  the  de- 
privation of  their  liberty  in  such  close 
quarters,  subjected  to  unusual  rigors. 
It  was  a  hardship  undoubtedly  to  retain 
a  non-combatant  like  Mr.  Ely  :  but  it 
was  politic  to  keep  him  for  purposes  of 
exchange,  as  was  proved  when  he  came 
to  be  released.  Singularly  enough  the 
candidate  who  had  been  opposed  to  him 
in  his  election  to  Congress,  Mr.  Calvin 
Huson  of  Rochester,  was  brought  to  the 
same  prison,  having  been  in  like  manner 
captured  as  .an  observer  on  the  field  of 
battle.  The  health  of  Mr.  Huson  broke 
down  under  his  confinement ;  he  was 
seized  with  typhoid  fever,  lingered  through 
the  early  stages  of  the  disease  in  prison, 
his  illness  alleviated  by  the  assiduous  at- 
tentions of  his  political  antagonist,  till  at 
the  last  he  was  taken  to  the  house  of  a 
benevolent  widow  in  Richmond,  Mrs. 
Yan  Lew,  where  his  dying  moments 
were  soothed  by  her  family.  The  story 
of  this  disaster  throws  a  deeper  melan- 
choly over  Mr.  Ely's  painful  narrative — 
a  sad  contribution  enough,  though  un- 
happily there  are  many  darker,  to  the 
domestic  history  of  America. 

If  the  privacy  of  Mr.  Ely  was  some- 
times invaded  when  profane  Tennesseans 
and  hard-handed  pitch-scrapers  from 
North  Carolina,  out  of  curiosity,  sought 
his  presence  to  cast  uncomplimentary  as- 
persions upon  his  person  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  his  tedium  was  relieved  by  the 
visits  of  various  notables  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  Robert  Tyler,  son  of  the 


Ex-president,  came  one  day  in  July  and 
entered  into  a  long  conversation  on  the 
topic  of  the  war.  "He  deplored,"  as 
well  he  might,  "  the  unhappy  civil  con- 
flict, and  enlarged  upon  its  destructive 
consequences  to  both  sections  of  the 
Union.  He  assured  me  that  the  North 
entirely  misunderstood  the  spirit  and 
sentiment  of  the  South  ;  that  there  was 
no  Union  feeling  underlying  that  of  se- 
cession, as  was  supposed  in  the  North  ; 
and  that  twenty-two  counties  in  Western 
Virginia  and  a  small  portion  of  Tennes- 
see, were  the  only  disaffected  sections  in 
all  the  seceded  States.  Subjugation  of  the 
South,  he  said,  was  absurd  ;  they  might 
be  killed,  but  not  conquered.  The  troops 
of  the  Southern  army  were  composed  of 
planters  and  their  sons,  the  men  of  wealth 
and  position  in  society,  and  they  had  come 
to  die."  This  general  prospect,  opened 
by  the  younger  Tyler,  was  by  no  means 
consolatory,  but  it  might  be  in  some  mea- 
sure considered  theoretical  and  resting 
in  the  opinion  of  the  speaker.  There 
was,  however,  no  consolation  of  this  kind 
to  meet  the  personal  declaration  brought 
by  another  celebrity — Senator  Wigfall, 
of  Sumter  memory,  who  came  to  look 
after  Mr.  Arnold  Harris  who.  as  we  have 
stated,  was  imprisoned,  having  present- 
ing himself  on  the  ground  with  the  ob- 
ject of  procuring  the  body  of  Colonel 
Cameron  for  burial  by  his  family.  The 
Senator  was  at  this  time  Colonel  in  com- 
mand of  a  battalion  encamped  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Richmond.  He  assured 
Mr.  Ely,  in  the  course  of  his  conversa- 
tion, that  "it  was  the  intention  of  the 
Confederate  Government  to  hang  me  es- 
pecially, if  the  Savannah  prisoners  were 
convicted."  But  gentler  voices  whis- 
pered in  the  ears  of  the  prisoners.  Miss 
Martha  Haines  Butt,  a  lady  author  of 


THE   "TIMES'"   CORRESPONDENT. 


425 

are  remembered  in  connection  with  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  there  were  few  more 
talked  of  at  the  period  than  Mr.  Russell, 
the  correspondent  of  the  London  Time*, 
whose  previous  letters  from  the  Crimea 
and  India,  written  during  the  recent  mil- 
itary operations  in  those  countries,  had 
made  him  familiarly  known  throughout 
the  world.  He  came  to  the  United 
States  in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  ac- 
complished a  rapid  Southern  tour  in  the 
month  or  two  succeeding  the  attack  of 
Fort  Sumter — a  journey  which  he  de- 
scribed with  animation  and  spirit  in  his 
correspondence  with  the  newspaper  on 
which  he  was  employed,  and  was  now  on 
hand  at  Washington  for  the  operations 
on  the  Potomac.  As  a  writer,  he  was 
master  of  a  rare  talent  for  description 
had  the  facultj^  of  seizing  the  strong 
points  of  a  subject  and  of  presenting  his 
reflections,  which  were  apt  to  be  hastily 
entertained,  with  a  certain  resolute  air 
of  authority.  His  error  was,  in  form- 
ing his  conclusions  frequently  from  too 
slender  a  basis — a  fault  into  which  a  de- 
scriptive writer,  accustomed  to  seize 
eagerly  upon  striking  details,  regardless 
of  their  exceptional  character,  is  apt  to 
fall.  As  one  of  the  corps  of  the  London 
Times,  too,  he  not  unnaturally  adopted 
the  somewhat  censorious  or  unfriendly 
view  of  American  affairs  habitually  in- 
dulged in  by  that  journal.  There  was 
undoubtedly  a  great  deal  of  acuteness 
and  sagacity  in  his  remarks  and  obser- 
vations which,  unpalatable  at  the  mo- 
ment, conveyed  much  by  which  the 
country  might  profit.  There  was  no 
reason  why  any  peculiar  sympathies 
with  the  difficulties  of  the  situation  should 
be  looked  for  from  the  writer  ;  he  was 
to  be  judged  by  the  standard  of  his  own 
journal,  and  with  this  moderate  expecta- 


Norfolk,  courteously  soothed  the  exiled 
Congressman,  and  though  he  had  a  harsh 
jailer  in  Lieutenant  Todd,  who  bore  an 
ill  name  with  the  prisoners,  the  Confed- 
ate  G-eneral,  John  H.  Winder,  one  re- 
taining the  amenities  of  his  old  service 
of  the  United  States,  where  he  held  the 
rank  of  Major  in  the  3d  Artillery,  made 
things  much  more  agreeable  by  his  kind- 
hearted  courtesy  than  might  have  been 
expected.  On  the  day  after  Mr.  Ely  was 
released,  he  was  taken  by  Mr.  Faulkner  to 
Governor  Letcher's  mansion,  "enjoyed 
an  excellent  dinner,  indulged  in  lively 
conversation,  and  parted  with  a  mutual 
expression  of  personal  good  feeling." 

Of  the  companions  of  Mr.  Ely,  in  his 
excursion  to  the  battle-field,  Senator  Fos- 
ter, after  assisting  the  surgeons  in  the 
care  of  the  wounded  on  the  Warrenton 
road,  escaped  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy, 
and  reached  Washington  in  safety.  Mr. 
Julius  Bing  was  not  so  fortunate.  Like 
Mr.  Ely,  he  was  made  a  prisoner,  and 
carried  to  Richmond,  but  being  a  for- 
eigner and  having  made  many  acquain- 
tances at  Washington,  in  course  of  his 
literary  occupations,  he  fell  in  with  some 
of  his  former  friends  now  in  influential  po- 
sitions about  the  rebel  headquarters,  and 
was  enabled  readily  to  avail  himself  of 
his  plea  as  a  naturalized  British  subject, 
and  armed  with  dispatches  from  the 
English  Consul  to  make  his  way  toward 
the  frontier  on  the  Potomac,  where  after 
some  difficulties,  he  effected  his  escape  to 
the  Union  lines.  Mr.  Bing  was  a  Ger- 
man by  birth,  though  he  was  mistaken 
by  Mr.  Ely  for  an  Italian.  He  was  in 
favor  with  the  administration  at  Wash- 
ington, and  not  long  after  his  return 
from  Richmond  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  Consul  to  Smyrna. 

Among  other  civilians  whose   names 


426 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tion,  his  entertaining  and  instructive  let- 
ters might  be  read  with  equanimity.  No 
one  could  be  so  popular  in  England  with- 
out being,  to  a  considerable  extent,  a 
representative  of  the  national  character, 
Mr.  Russell  certainly  appeared  a  charac- 
teristic specimen  of  the  genuine  John  Bull 
— vigorous,  independent,  hasty  and  dog- 
matic. 

As  he  had  been  waiting  patiently  for 
some  military  event  of  importance  to 
describe,  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  brought 
out  all  his  powers.  Fully  alive  to  the 
occasion,  he  set  out  early  on  the  day  of 
the  engagement  in  a  travelling  carriage 
well  furnished  with  provisions,  attended 
by  a  saddle  horse,  ridden  by  a  colored 
boy,  an  addition  to  his  resources  which 
he  was  induced  to  provide  by  his  Indian 
experiences,  which  had  taught  him  the 
value  of  :'a  strong  led  horse  in  the 
neighborhood  of  uncertain  fighting."  He 
reached  the  hill  at  Centreville  in  the  af- 
ternoon in  season,  "  after  a  feast  of  sand- 
wiches in  the  shade  of  the  buggy,"  to 
listen  to  the  first  reports  of  victory  from 
the  field,  which  at  that  distance  was  only 
to  be  noticed  by  the  sound  of  the  guns 
and  the  wreaths  of  smoke  from  the  shells 
in  the  air.  Presently  all  this  congratula- 
tion was  changed  into  the  first  commo- 
tion of  the  retreat.  We  give  a  portion 
of  the  correspondent's  graphic  recital  of 
the  scene  which  ensued.  "  As  I  turned 
down,"  says  he,  "  into  the  narrow  road 
or  lane  leading  onward  from  the  hill, 
there  was  a  forward  movement  among 
the  large  four-wheeled  tilt  wagons,  which 
raised  a  good  deal  of  dust.  My  atten- 
tion was  particularly  called  to  this  by 
the  occurrence  of  a  few  minutes  after- 
ward. I  had  met  my  friends  on  the 
road,  and  after  a  few  wflrds  rode  forward 
at  a  long  trot  as  well  as  I  could  past  the 


wagons  and  through  the  dust,  when  sud- 
denly there  arose  a  tumult  in  front  of  me 
at  a  small  bridge  across  the  road,  and 
then  I  perceived  the  drivers  of  a  set  of 
wagons  with  the  horses  turned  toward 
me,  who  were  endeavoring  to  force  their 
way  against  the  stream  of  vehicles  set- 
ting in  the  other  direction.  By  the  side 
of  the  new  set  of  wagons  there  were  a 
number  of  commissariat  men  and  soldiers, 
whom  at  first  sight  I  took  to  be  the  bag- 
gage guard.  They  looked  excited  and 
alarmed,  and  were  running  by  the  side 
of  the  horses — in  front  the  dust  quite 
obscured  the  view.  At  the  bridge  the 
currents  met  in  wild  disorder.  '  Turn 
back  !  Retreat !'  shouted  the  men  from 
the  front.  '  We're  whipped !  we're 
whipped !'  They  cursed  and  tugged  at 
the  horses'  heads,  and  struggled  with 
frenzy  to  get  past.  Running  by  me  on 
foot  was  a  man  with  the  shoulder-straps 
of  an  officer.  '  Pray  what  is  the  matter, 
sir  ?'  '  It  means  we're  pretty  badly 
whipped,  and  that's  a  fact,'  he  blurted 
out  in  puffs,  and  continued  his  career.  I 
observed  that  he  carried  no  sword.  The 
teamsters  of  the  advancing  wagons  now 
caught  up  the  cry.  'Turn  back — turn 
your  horses !'  was  the  shout  up  the  whole 
line,  and,  backing,  plunging,  rearing  and 
kicking,  the  horses  which  had  been  pro- 
ceeding down  the  road  reversed  front 
and  went  off  toward  Centreville.  Those 
behind  them  went  madly  rushing  on,  the 
drivers  being  quite  indifferent  whether 
glory  or  disgrace  led  the  way,  provided 
they  could  find  it.  In  the  midst  of  this 
extraordinary  spectacle,  an  officer,  es- 
corted by  some  dragoons,  rode  through 
the  ruck  with  a  light  cart  in  charge.  An- 
other officer  on  foot,  with  his  sword 
under  his  arm,  ran  up  against  me. 
'  What  is  all  this  about  ?'  '  Why,  we  re 


MR.   RUSSELL'S  ADVENTURES. 


427 


prettly  badly  whipped.  We're  all  in  re- 
treat. There's  General  Tyler  there, 
badly  wounded.'  And  on  he  ran.  There 
came  yet  another,  who  said,  '  We're 
beaten  on  all  points.  The  whole  army 
is  in  retreat.'  Still  there  was  no  flight 
of  troops,  no  retreat  of  an  army,  no  rea- 
son for  all  this  precipitation.  True  there 
were  many  men  in  uniform  flying  toward 
the  rear,  but  it  did  not  appear  as  if  they 
were  beyond  the  proportions  of  a  large 
baggage  escort.  I  got  my  horse  up  into 
the  field  out  of  the  road,  and  went  on  ra- 
pidly towards  the  front.  Soon  I  met  sol- 
diers, who  were  coming  through  the  corn, 
mostly  without  arms  ;  and  presently  I 
saw  firelocks,  cooking  tins,  knapsacks  and 
greatcoats  on  the  ground,  and  observed 
that  the  confusion  and  speed  of  the  bag- 
gage carts  became  greater,  and  that  many 
of  them  were  crowded  with  men,  or  were 
followed  by  others,  who  clung  to  them. 
The  ambulances  were  crowded  with  sol- 
diers, but  it  did  not  look  as  if  there  were 
many  wounded.  Negro  servants  on  led 
horses  dashed  frantically  past ;  men  in 
uniforms,  whom  it  were  a  disgrace  to  the 
profession  of  arms  to  call  '  soldiers,' 
swarmed  by  on  mules,  chargers,  and 
even  draught  horses,  which  had  been  cut 
out  of  carts  or  wagons,  and  went  on  with 
harness  clinging  to  their  heels,  as  fright- 
ened as  their  riders.  Men  literally 
screamed  with  rage  and  fright  when  their 
way  was  blocked  up.  On  I  rode,  asking 
all,  '  What  is  all  this  about  ?'  and  now  and 
then,  but  rarely,  receiving  the  answer, 
'  We're  whipped,'  or,  '  We're  repulsed.' 
Faces  black  and  dusty,  tongues  out  in  the 
heat,  eyes  staring — it  was  a  most  won- 
derful sight.  On  they  came,  like  him  — 

"  Who,  having  once  turned  round,  goes  on. 

And  turns  no  more  his  head, 

For  he  knoweth  that  a  fearful  fiend 

Doth  close  behind  him  tread." 


But  where  was  the  fiend  ?  I  looLed  in 
vain.  There  was,  indeed,  some  cannoa- 
ading  in  front  of  me  and  in  their  rear, 
but  still  the  firing  was  comparatively  dis 
tant,  and  the  runaways  were  far  out  of 
range.  As  I  advanced,  the  number  of 
carts  diminished,  but  the  mounted  men 
increased,  and  the  columns  of  fugitives 
became  denser.  A  few  buggies  and  light 
wagons  filled  with  men,  whose  faces 
would  have  made  up  '  a  great  Leporello ' 
in  the  ghost  scene,  tried  to  pierce  the 
rear  of  the  mass  of  carts,  which  were  now 
solidified  and  moving  on  like  a  glacier. 
I  crossed  a  small  ditch  by  the  roadside, 
got  out  on  the  road  to  escape  some  snake 
fences,  and,  looking  before  me,  saw  there 
was  still  a  crowd  of  men  in  uniforms 
coming  along.  The  road  was  strewn 
with  articles  of  clothing — firelocks,  waist- 
belts,  cartouch-boxes,  caps,  greatcoats, 
mess-tins,  musical  instruments,  cartridges, 
bayonets  and  sheaths,  swords  and  pistols 
— even  biscuits,  water-bottles  and  pieces 
of  meat.  Passing  a  white  house  by  the 
roadside,  I  saw  for  the  first  time  a  body 
of  infantry  with  sloped  arms  marching 
regularly  and  rapidly  towards  me.  Their 
faces  were  not  blackened  by  powder,  and 
it  was  evident  they  had  not  been  en- 
gaged. In  reply  to  a  question,  a  non- 
commissioned officer  told  me  in  broken 
English,  '  We  fell  back  to  our  lilies.  The 

attack  did  not  quite  succeed On 

approaching  Centreville,  a  body  of  Ger- 
man infantry  of  the  reserve  came  march- 
ing down,  and  stemmed  the  current  in 
some  degree  ;  they  were  followed  by  a 
brigade  of  guns  and  another  battalion  of 
fresh  troops.  I  turned  up  on  the  hill 
half  a  mile  beyond.  The  vehicles  had 
all  left  but  two — my  buggy  was  gone. 
A  battery  of  field-guHS  was  in  position 
where  we  had  been  standing.  The  men 


428 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


looked  well.  As  yet  there  was  nothing 
to  indicate  more  than  a  retreat,  and  some 
ill-behavior  among  the  wagoners  and  the 
riff-raff  of  different  regiments.  Oentreville 
was  not  a  bad  position  properly  occu- 
pied, and  I  saw  no  reason  why  it  should 
not  be  held  if  it  was  meant  to  renew  the 
attack,  nor  any  reason  why  the  attack 
should  not  be  renewed  if  there  had  been 
any  why  it  should  have  been  made.  I 
swept  the  field  once  more.  The  clouds 
of  dust  were  denser  and  nearer.  That 
was  all.  There  was  no  firing — no  mus- 
ketry. I  turned  my  horse's  head  and 
rode  away  through  the  village,  and  after 
I  got  out  upon  the  road  the  same  confu- 
sion seemed  to  prevail.  Suddenly  the 
gun  on  the  hill  opened,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  thuds  of  artillery  from  the  wood 
on  the  right  rear.  The  stampede  then 
became  general.  What  occurred  at  the 
hill  I  cannot  say,  but  all  the  road  from 
Oentreville  for  miles  presented  such  a 
sight  as  can  only  be  witnessed  in  the 
track  of  the  runaways  of  an  utterly 
demoralized  army.  Drivers  flogged, 
lashed,  spurred  and  beat  their  horses,  or 
leaped  down  and  abandoned  their  teams, 
and  ran  by  the  side  of  the  road  ;  mount- 
ed men,  servants,  and  men  in  uniform, 
vehicles  of  all  sorts,  commissariat  wag- 
ons, thronged  the  narrow  ways.  At 
every  shot  a  convulsion,  as  it  were,  seized 
upon  the  morbid  mass  of  bones,  sinew, 
wood  and  iron,  and  thrilled  through  it, 
giving  new  energy  and  action  to  its  des- 
perate efforts  to  get  free  from  itself. 
Again  the  cry  of  '  cavalry '  arose. 
'  What  are  you  afraid  of  ?'  said  I  to  a  man 
who  was  running  beside  me.  '  I'm  not 
afraid  of  you !'  replied  the  ruffian,  leveling 
his  piece  at  me  and  pulling  the  trigger. 
It  was  not  loaded,  or  the  cap  was  not  on, 
for  the  gun  did  not  go  off.  I  was  unarm- 


ed, and  I  did  go  off  as  fast  as  I  could, 
resolved  to  keep  my  own  counsel  for  the 
second  time  that  day.  And  so  the  flight 
went  on.  At  one  time  a  whole  mass  of 
infantry,  with  fixed  bayonets,  ran  down 
the  bank  of  the  road,  and  some  falling  as 
they  ran,  must  have  killed  and  wounded 
those  among  whom  they  fell.  As  I  knew 
the  road  would  soon  become  impassable 
or  blocked  up,  I  put  my  horse  to  a  gallop 
and  passed  on  toward  the  front.  But 
mounted  men  still  rode  faster,  shouting 
out,  '  Cavalry  are  coming !'  Again  I 
ventured  to  speak  to  some  officers  whom 
I  overtook,  and  said,  '  If  these  runaways 
are  not  stopped,  the  whole  of  the  posts 
and  pickets  in  Washington  will  fly  also !' 
One  of  them,  without  saying  a  word, 
spurred  his  horse  and  dashed  on  in  front. 
I  do  not  know  whether  he  ordered  the 
movement  or  not,  b'ut  the  van  of  the 
fugitives  was  now  suddenly  checked,  and. 
pressing  on  through  .the  wood  at  the 
roadside,  I  saw  a  regiment  of  infantry 
blocking  up  the  way,  with  their  front  to- 
wards Centreville.  A  musket  was  level- 
ed at  my  head  as  I  pushed  to  the  front — 
"  Stop  or  I'll  fire  !'  At  the  same  time 
the  officers  were  shouting  out,  "Don't  let 
a  soul  pass."  I  addressed  one  of  them, 
and  said,  '  Sir,  I  am  a  British  subject.  I 
am  not,  I  assure  you,  running  away.  I 
have  done  my  best  to  stop  this  disgrace- 
ful rout,  (as  I  had,)  and  have  been  telling 
them  there  are  no  cavalry  within  miles 
of  them.'  *  I  can't  let  you  pass,  sir.'  I 
thought  me  of  General  Scott's  pass.  The 
adjutant  read  it,  and  the  word  was  given 
along  the  line,  '  Let  that  man  pass !'  and 
so  I  rode  through,  uncertain  if  I  could 
now  gain  the  Long  Bridge  in  time  to 
pass  over  without  the  countersign." 

Such  was  the  account  by  Mr.  Russell 
of  the  flight  at  Bull  Run.     Some  excep- 


REPORT   OF  THE   SANITARY   COMMISSION. 


tion  was  taken  to  a  portion  of  his  narra- 
tive by  eye-witnesses*  who  saw  more  of 
the  success  of  the  efforts  made  to  check 
the  rout,  but  the  picture  as  drawn  by  the 
English  traveller,  was  but  too  fully  sus- 
tained by  the  accounts  of  others,  and  the 
evidence  of  the  wretched,  utterly  ex- 
hausted, travel-worn  fugitives  who  the 
next  day  straggled  into  the  streets  of 
Washington — the  sorriest  of  all  specta- 
cles, a  band  of  dishonored,  miserable, 
helpless  refugees,  in  place  of  that  embod- 
iment of  force,  strength,  pride  and  se- 
curity, an  organized  army.  This  was 
by  no  means  the  condition  of  the  whole, 
but  the  exceptions  were  too  many  to 
escape  the  reproach  due  to  this  disgrace- 
ful scene. 

Mitigating  circumstances,  relieving  in 
some  measure  the  dishonor  of  the  retreat 
at  Bull  Run,  were  found  in  the  poor  con- 
dition of  the  men,  at  the  time  of  their 
entrance  upon  the  battle-field.  They 
were,  through  their  own  inexperience  or 
negligence,  ill-supplied  with  water  and 
provisions,  and  unused  to  fatigue,  they 
were  overcome  by  the  hardships  of  the 
last  few  days,  and  in  some  instances  a 
hurried  march  on  the  field  to  which  they 
were  inadequate.  These  complaints  were 
shortly  afterward  made  the  subject  of 
scientific  medical  examination  under  di- 
rections of  the  Sanitary  Commission  sit- 
ting at  Washington,  a  voluntary  organi- 
zation, acting  under  authority  of  the 
Government,  and  auxiliary  to  the  medi- 
cal bureau  of  the  War  Department.  As 
early  as  practicable,  after  the  battle,  a 
series  of  carefully-devised  interrogations 
were  prepared,  intended,  among  other 


*  See  an  article  "Before  and  After  the  Battle,"  by  Mr. 
fieorge  P.  Putnam,  in  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine  for  Sep- 
tember, 1861;  and  a  pamphlet,  "Mr  Russell  on  Bull  Run; 
with  Notes  from  the  Rebellion  Record." 


objects,  to  call  forth  information  "as  to 
the  condition  of  the  troops  before,  dur- 
ing and  after  the  engagement."  The 
questions  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
seven  regularly  appointed  inspectors  of 
the  Commission,  Doctor  Lewis  H.  Steiner, 
and  others  who,  in  their  visits  to  the 
camps  about  Washington,  made  it  their 
business  to  procure  returns  "represent- 
ing, as  nearly  as  possible,  the  knowledge 
and  judgment  of  the  most  intelligent  of- 
ficers and  surgeons  of  the  regiments  with 
whom  they  were  able  to  confer."  About 
two  thousand  items  of  evidence,  relating 
in  various  ways  to  the  battle,  were  thus 
collected,  chiefly  by  physicians  and  ex- 
aminers of  life  insurance  companies  ac 
customed  to  an  exact  and  searching  me- 
thod of  inquiry.  The  returns,  AS  they 
are  represented  in  the  appendix  to  the 
admirable  report  of  the  General  Secre- 
tary of  the  Association,  Frederick  Lane 
Olmstead,  of  December  9,  1861,  exhibit 
manjr  curious  statistics  of  the  engage- 
ment, the  results  of  which  are  summed 
up  in  this  general  deduction.  "  From 
these  investigations  (of  the  inspection) 
combined  with  information  derived  from 
official  reports  of  the  generals  command- 
ing ;  from  published  statements  in  rebel 
as  well  as  loyal  journals  ;  from  previous 
investigations  of  the  inspectors  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission  as  to  the  condition 
of  the  troops,  and  from  other  sources,  it 
is  manifest  that  our  army,  previous  to 
and  at  the  time  of  the  engagement,  was 
suffering  from  want  of  sufficient,  regular- 
ly-provided, and  suitable  food,  from 
thirst,  from  want  (in  certain  cases)  of 
refreshing  sleep,  and  from  the  exhausting 
effects  of  a  long,  hot,  and  rapid  march, 
the  more  exhausting  because  of  the  dim- 
inution of  vital  force  of  the  troops  due 
to  the  causes  above  enumerated.  They 


430 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


entered  the  field  of  battle  with  no  pre- 
tence of  any  but  the  most  elementary 
and  imperfect  military  organization,  and, 
in  respect  of  discipline,  little  better  than 
a  mob,  which  does  not  know  its  leaders. 
The  majority  of  the  officers  had,  three 
months  before,  known  nothing  more  of 
their  duties  than  the  privates  whom  they 
should  have  been  able  to  lead,  instruct, 
and  protect.  Nor  had  they,  in  many  cases, 
in  the  mean  time,  been  gaining  materi- 
ally, for  they  had  been  generally  per- 
mitted, and  many  had  been  disposed,  to 
spend  much  time  away  from  their  men, 
in  indolence  or  frivolous  amusement,  or 
dissipation.  It  appears  that  many  were 
much  exhausted  on  reaching  the  field  of 
battle,  but  that,  supported  by  the  excite- 
ment of  the  occasion,  they  rallied  fairly, 
and  gradually  drove  the  opposing  forces 
from  Sudley  Spring  to  the  lower  ford,  and 
from  the  lower  ford  to  beyond  the  Stone 
bridge  and  the  Warrenton  road  ;  that, 
at  this  time,  (half-past  three,)  when  con- 
gratulated by  superior  officers,  and  con- 
gratulating themselves  on  having  achiev- 
ed a  victory,  and  when  having  repulsed 
reinforcements  sent  from  the  extreme 
right  of  the  enemy  to  support  their  re- 
treating columns,  they  were  just  relax- 
ing their  severely-tried  energies,  there 
appeared  in  the  distance  "  the  residue  " 
of  the  forces  of  General  Johnston  (see 
McDowell's  report,  Dr.  Nott's  letter  to  a 
Mobile  paper,  and  correspondence  of 
Charleston  Mercury^)  a  single  brigade 
(Elsey's)  coming  from  the  Manassas  Gap 
Junction  Railroad,  marching  at  double- 
quick  to  engage  our  troops  at  the  right 
who  had  been  hotly  fighting  unrelieved 
by  reserves  during  the  day.  This  bri- 
gade, joined  with  the  two  regiments  of 
Kershawand  Cash,  "  turned  the  tide  of 
battle.  (See  in  Richmond  Dispatch, 


July  29,  statement  "  of  a  distinguished 
officer  who  bore  a  conspicuous  part  on 
the  field  of  battle  on  the  31st  of  July.") 
"  Our  troops,  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
they  had  been  contending  against  and 
repulsing  the  combined  forces  of  Beau- 
regard  and  Johnston  :  and  believing  that 
this  inconsiderable  remnant  of  Johnston's 
forces  which  they  now  saw  approaching 
to  be  his  entire  column  ;  and  feeling  their 
inability,  without  rest  or  refreshment,  to 
engage  an  additional  force  of  fresh  troops 
nearly  equal  in  number  to  those  with 
whom  they  had  been  contending  during 
the  day, — commenced  a  retreat,  not  very 
orderly,  but  quite  as  much  so,  at  first,  as 
had  been  the  advance  in  which  they  had 
driven  back  the  force  of  the  enemy. 
Their  (nominal)  leaders,  who  too  often 
had  followed  them  in  battle,  were,  in 
many  cases,  not  behind  them  on  retreat. 
As  they  retired,  however,  a  sense  of  dis- 
integration began  to  pervade  their  ranks  ; 
each  ceased  to  rely  on  his  comrade  for 
support,  and  this  tendency  was  augment- 
ed by  the  upturned  wagons  blocking  the 
road,  which  served  to  completely  break 
the  imperfect  columns.  The  reports  of 
the  inspectors  give  no  evidence  that  the 
panic  infected  the  extreme  left,  or  the  re- 
serves, to  any  sensible  degree.  It  was 
uncontrollable  only  with  a  part  of  the 
troops  on  the  extreme  right,  among  whom 
it  originated.  Many  at  the  centre  and 
the  left  were  surprised  when  the  order 
came  to  retreat,  and  for  a  time  consid- 
ered it  as  merely  an  order  to  change  po- 
sition in  view  of  a  still  further  general 
advance.  Some  officers  state  that  they 
"  warmly  remonstrated  "-  —  "  too  warmly, 
perhaps  "-—when  they  received  the  order 
to  retire.  The  returns  of  the  inspectors 
are  not  conclusive  on  this  point ;  but 
from  the  result  of  subsequent  specific  in- 


CONSEQUENCES   OF  THE   BATTLE. 


431 


quiries  by  Mr.  Elliott  and  the  Secretary, 
it  can  be  stated  with  confidence  that  in- 
dications of  terror  or  great  fear  were 
seen  in  but  a  comparatively  very  small 
part  of  the  retreating  force.  Most  trudged 
along,  blindly  following  (as  men  do  in 
an}r  mob)  those  before  them,  but  with  re- 
luctance, and  earnest  and  constant  ex- 
pressions of  dissatisfaction  and  indigna- 
tion, while  no  inconsiderable  number  re- 
tained, through  all  the  length  of  the  pri- 
vation and  discomfort  of  their  dreary  re- 
turn to  Washington,  astonishing  cheer- 
fulness and  good  humor,  and  were  often 
heard  joking  at  their  own  misfortunes, 
and  ridiculing  the  inefficiency  of  their  of- 
ficers. The  Germans  of  the  reserve  were 
frequently  singing.  None  of  the  reserves 
were  in  the  slightest  degree  affected  by 
the  panic,  and  their  general  expression 
with  reference  to  the  retreat  was  one  of 
wonder  and  curiosity.  The  reserve, 
nevertheless,  suffered  much  from  fatigue, 
and  subsequently  exhibited  most  decided 
demoralization. 

11  The  history  of  the  2d  Rhode  Island 
Volunteers  may  be  cited  as  an  example 
of  those  to  whom  Bull  Run  was  no  dis- 
grace. They  were  near  the  extreme 
right  in  the  engagement.  Their  previous 
inarch  had  been  as  fatiguing  as  that  of 
others  ;  they  were  as  badly  off  for  food 
as  others,  having  nothing  but  a  few 
crackers  to  eat  for  more  than  thirty-six 
hours.  They  were  the  first  to  engage  ; 
were  severely  engaged,  and  as  long  as, 
or  longer  than,  any  others  ;  they  were 
badly  cut  up,  losing  their  colonel  and 
other  officers,  and  sixteen  per  cent  of  the 
ranks  in  killed.  They  stood  firm  under 
fire  while  the  panic-stricken  crowd  swept 
by  and  through  them,  and  until  they  re- 
ceived the  order  to  retreat.  They  then 
wheeled  steadily  into  column,  and 


marched  in  good  order,  until  the  road 
was  obstructed  by  overturned  wagons. 
Here  they  were  badly  broken  up  by  a 
cannonade,  scattered  and  disorganized, 
but  afterwards,  having  mainly  collected 
at  Centreville,  reformed  and  marched 
the  same  night,  under  such  of  their  of- 
ficers as  remained  alive,  to  and  through 
Washington  to  a  position  several  miles 
to  the  northward — a  post  of  danger — 
where  they  at  once  resumed  regular  camp 
duties.  When  visited  by  the  inspector, 
a  few  days  afterwards,  he  was  told  and 
was  led  to  believe  that,  the  men  had  only 
wanted  a  day's  rest  to  be  ready  and  wil- 
ling to  advance  again  upon  the  enemy. 
He  reported  the  regiment  not  demoral- 
ized." 

The  nature  of  the  ground  and  the  pe- 
culiar character  of  the  conflict  were  cal- 
culated to  dismay  the  inexperienced  re- 
cruits. "  Much  excuse,"  says  one  who 
witnessed  the  most  of  their  shortcomings, 
Colonel  Heintzelman,  "  can  be  made  for 
those  who  fled,  as  few  of  the  enemy 
could  at  any  time  be  seen.  Raw  troops 
cannot  be  expected  to  stand  long  against 
an  unseen  enemy."  As  a  military  affair 
there  was  nothing,  after  all,  extraordin- 
ary in  the  defeat.  The  struggle  was 
fierce,  and  protracted  with  severe  losses 
on  both  sides  ;  in  such  a  contest  the 
honor  is  not  all  with  the  successful  party  ; 
while  the  ugly  accident  of  the  day,  the 
panic,  was  confined  to  a  few  of  the  regi- 
ments, and  discreditable  as  it  was,  was 
by  no  means  unprecedented  in  regular 
armies  on  battle-fields  of  historic  fame. 
The  truth  is,  that  the  battle  of  Bull  Run 
has  been  judged  not  by  itself,  but  has 
been  greatly  magnified  by  its  relations 
and  consequences.  It  has  suffered  by 
being  held  accountable  for  events  which 
might  equally  have  occurred  had  the  for- 


432 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tune  of  the  day  been  altogether  different. 
It  by  no  means  follows  that  if  the  North 
had  gained  that  battle  it  would  have  been 
spared  the  cost  of  fighting  others,  or  that 
it  would  have  secured,  at  once,  the  con- 
fidence of  Europe  and  the  reconstruction 
of  the  Union.  A  defeat  at  that  time 
might  have  earlier  roused  the  South  with 
yet  unwasted  strength  to  still  greater  de- 
monstrations of  ability  than  were  after- 
wards made.  The  short  struggle,  so 
eagerly  desired  at  home  and  abroad  by 
the  mercantile  classes,  would  probably 
have  been  not  a  whit  the  less  prolonged  ; 
for  in  such  unhappy  contests  of  civil  war 
it  is  not  one  battle,  but  the  slow  and  en- 
tire exhaustion  of  spirits  and  resources 
which  renders  a  people  averse  from  and 
incapable  of  further  great  efforts,  which 
renders  them  submissive  to  sound  reason 
and  judgment.  It  may  have  been  that 
just  such  a  defeat  as  that  of  Bull  Run 
was  required  to  tame  the  false  confidence 
of  the  North,  and  exhibit  the  necessity 
of  building  its  work  on  surer  founda- 
tions. It  probably  saved  some  heavier 
disasters.  However  this  may  have  been, 
its  first  and  continued  effect  was  to  se- 
cure greater  efficiency,  and  infuse  a  true 
military  spirit  into  the  details  of  the 
army.  The  negligence  and  license  of  the 
military  camps  around  Washington  was 


immediately  restrained  ;  the  men  were 
kept  to  their  quarters  and  to  drill ;  the 
Provost  Marshal  cleared  the  streets  and 
taverns  of  the  Capital  of  vagrants  of  all 
ranks  ;  the  volunteer  officers,  compelled 
to  submit  to  a  Board  of  Examination, 
were  driven  to  resign  or  acquaint  them- 
selves speedily  with  their  duties  ;  new 
sanitary  regulations  improved  the  physi- 
cal condition  and  invigorated  the  entire 
discipline  of  the  troops.  An  effective 
military  organization  and  control  kepf. 
pace  with  the  rapid  and  hitherto  unpre 
cedented  concentration  of  a  vast  national 
army. 

Months  after,  when  the  consequences  of 
this  battle  were  not  matters  of  specu- 
lation but  verified  by  experience,  Gen- 
eral Buckner  is  reported  to  have  said, 
after  his  capture  at  Fort  Donelson,  to  a 
gentleman  of  Albany,  when  he  was  pass- 
ing through  that  city,  on  his  way  to  Fort 
Warren,  "  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  was  a 
most  unfortunate  thing  for  the  South,  and 
a  most  fortunate  thing  for  the  North. 
Nothing  has  more  vexed  me  than  the 
apathy  of  the  Southern  people.  The  effect 
of  the  battle  was  to  inspire  the  South- 
erners with  a  blind  confidence  and  lull 
them  into  a  false  security.  The  effect 
upon  the  Northerners,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  to  arouse,  madden  and  exasperate." 


CHAPTER  XXVIIL 


FOREIGN      RELATIONS. 


of  the  first  and  most  important 
duties  of  President  Lincoln  on  his  acces- 
sion to  his  high  office  was  to  provide,  by 
a  judicious  appointment  of  foreign  min- 
isters, for  a  proper  representation  of  the 


interests  of  the  nation  and  of  the  princi- 
ples of  the  new  administration  on  which 
he  was  entering,  at  the  different  courts 
of  Europe.  There  it  was'  felt  that  the 
contest  of  the  Government  with  the  re- 


FOREIGN  DIPLOMACY. 


bellion  was  to  be  fought  out  hardly  less 
than  on  American  soil.  The  weapons 
were  different ;  the  tongue  and  the  pen 
were  in  place  of  sword  and  cannon  ;  the 
force  of  right  and  truth,  the  adroitness 
of  diplomacy,  and  the  arts  of  persuasion 
and  reason  were  the  substitutes  of  the 
strategic  movements  in  the  field  ;  the 
contest  was  to  be  bloodless — but  it  might 
prove  not  the  less  decisive  in  shaping 
the  destinies  of  the  struggle.  The  South 
early  sent  its  wily  and  well-informed 
agents  abroad — Yancey,  Rost,  Mann  and 
Butler  King,  and  indeed  already  pos- 
sessed a  great  advantage  in  the  tone  of 
opinion,  which  had  been  generated  in 
advance  by  the  persistent  efforts  of  her 
wealthy  and  influential  citizens  abroad, 
who  enjo}red  the  favor,  under  the  late 
administration,  of  the  American  lega- 
tions. The  notion  that  a  rupture  of  the 
American  Union  was  at  hand,  and  that, 
if  attempted  by  the  South,  nothing  could 
withstand  the  sovereign  will  and  pleas- 
ure of  that  portion  of  the  country  in 
effecting  the  separation,  was  a  doctrine 
which  had  been  assiduously  disseminated 
in  European  circles.  A  great  number 
of  important  people  of  the  Old  World, 
accustomed  always  to  speak  of  the  Amer- 
ican Government  as  a  political  experi- 
ment, were  therefore  but  little  surprised 
when  the  shock  came  ;  they  had  gener- 
ally regarded  the  permanence  of  the 
Union  as  an  unsettled  problem ;  nor  were 
they  disposed  to  entertain  any  more 
hopeful  view  of  its  continued  existence 
when  the  Message  of  President  Buchanan 
informed  them  of  the  Constitutional  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  its  preservation, 
should  the  necessity,  as  it  was  evident  it 
would,  demand  the  interposition  of  active 
warfare.  The  sovereign  authority  of  the 
United  States,  in  fact,  dwindled  in  the 
55 


public  estimation  as  the  nullifying  pow- 
ers of  the  States  were  asserted,  and  they 
began  to  embody  their  doctrines  in  armed 
rebellion.  An  undefined  jealousy  of  the 
growing  strength  of  the  rapidly  rising 
American  nation  had  unquestionably, 
with  certain  suggestions  of  self-interest, 
and  various  prejudices,  predisposed  the 
public  opinion  of  Europe  in  favor  of  the 
theory,  and,  at  the  very  first  moment  of 
revolt,  of  the  recognition  of  what  was 
considered  the  fact  of  the  disintegration, 
or  falling  to  pieces,  of  the  Union.  To 
counteract  this  unfriendly  feeling  and 
hostile  judgment  of  affairs,  if  it  should 
exhibit  itself  in  diplomacy,  and  prevent, 
if  possible,  its  adoption  and  incorpora- 
tion in  the  public  policy  of  leading  Euro- 
pean nations,  was  the  arduous  work  be- 
fore the  new  Secretary  of  State  at  Wash- 
ington. How  Mr.  Seward  devoted  him- 
self to  the  task  ;  with  what  indefatigable 
zeal  and  pertinacity  of  argument ;  with 
what  laborious  industry  he  at  one  time 
anticipated,  at  another  combated,  the  sug- 
gestions and  declarations  of  foreign  min- 
isters ;  with  what  art  he  unraveled  the 
tangled  web  of  affairs  ;  how  he  tempered 
the  claims  of  self-respect  with  courtesy, 
and,  appealing  to  generous  sympathy, 
never  forgot  what  was  due  to  the  honor 
and  the  rights  of  the  nation  for  which 
he  spoke, — the  published  volume  of  his 
diplomatic  correspondence  during  those 
early  anxious  months  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  Rebellion,  has  abund- 
antly exhibited  to  the  world. 

Among  the  new  ministers  sent  to  re- 
present the  United  States  in  Europe 
were  several  gentlemen  of  distinguished 
political  reputation.  Foremost  in  im- 
portance of  these  appointments,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  peculiar  relations  be- 
tween the  two  countries  bearing  upon 


434 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


the  Rebellion,  and  the  natural  influence 
of  the  foreign  government  in  guiding  the 
policy  of  Europe  in  any  questions  which 
might  arise  as  to  American  affairs,  was 
the  mission  to  England.  This  delicate 
and  highly  responsible  situation  was  as- 
signed to  an  eminent  member  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  who,  beside  his  devo- 
tion to  the  cause,  had  many  claims  to 
consideration  peculiarly  fitting  him  for  a 
residence  near  the  Court  of  St.  James. 
Possessed  of  wealth,  of  reputation  as  an 
author,  identified  with  the  political  his- 
tory-of  the  country,  the  representative, 
in  the  third  generation,  of  a  race  of 
statesmen  who  had  enjoyed  its  highest 
honors,  the  son  and  grandson  of  Presi- 
dents of  the  United  States.  Charles 
Francis  Adams  was  admirably  qualified 
to  impress  the  imagination  and  command 
the  respect  of  Englishmen,  when  he  left 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  pre- 
sent himself  before  that  throne  to  which 
his  grandfather  had  been  the  first  ambas- 
sador on  the  recognition  of  the  independ- 
ence of  his  nation.  The  Farewell  Ad- 
dress to  the  People  of  the  Third  Congres- 
sional District  of  Massachusetts,  in  which 
he  announced  his  resignation  of  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  is  one 
of  the  most  manly  and  dignified  state 
papers  of  the  times,  calmly  reviewing  the 
grounds  upon  which  the  Government 
had  taken  its  stand,  and  supporting  its 
action  by  the  loftiest  appeals  to  duty  and 
self-sacrifice  in  the  cause  of  national 
honor  and  existence.  "  If  I  am  right," 
he  said,  after  contrasting  the  assumptions 
and  pretensions  of  the  rebel  government 
at  Montgomery-  -its  declarations  of  force 
and  tyranny — with  the  beneficent  prin- 
ciples of  self-government  of  the  Union, 
"  if  I  am  right,  then,  in  my  views'  the 
conclusion  inevitably  must  be  that  the 


political  revolution  of  the  last  year 
marks  a  great  era  in  American  history, 
second  only  to  that  of  our  independence. 
It  saved  us  from  the  impending  domina- 
tion of  slaveholding  absolutism.  I  did 
hope  that  it  might  have  been  effected 
without  a  convulsion.  I  did  believe  that 
it  might  have  been  followed  by  a  policy 
which,  while  it  wronged  no  one,  would  in 
the  end  save  even  the  slaveholding  States 
from  the  perils  of  their  situation.  In 
these  expectations  it  would  seem,  from 
present  appearances,  that  I  was  much 
too  sanguine.  The  desperate  agitators 
have  precipitated  the  more  moderate 
and  patriotic  classes  of  their  fellow-citi- 
zens into  a  revolution.  They  have 
staked  their  all  upon  the  maintenance  of 
their  political  supremacy  as  a  slavehold- 
ing oligarchy.  We  cannot  refuse  the 
issue  tendered  to  us  if  we  would.  Their 
whole  action  since  the  sixth  of  Novem- 
ber has  been  aggressive,  insulting,  trea- 
cherous and  violent,  a  very  natural  co- 
rollary from  the  principles  on  which 
their  organization  is  now  based.  We 
have  no  choice  but  to  sacrifice  our  inde- 
pendence, if  we  consent  to  their  demands. 
The  question  is  between  our  cherished 
law  of  1776,  resting  upon  the  rights  of 
man,  and  the  old  notion  of  Alaric,  the 
Goth,  revived  in  1860,  that  force  may 
be  preceded  by  fraud,  and  that  might 
makes  right.  We,  are  now  the  cham- 
pions of  law  and  republican  liberty. 
Retreat  is  impossible,  even  if  it  were  to 
be  desired.  We  must  stand  firmly  by 
the  old  faith,  or  be  disgraced  forever. 
Deeply  as  I  regret  the  causes  which  have 
conspired  to  give  the  impending  strug- 
gle unnecessary  elements  of  bitterness,  I 
cannot,  on  looking  back,  discover  how  it 
could  have  been  avoided,  excepting  by 
the  utter  emasculation  of  a  free  people. 


THE  NEW   AMBASSADORS. 


435 


I  must  repeat  that  it  is  with  great  regret 
I  leave  you  in  this  emergency  for  another 
field  of  duty.  I  do  so  only  under  the 
belief  that  I  may  be  of  more  service 
there  than  here.  Whether  that  be  so  or 
not,  however,  will  after  all  depend  much 
more  upon  the  people  of  the  United 
States  than  upon  their  agents  abroad. 
Foreign  nations  will  very  naturally  look 
with  more  attention  to  the  action  of  the 
principals  than  to  that  of  their  represent- 
atives. If  they  see  union  in  council  and 
energy  in  action  ;  if  they  find  wisdom 
in  deliberation  and  heroism  in  the  field- 
above  all,  if  they  discover  a  calm  deter- 
mination to  carry  the  Government  firmly 
through  all  its  trials,  in  steady  consisten- 
cy with  the  purposes  and  policy  of  its 
founders,  then  will  follow,  as  the  day 
follows  the  night,  their  brightening  sym- 
pathy, their  admiration,  their  confidence, 
and,  perhaps,  even  their  cooperation. 
So  it  was  in  1778.  So  it  will  be  ever 
when  honest  men  courageously  uphold 
the  right." 

William  Lewis  Dayton,  who  was  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  Mr.  Faulkner  of  Vir- 
ginia at  Paris,  a  native  of  New  Jersey, 
born  in  the  year  1807,  was  a  lawyer  by 
profession,  early  created  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  his  State,  and  on  the 
death  of  Mr.  Southard,  in  1842,  appoint- 
ed to  fill  the  vacant  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate.  Mr.  Dayton  held  this 
position  through  the  succeeding  term  till 
1851.  To  the  principles  of  the  old  Whig 
party  he  united  a  support  of  the  free- 
soil  doctrines  which  were  prominent  in 
the  settlement  of  the  territorial  questions 
arising  out  of  the  conquests  from  Mexico. 
He  voted  for  the  various  limitations  of 
slavery  brought  forward  at  the  time,  and 
his  services  to  the  cause  were  remem- 
bered in  his  nomination  as  Vice-Presi- 


dent on  the  Fremont  Presidential  ticket 
in  the  election  of  1856.  He  subsequent- 
ly held  the  position  of  Attorney-General 
of  New  Jersey. 

Cassius  M.  Clay,  the  Minister  to  Russia, 
a  native  of  Kentucky  and  a  relative  of  the 
eminent  Henry  Clay,  brought  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  new  Republican  administration 
a  reputation  acquired  in  the  advocacj7"  of 
its  principles  when  their  maintenance  re- 
quired courage  and  self-sacrifice.  He 
had  advocated  the  claims  of  liberty,  and 
successfully  asserted  the  rights  of  freedom 
of  the  press  in  the  face  of  a  vindictive 
mob  which  had  destroyed  his  property 
and  threatened  his  life  in  his  native 
State  ;  and  had  acquired  a  claim  to  no- 
tice in  military  affairs  by  his  service  as 
captain  of  a  company  of  mounted  men 
in  the  Mexican  war.  Pushed  forward  in 
advance  of  the  column  of  General  Tay- 
lor, he  had  been  taken  prisoner  and  car- 
ried to  Mexico.  On  the  way  thither,  a 
part  of  the  captives  escaped,  when  the 
rest,  it  is  said,  would  have  been  massa- 
cred but  for  the  influence  he  brought  to 
bear  in  his  gallant  bearing  and  presence 
of  mind  for  their  safety.  He  was  after- 
ward anti-slavery  candidate  for  Gover- 
nor in  Kentucky. 

Mr.  George  P.  Marsh,  the  Minister  to 
Sardinia,  carried  to  the  new  kingdom  of 
Italy  the  prestige  of  an  eminent  career 
in  literature  and  diplomacy.  A  native 
of  Vermont,  born  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  he  had  devoted  his  youth  and 
manhood  to  law,  politics,  and  thorough 
and  varied  scholarship.  As  a  member 
of  his  State  Legislature,  of  the  national 
Congress,  as  resident  minister  to  Turkey 
under  the  appointment  of  President  Tay- 
lor, and  in  other  capacities  at  home,  he 
had  filled  a  round  of  public  duties,  and 
by  his  recent  critical  works  on  the  Eng- 


436 


WAR  FOE,  THE   UNION. 


lish  language,  had  extended  his  influence 
to  a  wider  spheie.  His  appointment  to 
Italy  was  every  way  honorable  to  the 
administration.  The  Hon.  Anson  Bur- 
lingame,  a  Republican  member  of  Con- 
gress from  Massachusetts,  was  nominated 
minister  to  Austria,  but  the  appointment 
being  objected  to  by  that  government,  in 
consequence  of  the  part  he  had  taken  in 
the  affairs  of  Italy,  he  was  withdrawn, 
and  J.  Lothrop  Motley,  the  eminent  his- 
torian of  the  Dutch  Republic,  received 
the  mission  in  his  stead.  Carl  Schurz 
of  Wisconsin,  distinguished  for  the  part 
he  had  borne  as  an  asserter  of  liberty  in 
his  native  Germany  in  the  Revolution  of 
1848,  a  man  alike  of  thought  and  action, 
was  appointed  minister  to  Spain,  Nor- 
man P.  Judd  of  Illinois  to  Prussia,  and 
Henry  S.  Sanford  of  Connecticut  to  Bel- 
gium. 

Previously  to  noticing  the  diplomatic 
relations  of  the  United  States  with  the 
Old  World,  it  may  be  well  to  look  for  a 
moment  at  the  state  of  public  opinion  in 
Europe,  and  especially  in  Great  Britain, 
in  regard  to  the  new  phenomena  exhib- 
ited in  the  great  revolt  in  America.  The 
accession  of  President  Lincoln  to  office 
found  the  people  of  England  in  a  peculiar 
state  of  mind.  They  had  watched  with 
interest  the  first  movements  of  the  Re- 
bellion, and  though  they  may  have  look- 
ed upon  it  with  suspicion  and  incredulity 
in  the  beginning,  were  seemingly  not  re- 
luctant to  recognize  in  its  imposing  pre- 
tensions the  reality  of  the  long- threatened 
dissolution  of  the  Union.  This  idea  not 
unnaturally  found  favor  in  the  minds  of 
the  dominant  aristocratic  class,  which 
had  always  been  inclined  to  look  with 
jealousy  or  distrust  upon  the  working  of 
a  system  of  government  and  society  in 
many  respects  antagonistic  to  their  own. 


The  rising  difficulties  of  America  were 
confidently  pointed  to  as  the  -necessary 
consequence  of  the  license  of  democratic 
institutions,  and  the  example  was  held 
up  as  a  salutary  warning  to  the  old 
world  to  resist  similar  tendencies.  These 
impressions  were  greatty  strengthened  by 
the  fact  that  none  of  those  measures  of 
repression  or  restraint  were  taken  by 
the  Government  at  Washington,  which 
the  first  decided  symptoms  of  rebellion 
would  certainly  have  called  forth  in  any 
state  of  Europe.  President  Buchanan's 
Message,  carefully  demonstrating  the  im- 
becility and  the  powerlessness  of  the 
Government  in  face  of  the  existing  dan- 
ger, had,  indeed,  been  generally  con- 
demned as  an  illogical  production  ;  but 
its  doctrine,  so  disheartening  to  Ameri- 
can nationality,  began  to  be  freely  ad- 
mitted. When  to  this  was  added  the 
passage  of  the  Merrill  Tariff,  imposing 
greatly  increased  taxation  on  British 
products  and  fabrics,  magnified  to  the 
trading  classes  by  the  specious  promises 
of  free-trade  from  the  South,  a  powerful 
appeal  of  self-interest  came  to  warp  a 
judgment  already  biased.  The  magni- 
tude and  importance  of  the  rebellion 
were  at  the  outset  presented  in  an  exag- 
gerated form  in  England.  The  subject 
of  the  powers  of  the  Federal  and  State 
Governments,  but  little  understood  at 
any  time,  was  also  greatly  misconceived 
and  confused.  While  previously  it  had 
been  difficult  to  convince  an  Englishman 
that  the  general  Government  was  not 
responsible  for  all  the  acts  of  the  indivi- 
dual States,  a  position  which  he  was 
prone  to  take  when  the  repudiation  of 
debts  by  some  of  the  States  induced  him 
to  look  to  Washington  for  redress,  it 
now  required  a  still  greater  effort  to 
drive  from  his  mind  the  assumption  that 


ENGLISH   OPINIONS. 


437 


the  States  were  sovereign  and  independ- 
ent, and  quite  at  liberty  to  withdraw 
themselves  at  will  from  the  national 
Union.  It  was  not  a  little  amusing  to 
notice  the  complacency  with  which  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  when 
it  at  length  began  to  assert  its  cause  and 
put  forth  its  strength,  was  represented  as 
entering  upon  an  ambitious  struggle  for 
empire,  and  advised  to  yield  to  the  first 
demand  of  the  Confederates  for  independ- 
ence, though  at  the  expense  of  a  third 
of  its  territory,  and  the  labors  of  a  cen- 
tury, which  had  been  devoted  to  the  for- 
mation and  development  of  a  great  Nation. 
Not  so,  when  the  question  was  brought 
home  to  this  people  so  prodigal  of  ad- 
vice, thought  the  eloquent  orator  and 
historian,  Macaulay,  when,  in  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  in  1845,  in  his 
speech  on  the  Church  of  Ireland,  while 
seeking  to  remedy  the  wrongs  of  which 
that  portion  of  the  nation  then  complain- 
ed, he  indignantly  rejected  as  utterly  in- 
admissible any  theory  of  its  secession 
from  the  kingdom.  "  The  Repeal  of  the 
Union,"  said  he,  "we  regard  as  fatal  to 
the  empire :  and  we  never  will  consent 
to  it ;  never,  though  the  country  should 
be  surrounded  by  dangers  as  great  as 
those  which  threatened  her  when  her 
American  Colonies,  and  France  and 
Spain  and  Holland,  were  leagued  against 
her,  and  when  the  armed  neutrality  of 
the  Baltic  disputed  her  maritime  rights  ; 
never,  though  another  Bonaparte  should 
pitch  his  tent  in  sight  of  Dover  Castle  ; 
never,  till  all  has  been  staked  and  lost ; 
never,  till  the  four  quarters  of  the  world 
have  been  convulsed  by  the  last  struggle 
of  the  great  English  people  for  their 
place  among  the  nations."* 

*  Macaulay's  Speeches.     London.     1854.     p.  399. 


This,  toor  was  the  resolution  express- 
ed in  the  discussion  of  the  same  question 
by  that  master  of  common  sense,  whose 
authority,  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  back- 
ed by  the  sanction  of  his  sacred  order, 
may  be  taken  as  the  quintessence  of  the 
British  judgment  —  the  Rev.  Sydney 
Smith.  That  practical  divine,  in  his 
admirable  fragment  on  the  Irish  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  left  as  a  legacy  to  his 
countrymen,  says,  in  his  facetious,  but 
not  the  less  earnest  way,  in  reference  to 
this  very  topic,  of  the  Repeal  of  the 
Union,  by  the  peaceful  secession  of 
Ireland:  —  "Much  as  I  hate  wounds, 
dangers,  privations  and  explosions  - 
much  as  I  love  regular  hours  of  dinner, 
foolish  as  I  think  men,  covered  with  the 
feathers  of  the  male  Pullus  dome-sticus, 
and  covered  with  lace  in  the  course  of 
the  ischiatic  .nerve — much  as  I  detest 
all  these  follies  and  ferocities,  I  would 
rather  turn  soldier  myself  than  acquiesce 
quietly  in  such  a  separation  of  the  Em- 
pire. It  is  such  a  piece  of  nonsense, 
that  no  man  can  have  any  reverence  for 
himself  who  would  stop  to  discuss  such 
a  question.  It  is  such  a  piece  of  anti- 
British  villany,  that  none  but  the  bitter- 
est enemy  of  our  blood  and  people  could 
entertain  such  a  project!  It  is  to  be 
met  only  with  round  and  grape — to  be 
answered  by  shrapnel  and  congreve  ;  to 
be  discussed  in  hollow  squares,  and  re- 
futed by  battalions  four  deep  ;  to  be 
put  down  by  the  ultima  ratio  of  that 
armed  Aristotle,  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington." 

This  was  the  language  of  Englishmen 
to  the  world,  spoken  by  two  of  their 
most  honored  and  accomplished  repre- 
sentatives, in  relation  to  the  separation 
of  Ireland  from  the  British  empire,  and 
such,  no  doubt,  would  have  been  the 


438 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


voice  of  these  men  had  they  been  citi- 
zens of  the  American  Republic,  and  ad- 
dressed their  countrymen  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  of  the  great  rebellion, 
1861,  from  Washington.  The  stand 
taken  by  the  North  at  that  time  was 
in  the  noblest  spirit  of  devotion  to  order 
and  good  government,  which  it  inherited 
from  its  British  ancestry  and  traditions, 
in  vindication  and  preservation  of  the 
rights  of  law  and  freedom,  most  valued 
by  Englishmen.  Indeed,  they  were  the 
very  laws  and  institutions  which  Eng- 
land founded,  upon  which  a  superstruc- 
ture had  been  built  worthy  the  honest 
pride  of  her  citizens.  If  there  was  one 
principle  more  than  another  assailed  by 
the  rebellion,  it  was  that  which  declared 
the  virgin  soil  of  America  sacred  to 
freedom,  and  which  sought,  in  every 
constitutional  way,  to  ameliorate,  and, 
if  possible,  remove  the  burden  of  slavery 
which  England  herself,  more  than  any 
other  nation,  had  taught  the  world  to 
loathe. 

Fortunately,  voices  were  not  wanting 
in  England  to  represent,  in  its  true  light, 
the  cause  of  America,  correct  prevailing 
misapprehensions,  and  rebuke  unworthy 
prejudices  and  distrust.  Several  emi- 
nent citizens  of  the  United  States,  who 
happened  to  be  in  London,  came  for- 
ward and  rendered  important  service 
by  their  timely  remonstrances  ;  and  as 
the  popular  opinion  of  the  Old  World 
became  agitated  on  the  political  events 
of  the  question,  Englishmen  of  high  cha- 
racter and  ability,  raised  their  voices  in 
sympathy  with  the  trials  and  exertions 
of  the  Government  at  Washington,  and 
its  patriotic  supporters. 

In  a  spirited  letter  to  the  London 
Times,  on  the  17th  May,  Mr.  Cassius  M. 
Clay,  then  on  his  route  to  his  embassy  at 


St.  Petersburg,  discussed  several  of  the 
points  which  were  put  forward  to  justify 
the  depreciating  tone  in  which  American 
affairs  were  beginning  to  be  regarded  in 
English  circles.  One  of  these  was  ex- 
pressed in  the  oft-recurring  question : 
"  What  are  we  fighting  for  ?"  This  Mr. 
Clay  answered  as  follows  : 

"  '  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
of  America'  (to  use  the  language  of  our 
Constitution),  are  fighting  to  maintain 
our  nationality  and  the  principles  of  lib- 
erty upon  which  it  was  founded  ;  that 
nationality  which  Great  Britain  has 
pledged  herself,  both  by  past  comity 
and  the  sacred  obligations  of  treaty,  to 
respect ;  those  great  principles  of  lib- 
erty, that  all  power  is  derived  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed ;  trial  by  jury, 
freedom  of  speech,  and  the  press ;  that, 
1  without  law  there  is  no  liberty'- 
which  we  inherited  from  Great  Britain 
herself,  and  which,  having  been  found 
to  lie  at  the  base  of  all  progress  and 
civilization,  we  desire  to  perpetuate  for 
ourselves  and  the  future  of  all  nations. 
The  so-called  '  Confederate  States  of 
America'  rebel  against  us — against  our 
nationality,  and  against  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  its  structure.  Citizens  of  the 
United  States — of  the  one  Government 
(not  of  Confederate  States,  as  they 
would  have  the  world  believe— but  of 
'  us,  the  people'),  they  propose,  not  by 
common  legal  consent,  but  by  arms,  to 
sever  our  nation  into  separate  inde- 
pendencies. Claiming  to  '  be  let  alone,7 
they  conspire  against  us  ;  seize  by  force 
our  forts,  stores,  and  arms  ;  appropriate 
to  themselves  our  mints,  moneys,  and 
vessels  at  sea  ;  capture  our  armies,  and 
threaten  even  the  capital  at  Wash- 
ington ! " 

To  a  second  query,    "  But  can  you 


MR.    CLAY'S   LETTER. 


439 


subdue  the  revolted  States  f  "  he  replied  : 
<(0f  course  we  can.  The  whole  of  the 
revolted  States  (2,173,000)  have  not  as 
much  white  population  as  the  single 
State  of  New  York  (3,851,563)  by 
1,500,000  people.  If  all  the  slave 
States  were  to  make  common  cause, 
they  have  only  8,907,894  whites,  with 
4,000,000  slaves,  while  the  Union  has 
about  20,000,000  of  homogeneous  peo- 
•ple,  as  powerful  in  peace  and  war  as 
the  world  has  seen.  Intelligent,  hardy, 
and  'many-sided,'  their  late  apparent 
lethargy  and  weakness  was  the  self- 
possession  of  conscious  strength.  When 
they  had  made  up  their  minds  that  force 
was  necessary,  they  moved  upon  Wash- 
ington with  such  speed,  numbers  and 
steadiness  as  is  not  surpassed  in  history. 
We  have  the  money  (at  a  lower  rate  of 
interest  than  ever  before),  the  men,  and 
the  command  of  the  seas,  and  the  in- 
ternal waters.  We  can  blockade  them 
by  sea,  arid  invade  them  by  land,  and 
close  up  the  rebellion  in  a  single  year, 
if  we  are  '  let  alone  V  For  the  popula- 
tion of  the  slave  States  is  divided,  per- 
haps equally,  for  and  against  the  Union 
—the  loyal  citizens  being  for  the  time 
overawed  by  the  organized  conspiracy 
of  the  traitors,  while  the  North  is  united 
to  a  man,  the  late  allies  of  the  South— 
the  democratic  party — being  now  more 
earnest  for  the  subjugation  of  the  rebels 
than  the  republicans." 

To  a  third  remonstrance,  "  But  can 
you  govern  a  '  suljagated '  people  and 
reconstruct  the  Union  ?"  he  pointedly 
replied,  discriminating  the  true  nature 
of  the  contest :  "  We  do  not  propose  to 
'  subjugate '  the  revolted  States — we  pro- 
pose to  put  down  simply  the  rebel  citi- 
zens. We  go  to  the  rescue  of  the  loyal 
Unionists  of  all  the  States.  We  carry 


safety,  and  peace,  and  liberty  to  the 
Union-loving  people  of  the  South,  who 
will,  of  themselves  (the  tyranny  over- 
thrown), send  back  their  representatives 
to  Congress,  and  the  Union  will  be  '  re- 
constructed1 without  the  change  of  a 
letter  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Did  England  subjugate  Ireland 
and  Scotland  ?  Are  the  United  King- 
doms less  homogeneous  than  of  old,  be- 
fore the  wars  against  rebellion?  So 
will  the  United  States  rise  from  the 
smoke  of  battle  with  renewed  stability 
and  power." 

Having  thus  disposed  of  several  of 
the  most  frequently  entertained  grounds 
of  misapprehension  in  English  society, 
he  turned  to  ask  the  British  public  three 
questions  in  return.  They  were  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Where  should  British  honor  place 
her  in  this  contest?"  "We  overthrow 
that  political  element  in  America  which 
has  all  through  our  history  been  the 
studied  denouncer  and  real  hater  of  the 
British  nation,  while  we  have  been  al- 
ways, from  the  beginning,  the  friends 
of  England.  Because,  though  under 
different  forms  of  government,  we  had 
common  sympathies,  and  a  commop 
cause,  and,  therefore,  a  common  interest. 
England  was  the  conservator  of  liberty 
in  Europe — the  old  world  ;  we,  in  the 
new.  If  the  '  Confederate  States '  are 
right,  then  is  England  wrong.  If  slavery 
must  be  extended  in  America,  then  must 
England  restore  it  in  the  West  Indies, 
blot  out  the  most  glorious  page  of  her 
history,  and  call  back  her  freedmen  into 
chains !  Let  her  say  to  the  martyrs  of 
freedom  from  all  the  nations  who  have 
sought  refuge  and  a  magnanimous  de- 
fence on  her  shores,  return  to  your  scaf- 
fold and  your  prison  house  ;  England  is 
no  more  England.  Let  the  Times  cease 


440 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


to  appeal  longer  to  the  enlightened 
opinion  of  the  world  :  nay,  let  the  sta- 
tues of  the  great  dead,  through  which  I 
passed  in  great  reverence  yesterday  to 
the  Houses  of  her  political  intelligence, 
be  thrown  from  their  pedestals,  when 
England  shall  forget  the  utterances  of 
her  Chathams,  her  Wilberforces,  and  her 
Broughams — that  natural  justice  is  the 
only  safe  diplomacy  and  lasting  founda- 
tion of  the  independence  of  nations." — 
"  What  is  the  interest  of  England 
now  ?"  "  If  we  may  descend  to  such  in- 
ferior appeals,  it  is  clearly  the  interest 
of  England  to  stand  by  the  Union  of  the 
States.  We  are  her  best  consumer  ; 
no  tariff  will  materially  affect  that  fact. 
We  are  the  best  customer  of  England  ; 
not  because  we  are  cotton-growers  or 
cotton-spinners,  agriculturists  or  manu- 
facturers, but  because  we  are  producers 
and  manufacturers,  and  have  money 
to  spend.  It  is  not  the  South,  as  it  is 
urged,  but  the  North,  who  are  the  best 
consumers  of  English  commerce.  The 
free  white  laborer  and  capitalist  does 
now,  and  always  will,  consume  more 
than  the  white  master  and  the  slave. 
The  Union  and  the  expansion  of  the 
States,  and  the  republican  policy,  make 
us  the  best  market  for  England  and 
Europe.  What  has  the  world  to  gain 
— England,  France,  or  any  of  the  pow- 
ers to  gain — by  reducing  the  United 
States  to  a  Mexican  civilization." — "  Can 
England  afford  to  offend  the  great  na- 
tion which  will  still  be  '  The  United 
States  of  America,"1  even  should  we 
lose  part  of  the  South  ?"  "  Twenty  mil- 
lions of  people  to-day,  with  or  without 
the  slave  States,  in  twenty  years  we  will 
be  40,000,000!  In  another  half  cen- 
tuiy  we  will  be  o-ne  hundred  millions. 
We  will  rest  upon  the  Potomac,  and  on 


the  west  banks  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
upon  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Our  railroads 
will  run  four  thousand  miles  upon  a 
single  parallel,  binding  our  empire, 
which  must  master  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Pacific  oceans.  Is  England  so  se- 
cure in  the  future  against  home  revolt 
or  foreign  ambition  as  to  venture  now, 
in  our  need,  to  plant  the  seeds  of  re- 
venge in  all  our  future  ?  If  Ireland,  or 
Scotland,  or  Wales  shall  attempt  to  se-, 
cede  from  that  beneficent  government 
of  the  United  Kingdom  which  now  light- 
ens their  taxation,  and  gives  them  se- 
curity and  respect  at  home  and  abroad, 
shall  we  enter  into  a  piratical  war  with 
our  race  and  ally,  and  capture  and  sell 
in  our  ports  the  property,  and  endanger 
the  lives  of  peaceable  citizens  of  the 
British  empire  all  over  the  world  ?  I 
enter  not  into  the  discussion  of  details. 
England,  then,  is  our  natural  ally.  Will 
she  ignore  our  aspirations  ?  If  she  is 
just,  she  ought  not.  If  she  is  honorable 
and  magnanimous,  she  cannot.  If  she 
is  wise,  she  will  not" 

The  following  week  Mr.  Motley  also 
published  in  the  Times  an  able  pamphlet 
on  the  causes  of  the  civil  war,  in  which 
he  exhibited  at  length  the  political  and 
historical  argument  for  the  integrity  of 
the  Union,  and  vindicated  the  course  of 
the  new  government  in  the  stand  which 
it  had  made  for  its  preservation.  From 
his  demonstration  of  the  national  life, 
sedulously  and  abundantly  guarded  in 
the  Constitution,  the  heresy  of  secession 
fell  to  the  ground  by  its  own  weakness. 
If  it  was  absurd  in  theory,  its  endurance 
in  practice  was  simply  intolerable  to  a 
nation  which  was  just  beginning  to  enjoy 
the  fruits  of  its  early  toils  and  sacrifices 
in  the  cause  of  good  government.  "Is 
it  strange,"  asked  Mr.  Motley,  "  that  the 


MR.   MOTLEY  ON  THE  REBELLION. 


Union  should  make  a  vigorous,  just  and 
lawful  effort  to  save  itself  from  the  chaos 
from  which  the  Constitution  of  1787  res- 
cued the  country  ?  Who  that  has  read 
and  pondered  the  history  of  that  dark 
period,  does  not  shudder  at  the  prospect 
of  its  return  ?  But  yesterday  we  were 
a  State — the  Great  Eepublic — prosper- 
ous and  powerful,  with  a  flag  known  and 
honored  all  over  the  world.  Seventy 
years  ago  we  were  a  helpless  league  of 
bankrupt  and  lawless  petty  sovereignties. 
We  iad  a  currency  so  degraded  that  a 
leg  of  mutton  was  cheap  at  a  thousand 
dollars.  The  national  debt,  incurred  in 
the  War  of  Independence,  had  hardly  a 
nominal  value,  and  was  considered  worth- 
less. The  absence  of  law,  order  and  se- 
curity for  life  and  property  was  as  abso- 
lute as  could  be  well  conceived  in  a 
civilized  land.  Debts  could  not  be  col- 
lected, courts  could  enforce  no  decrees, 
insurrections  could  not  be  suppressed. 
The  army  of  the  Confederacy  numbered 
eighty  men.  From  this  condition  the 
Constitution  rescued  us." 

In  regard  to  alleged  grounds  of  hostil- 
ity between  the  North  and  the  South, 
and  the  position  of  parties  in  the  country, 
he  wrote:  —  "It  is  conceded  by  the 
North  that  it  has  received  from  the 
Union  innumerable  blessings.  But  it 
would  seem  that  the  Union  has  also  con- 
ferred benefit  on  the  South.  It  has  car- 
ried its  mails  at  a  large  expense.  It  has 
recaptured  its  fugitive  slaves.  It  has 
purchased  vast  tracts  of  foreign  territory, 
Out  of  which  a  whole  tier  of  slave  States 
has  been  constructed.  It  has  annexed 
Texas.  It  has  made  war  with  Mexico. 
It  has  made  an  offer — not  likely  to  be 
repeated,  however — to  purchase  Cuba, 
with  its  multitude  of  slaves,  at  a  price, 
according  to  report,  as  large  as  the  sum 
56 


paid  by  England  for  the  emancipation  of 
her  slaves.  Individuals  in  the  free  States 
have  expressed  themselves  freely  on 
slavery,  as  upon  every  topic  of  human 
thought,  and  this  must  ever  be  the  case 
where  there  is  freedom  of  the  press  and 
of  speech.  The  number  of  professed 
abolitionists  has  hitherto  been  very  small, 
while  the  great  body  of  the  two  princi- 
pal political  parties  in  the  free  States 
have  been  strongly  opposed  to  them. 
The  Eepublican  party  was  determined  to 
set  bounds  to  the  extension  of  slavery, 
while  the  Democratic  party  favored  that 
system,  but  neither  had  designs,  secret  or 
avowed,  against  slavery  within  the  States. 
They  knew  that  the  question  could  only 
be  legally  and  rationally  dealt  with  by 
the  States  themselves.  But  both  the 
parties,  as  present  events  are  so  signally 
demonstrating,  were  imbued  with  a  pas- 
sionate attachment  to  the  Constitution— 
to  the  established  authority  of  Govern- 
ment by  which  alone  our  laws  and  our 
liberty  are  secured.  All  parties  in  the 
free  States  are  now  united  as  one  man 
inspired  by  a  noble  and  generous  emo- 
tion to  vindicate  the  sullied  honor  of 
their  flag,  and  to  save  their  country  from 
the  abyss  of  perdition  into  which  it 
seemed  descending." 

Nothing  is  of  more  value  as  an  indica- 
tion of  the  true  nature  of  the  struggle,  in 
its  development  and  progress,  than  the 
opinions  expressed  from  time  to  time,  by 
eminent  persons,  of  the  prospects  and 
probable  termination  of  the  war.  Mr. 
Motley  had  studied  history  too  deeply, 
to  be  confident  or  sanguine  of  the  event. 
His  own  admirable  record  of  the  contest 
for  independence,  so  long  maintained  by 
the  Netherlands  against  the  vast  power 
of  Spain,  though  the  circumstances, 
especially  in  the  moralit.y  of  the  conflict. 


442 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


widely  differed  from  the  question  in 
America,  may  have  taught  him  not,  as 
many  did,  to  undervalue  the  resources 
of  a  people,  however  in  the  wrong,  who 
were  yet,  in  their  own  idea,  fighting  for 
independence.  President  Lincoln,  in- 
deed, was  no  cool  and  malignant  Philip, 
imposing  an  alien  religion  and  remorse- 
less tyranny  upon  a  people  of  another 
race  ;  General  Scott,  amiable  and  benev- 
olent, trusting  to  subdue  the  rebellion 
without  severity,  was  certainly  no  bloody 
Alva  ;  nor  could  the  South,  contending 
for  a  new  government  to  secure  the  per- 
petuation and  extension  of  human  slav- 
ery, claim  the  sympathy  challenged  by 
the  devotion  to  high  principles  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  William  of  Orange.  Yet, 
apart  from  the  merits  of  the  question  in 
the  two  cases,  looking  simply  at  the 
powers  of  endurance  generated  in  the 
struggle,  the  historian  of  the  wars  of  Hol- 
land might  well  hesitate  before  he  prom- 
ised to  the  "North  an  easy  victory  over 
the  Southern  Confederacy.  "  Of  the 
ultimate  result,"  said  he,  "  we  have  no 
hesitation  of  speaking.  Only  the  pre- 
sumptuous will  venture  to  lift  the  veil 
and  affect  to  read  with  accuracj^  coming 
events,  the  most  momentous,  perhaps,  of 
our  times.  One  result  is,  however,  se- 
cured. The  Montgomery  Constitution, 
with  slavery  for  its  corner-stone,  is  not 
likely  to  be  accepted,  as  but  lately  seem- 
ed possible,  not  only  by  all  the  slave 
States,  but  even  by  the  border  free 
States  ;  nor  to  be  proclaimed  from 
Washington  as  the  new  national  law,  in 
the  name  of  the  United  States.  Com- 
promises will  no  longer  be  offered  by 
peace  conventions,  in  which  slavery  is 
to  be  made  national,  negroes  declared 
property  over  all  the  land,  and  slavery 
extended  over  all  Territories  now  pos- 


sessed or  hereafter  to  be  acquired.  Nor 
is  the  United  States  Government  yel 
driven  from  Washington.  Events  are 
rapidly  unrolling  themselves,  and  it  will 
be  proved,  in  course  of  time,  whether  the 
North  will  remain  united  in  its  inflexible 
purpose,  whether  the  South  is  as  firmly 
united,  or  whether  a  counter  revolution 
will  be  effected  in  either  section,  which 
must  necessarily  give  the  victory  to  its 
opponents.  We  know  nothing  of  the 
schemes  or  plans  of  either  Government. 
The  original  design  of  the  Republican 
party  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  perpetual 
policy  of  slavery  extension,  and  acquisi- 
tion of  foreign  territory  for  that  purpose, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  maintain  the 
Constitution  and  the  integrity  of  the  Re- 
public. This  at  the  South  seemed  an 
outrage  which  justified  civil  war  ;  for 
events  have  ampry  proved  what  saga- 
cious statesmen  prophesied  thirty  years 
ago — that  secession  is  civil  war.  If  all 
is  to  end  in  negotiation  and  separation, 
notwithstanding  the  almost  interminable 
disputes  concerning  frontiers,  the  strong- 
holds in  the  Gulf,  and  the  unshackled 
navigation  of  the  great  rivers  throughout 
their  whole  length,  which,  it  is  probable, 
will  never  be  abandoned  by  the  North, 
except  as  the  result  of  total  defeat  in  the 
field,  it  is  at  any  rate  certain  that  both 
parties  will  negotiate  more  equitably 
with  arms  in  their  hands  than  if  the  un- 
armed of  either  section  were  to  deal 
with  the  armed.  If  it  comes  to  perma- 
nent separation,  too,  it  is  certain  that  in 
the  Commonwealth  which  will  still  glory 
in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  and 
whose  people  will  doubtless  reestablish 
the  old  Constitution,  with  some  import- 
ant amendments,  the  word  secession  will 
be  a  sound  of  woe  not  to  be  lightly  ut- 
tered. It  will  have  been  proved  to 


DR.  McCLINTOCK'S  SPEECH: 


443 


designate,  not  a  peaceful  and  natural 
function  of  political  life,  but  to  be  only 
another  expression  for  revolution,  blood- 
shed, arid  all  the  horrors  of  civil  war. 
It  is  probable  that  a  long  course  of  years 
will  be  run,  and  many  inconveniences 
endured,  before  any  one  of  the  free  States 
secede  from  the  reconstructed  Union." 

Among  other  voices  heard  at  this  time 
in  London  was  that  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Mc- 
Clintock,  an  eminent  Methodist  divine 
of  New  York,  who,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
"VVesleyan  Mission  Society  at  Exeter 
Hall,  called  the  Times  to  account  for  its 
representations  of  the  fall  or  extinction 
of  the  American  Government.  That 
journal  had  said,  "  The  Great  Eepublic 
is  no  more,"  and  had  asked,  "Are  the 
Americans  going  to  cut  each  others' 
throats  about  a  miserable  question  of  the 
liberty  of  blackamoors  ?"  In  reply  to 
these  taunts,  Dr.  McClintock  instanced 
as  a  parallel  case  the  absurdity,  when 
India  was  recently  in  revolt,  of  printing 
statements  "that  Great  Britain  was  no 
more,  and  the  diadem  was  about  to  fall 
from  the  head  of  Victoria  ;"  while  in  re- 
ference to  the  ungracious  remark  on  the 
slavery  element  involved  in  the  question, 
which,  so  far  as  the  action  of  the  Gov- 
ernment was  concerned,  in  opposing  an 
iniquitous  rebellion  hostile  to  national 
existence,  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  the  matter,  he  reminded  his  hearers 
of  the  time  when  very  different  language 
was  heard  from  England.  "  We  used  to 
think,"  he  said,  "  j^ears  ago  we  heard 
voices  coming  across  the  great  Atlantic 
telling  us  to  be  brave  for  the  slaves  ;  and 
three  or  four  years  ago,  when  I  was  here, 
I  was  abused  in  newspapers  printed  in 
the  city  of  London,  because  I  was  a  pro- 
slavery  man,  it  was  said — not  enough  of 
an  abolitionist ;  and  we  thought  that 


Britain  was  in  earnest  in  this.  And 
yet,  if  we  were  to  believe  these  newspa- 
pers, all  these  professions  have  been  a 
sham  and  a  humbug,  and  all  your  anti- 
slavery  feeling  has  been  simply  fanati- 
cism." Such  were  the  inconsistencies 
into  which  the  public  opinion  of  England 
was  led,  and  such  the  spirit  of  deprecia- 
tion and  hostility  adopted  by  the  leading 
journal  in  its  treatment  of  American 
affairs. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  Americans 
in  London  on  the  4th  of  July,  held  to 
commemorate  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, Dr.  McClintock  was  again 
called  upon  to  give  expression  to  the 
sentiments  of  his  countrymen  in  this 
crisis  of  their  affairs,  and  again  combat- 
ed the  hostile  influences  of  the  press  of 
the  metropolis.  Looking  beyond  the  im- 
mediate present,  he  saw  the  elements  of 
peace  and  unity  arising  from  the  very 
trials  and  difficulties  of  the  struggle. 
"  One  thing,"  he  said,  "  would  come  out 
of  this  disastrous  and  devilish  war,  and 
that  was,  that,  hereafter  and  forever,  the 
people  of  the  North  and  the  South  would 
understand  each  other ;  and,  let  it  cost 
what  it  might  in  blood  and  treasure,  the 
result  would  be  well  purchased  when  the 
people  of  the  North  and  the  South,  all 
the  way  from  the  snowy  Aroostook  down 
to  the  sunny  shores  of  the  Gulf,  should 
be  able  to  say,  what  they  had  never  said 
before,  '  We  are  brethren.'  There  would 
also  be  another  lesson  —  namely,  that 
their  grand  old  mother  England  would 
understand  her  offspring.  The  last  les- 
son in  that  direction  was  given  four 
years  ago,  when  they  used  to  hear  in 
America  terrible  stories  of  the  Sepoy 
mutiny  in  India ;  when  in  every  home 
in  all  their  country,  men,  women  and 
children  read  the  daily  journals  with 


444 


WAE  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tears,  and  asked  when  Delhi  would  be 
taken.  How  true  that  was,  the  Chair- 
man and  many  who  heard  him  well  knew  ; 
yet  a  fortnight  ago  he  read  in  the  Times 
that  America  did  not  sj^mpathize  with 
England.  They  all  knew  how  false  was 
that  taunt ;  they  all  recollected  that 
when  it  was  known  that  Havelock  had 
fallen  there  was  not  a  harbor  in  the 
United  States  in  which  the  ships  did  not 
put  their  flags  at  half-mast  in  honor  of  a 
hero  and  a  man  in  whom  they  recognized 
the  great  elements  of  British  power- 
pluck  and  polity.  And  if  the  lesson  was 
not  sufficiently  taught  then,  they  had 
thought  it  was  complete  when  but  the 
other  day  a  young  Prince,  destined  at 
some  future  day  to  be  king  of  England- 
far  distant  might  it  be  —  visited  their 
country  ;  and  when,  from  the  rudest 
hamlet  on  the  shores  of  those  grand  lakes 
on  which  he  first  touched  American  soil, 
up  to  the  grandest  avenue  they  had  to 
show  in  their  metropolitan  city,  men. 
women  and  children  came  forth  and 
bade  him  welcome.  After  all,  the  mis- 
apprehension between  England  and  Am- 
erica during  the  last  four  months  was,  to 
a  large  extent,  due  to  the  sea  that  separ- 
ated them.  If,  on  the  first  of  May,  Lord 
John  Russell  could  have  had  in  the  space 
of  five  hours  an  interview,  so  to  speak, 
with  the  Secretary  of  the  United  States, 
we  should  not  have  any  of  that  crimina- 
tion and  recrimination  which  had  since 
filled  the  newspapers,  with  few  excep- 
tions, both  on  this  side  of  the  water  and 
the  other.  Only  yesterday  he  read  in  a 
London  newspaper — The  Morning  Her- 
ald:—' Breaking  the  blockade  has  occur- 
red only  to  the  traducers  of  England  in 
America — never  to  Englishmen.'  Yet 
that  same  paper  said  six  weeks  ago  :  '  If 
cotton  is  not  to  be  had  by  fair  means,  we 


must  use  foul  means,  or  the  daily  bread 
of  four  or  five  millions  of  the  working 
population  will  be  at  once  stopped.' 
Another  daily  journal,  alluding  to  priva- 
teering, said  :  '  The  North  has  ships  on 
every  sea,  and  is  a  victim  that  will  pay 
a  plunderer.'  The  same  paper  said  : 
'  The  Americans  are  fighting  for  a  shad- 
ow ;  their  Republic  is  ended.'  Three 
days  after,  the  Times  said  :  '  If  the  ships 
that  close  your  Southern  ports  close  also 
the  workshops  of  Manchester  and  Shef- 
field, the  law  of  blockade  will  be  discus- 
sed in  a  very  different  spirit.'  If  the 
Times  could  have  been  answered  the 
next  day  by  its  counterpart,  the  New 
York  Herald,  and  if  the  Morning  Her- 
ald could  have  been  answered  by  the 
Tribune,  no  misunderstanding  between 
the  countries  could  have  existed.  If 
Americans  could  read  such  statements  in 
the  Times  without  vexation,  they  would 
be  unworthy  of  their  origin.  The  Times 
made  just  as  much  '  row'  when  anything 
was  said  in  New  York  offensive  to  na- 
tional feeling  in  England  as  the  New 
York  journals  did  when  the  views  and 
feelings  of  Americans  were  misrepresent- 
ed in  the  mother  country.  It  was  be- 
cause they  were  bone  of  his  bone  and 
flesh  of  his  flesh,  that  Americans  cared 
so  much  about  what  John  Bull  said  of 
them.  It  was  because  they  loved  Eng- 
land that  they  were  anxious  to  hear  kind 
words  from  England.  Again,  the  Gov- 
ernment, early  in  the  month  of  May, 
came  to  the  conclusion,  as  stated  by 
Lord  John  Russell  in  his  place  in  Par- 
liament, that  the  Southern  Confederacy 
must  be  treated  as  belligerent.  The 
Times,  the  day  after,  declared  that  that 
was  a  grave  decision,  and  one  that  must 
have  great  influence  upon  the  conflict. 
A  man  with  whom  he  was  talking  the 


MEETING   OF  AMERICANS  AT  PARIS. 


445 


other  day,  the  greatest  of  British  states- 
men, as  he  (Di.  McClintock)  thought, 
said  :  '  Well,  what  else  could  we  do  ?' 
He  replied,  they  ought  not  to  have  been 
in  such  a  hurry  to  do  it ;  they  might 
have  waited,  at  all  events,  until  Mr. 
Adams  arrived  in  this  country.  Sor- 
rowful as  were  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing their  national  anniversary  on  this 
occasion,  still,  he  said,  and  thanked  God 
that  he  was  able  to  say  it,  that  never  on 
anjr  happy,  sunny  '  4th  of  July'  at  home 
— never  in  those  halcyon  days  of  peace, 
had  he  been  prouder  of  his  countrymen 
than  he  was  on  this  occasion  ;  for  they 
had  shown  a  fidelity  to  great  principles, 
to  the  memory  of  Washington,  to  the 
theory  of  their  Constitution,  and  to  the 
grand  heritage  of  freedom  which  God 
had  given  them.  They  were  fighting 
because  they  had  a  flag  which  had  been 
dishonored,  a  Constitution  that  had  been 
trampled  upon,  and  a  history  that  had 
been  thrown  to  the  winds.  They  had 
grand  memories,  which  the  great  bulk 
of  the  community  had  never  forgotten, 
and  a  nationality  which  they  meant  to 
maintain.  They  were  fighting  now  to  show 
how  they  had  a  Government  which  all 
the  world  should  recognize  in  the  end. 
They  had  20,000,000  of  people  on  one 
side  and  8,000,000  on  the  other.  A 
great  man  has  said  :  'A  single  man, 
with  God  on  his  side,  was  a  majority 
against  the  world.'  They  were  20,000,000 
with  God  on  their  side,  fighting  for  the 
Constitution,  for  Freedom,  and  for  Jus- 
tice, against  8,000,000  fighting— for 
what  should  he  say  ?  Had  they  ever 
said  for  what?  All  that  they  had  said 
was,  that  they  were  afraid  that  some 
day — it  might  be  ten,  fifty,  or  a  hundred 
years — Northern  principles  would  liber- 
ate the  slaves  ;  so  that  they,  the  South- 


erners, were  now  fighting  for  slavery,  or 
for  nothing.  In  that  conflict,  he  had  no 
doubt  on  which  side  the  victory  would 
lie,  and  he  was  now  prouder  and  more 
hopeful  of  his  country  than  ever,  and  he 
was  sure,  too,  that,  in  her  heart  of  hearts, 
England  was  prouder  of  it  than  she  had 
ever  been." 

Several  of  the  new  ministers,  arriving 
in  Paris  about  the  same  time,  were  pre- 
sent at  a  meeting  of  American  citizens 
held  at  the  Hotel  du  Louvre  on  the  29th 
of  May,  to  counteract  the  prevalent  re- 
presentations from  Southern  sympathiz- 
ers, by  giving  expression  to  sentiment? 
of  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  the  Union 
Resolutions,  declaring  ,  their  adherence 
to  the  Government,  and  their  sense  of  its 
beneficent  action,  and  the  duty  of  all 
good  citizens  abroad  and  at  home  to  sus- 
tain it  in  its  effort  to  maintain  its  author- 
ity, were  passed,  and  various  speeches 
delivered  by  the  distinguished  guests  on 
the  occasion.  Mr.  Dayton,  in  a  few  re- 
marks, reached  the  heart  of  the  question. 
"It  is  needless,  my  friends,"  said  he, 
"  to  deny  that  our  country  has  fallen 
upon  evil  times  ;  that  much  of  its  pres- 
tige abroad  is  for  the  present  gone  ;  that 
our  self-love  is  rebuked  and  our  pride  is 
humiliated — not  by  the  actions  of  others, 
but  by  the  misconduct  of  portions  of  our 
own  countrymen.  Nations,  like  individ- 
uals, are  sometimes  spoiled  by  prosper- 
ity. It  does  not  follow  as  a  logical  se- 
quence that  wherever  there  is  dissension 
in  a  country  it  results  from  the  wrongs 
and  oppressions  of  government.  In  our 
case,  it  results  from  its  very  opposite.  It 
seems  to  come  from  the  plethora  of  its 
abundance  and  prosperity.  It  is  the 
wanton  outbreak  of  a  restless  and  excit- 
able people,  who  complain  substantially 
of  nothing.  We,  who  know  the  condi- 


446 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


tion  of  our  country  and  the  value  of  its 
institutions,  though  chastened  in  pride 
and  rebuked  in  feeling,  cannot  forget 
these  truths.  You  have  come  together 
on  this  occasion  to  give  expression  to 
your  feelings  of  attachment  and  respect 
for  the  laws  and  Constitution  of  your 
country.  It  is  in  good  time.  Your 
friends  there  are  now  testing  the  ques- 
tion if  you  have  a  country  •  for  a  coun- 
try without  a  government  is  no  country. 
It  is  a  habitation  without  a  name — a 
locus  in  quo  for  a  miserable  existence. 
The  world  cannot  expect,  and  least  of  all 
can  England  expect,  that  we  shall  dis- 
grace our  Saxon  lineage  by  permitting  a 
Government  which  has  accomplished  so 
much  for  humanity  within  so  brief  a 
space,  to  go  out  without  a  struggle,  and, 
if  need  be,  such  a  struggle  as  the  world 
has  not  seen.  Our  Union  cost  much, 
and  it  is  worth  all,  and  more  than  it 
cost." 

Mr.  Clay  took  occasion  to  speak  of 
France  and  England  in  their  relations 
to  the  Rebellion,  proclaiming  their  inter- 
ests to  be  on  the  side  of  the  preservation 
of  the  Union.  "  I  am  accused,"  said  he, 
in  reference  to  his  communication  to  the 
London  Times,  "  of  threatening  Eng- 
land. I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  casting 
about  me  to  see  how  I  may  make  truth 
most  palatable.  Let  those  who  stand  in 
the  way  of  truth  look  out.  If  England, 
after  all  she  has  said  against  slavery, 
shall  draw  her  sword  in  its  defence,  then 
I  say,  great  as  she  is,  she  shall  '  perish 
by  the  sword.'  For  then  not  only 
France,  but  all  the  world  shall  cry, 
'  Perfide  Albion  !'  When  she  mingles 
the  red  crosses  of  the  Union  Jack  with 
the  piratical  black  flag  of  the  :  Confed- 
erate States  of  America,'  will  not  just  as 
certainlv  the  Tricolor  and  the  Stars  and 


Stripes  float  once  more  in  fraternal  folds  ? 
Can  France  forget  who  has  doggedly 
hedged  in  all  the  fields  of  her  glory  ? 
Can  Napoleon  forget  St.  Helena?  Will 
he,  at  her  bidding,  turn  his  back  upon 
the  East  ?  Shall '  Partant  pour  la  Syrie  ' 
be  heard  no  more  in  France  forever  ? 
Russia  strengthens  herself  by  giving  up 
slave  labor  for  the  omnipotent  powers  of 
nature,  which,  by  steam,  and  electricity, 
and  water,  and  the  mechanical  forces, 
share  with  man  the  creative  omnipotence. 
Shall  England  cross  half  the  globe  to 
check  the  eastern  march  of  her  new-born 
civilization  ?  I  have  spoken  to  England, 
not  as  an  enemy,  but  a  friend.  For  her 
own  sake,  I  would  have  her  be  true  to 
herself.  If  England  would  preserve  cot- 
ton for  her  millions  of  operatives,  let  her 
join  in  putting  down  the  rebellion.  Her 
interference  in  defence  of  the  rebels  of 
the  South  will  force  us  to  do  that  which 
would  be  a  calamity  to  us  as  well  as 
to  them — at  a  blow  to  destroy  slavery 
forever.  The  interests  of  England  and 
France  lie  in  the  same  direction — in  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  successful  rebellion  impossible." 
Probably  the  speaker  whose  remarks 
were  regarded  with  the  most  interest  on 
this  occasion,  was  Colonel  Fremont.  The 
faces  of  the  others  were  turned  away 
from  home  to  a  protracted  residence 
abroad  ;  he  was  eagerly  looked  for  to 
return  and  take  an  active  part  in  the 
field  in  the  preservation  of  the  honor  and 
liberty  of  his  country.  In  far-off  Amer- 
ica his  words  were  read  with  antici- 
pations of  the  new  patriotic  career  be- 
fore him.  He  was  introduced  by  Mr. 
Burlingame  at  the  close  of  an  earnest 
speech  in  these  words :  "I  would  that 
our  struggling  brothers  at  home  could 
hear  this  day  our  words  of  lofty  cheer 


PanrteAl 


COLONEL  FREMONT'S   REMARKS. 


447 


and  know  how  the  American  heart  in 
this  far  land  throbs  true  to  them  and  the 
cause  for  which  they  struggle.  We  send 
them  with  our  blessings  over  the  sea  ; 
but,  what  is  better,  we  send  with  them 
one  known  to  them,  known  to  us,  known 
to  two  hemispheres,  and  one  who,  in  this 
warlike  land  of  his  ancestors,  heard  the 
call  of  his  mother  (for  he  is,  indeed,  a 
child  of  the  Republic),  and  casting  from 
him  the  urgent  claims  of  his  private 
affairs,  almost  without  warning  and  no- 
tice, determined  to  fly  to  the  defence  of 
the  flag  he  has  done  so  much  to  exalt. 
We  say  to  him  that  he  will  be  welcomed 
on  the  western  shore  by  fourteen  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  who,  but  yesterday, 
hailed  his  name  as  a  symbol  of  their 
faith,  and  by  a  countless  host  who  then 
defeated  our  hopes,  with,  if  possible,  a 
still  warmer  enthusiasm — welcomed  on 
the  Atlantic  slope,  and  on  the  Pacific 
slope,  which  his  valor  won  for  us,  and  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  from  whose  loftiest 
summit  he  was  the  first  to  unfurl  the 
beautiful  banner  of  his  country  in  the 
beams  of  the  setting  sun.  We  breathe 
our  benison  upon  him.  We  know  what 
will  follow  where  he  goes  before,  for 
'  born  and  nursed  in  danger's  path,  he's 
tried  her  worst.'  We  know  his  future 
will  be  as  bright  as  his  past,  and  that  he 
will  enjoy  a  soldier's  triumph,  or  the 
sweet  tranquillity  of  an  honored  soldier's 
grave.  And  now,  all  hail,  Fremont,  and 
farewell !" 

Upon  this  Colonel  Fremont  rose  and 
said:  "I  am  deeply  sensible  to  the 
warm  and  flattering  expressions  of  con- 
fidence and  regard  with  which  I  have 
just  been  honored,  and  still  more  deeply 
sensible  to  your  kind  approval  of  them. 
They  are  very  grateful  to  me,  and  I 
thank  you  very  sincerely.  But  you  will 


be  very  sure  that  I  do  not  receive  them 
as  due  to  myself ;  I  am  conscious  that  J 
owe  them  to  the  partiality  of  friendship, 
and  to  that  sort  of  attachment  which  a 
soldier  alwa}Ts  feels  for  the  banner  under 
which  he  has  fought.  To  him  (Mr.  Bur- 
lingame)  and  the  other  friends  around 
me  who  have  spoken  to-day,  I  represent 
the  standard  on  which  old  watchwords 
were  inscribed.  It  is  themselves  who 
were  the  leaders,  themselves  who  bore 
with  you  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  who 
have  won  their  battle  gloriously.  And 
they  have  come  among  us  here,  with 
their  habitual  eloquence,  to  convey  to 
our  true-hearted  countrymen  at  home 
the  assurance  of  our  unalterable  devoted- 
ness  to  the  country,  and  our  unbounded 
admiration  of  the  generous  loyalty  with 
which  they  rallied  to  its  calls.  A  few 
days  back  our  honored  flag  was  trailing 
in  the  dust  at  the  foot  of  an  insolent  foe  ; 
at  present  its  stars  are  refulgent  from  a 
thousand  heights,  swarming  with  brave 
hearts  and  strong  arms  in  its  defence. 
We  drink  to  them  to-day,  our  brave  and 
loyal  countrymen.  Faithfully,  too,  have 
our  scattered  people  responded  to  them, 
from  Italy,  from  England,  and  from 
France.  Well  have  they  shown  they, 
too,  can  cross  the  seas  and  change  their 
skies,  and  never  change  their  hearts.  I 
am  glad  that  a  happy  chance  has  brought 
me  to  participate  with  you  here  on  this 
occasion.  Here,  in  this  splendid  capital 
of  a  great  nation,  where  near  by  us  the 
same  tombstone  records  the  blended 
names  of  Washington  and  Lafayette,  I 
feel  that  I  breathe  a  sympathetic  air.'' 
Mr.  Adams,  the  new  minister  to  Eng- 
land, arrived  at  Liverpool  on  the  13th 
of  May,  and  was  met  by  the  intelligence 
that  the  affairs  of  America  had  a  few 
days  before  engaged  the  attention  of 


448 


WAR  FOR   THE   UNION. 


Parliament,  and  that  the  Government 
had  already  decided  on  a  policy  to  be 
pursued  towards  the  Confederates.  In 
a  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
the  6th  instant,  in  answer  to  questions 
proposed  by  Mr.  Gregory,  member  from 
Galway,  in  reference  to  the  blockade 
proclaimed  by  President  Lincoln,  and 
the  position  of  her  Majesty's  Government 
toward  the  Southern  Confederate  States, 
which  he  declared  "had  become  to  the 
United  States  a  separate  and  independ- 
ent and  foreign  power,"  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, then  at  the  head  of  the  Foreign 
Office,  in  the  course  of  his  reply  said  :— 
•'  With  respect  to  belligerent  rights  in 
the  case  of  certain  portions  of  a  State 
being  in  insurrection,  there  was  a  prece- 
dent which  seems  applicable  to  this  pur- 
pose in  the  year  1825.  The  British 
Government  at  that  time  allowed  the 
belligerent  rights  of  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment of  Greece,  and  in  consequence 
of  that  allowance,  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment made  a  remonstrance.  I  may  state 
the  nature  of  that  remonstrance  and  the 
reply  of  Mr.  Canning.  The  Turkish 
Government  complained  that  the  Brit- 
ish Government  allowed  to  the  Greeks  a 
belligerent  character,  and  observed  that 
it  appeared  to  forget  that  to  subjects  in 
rebellion  no  national  character  could 
properly  belong.  But  the  British  Gov- 
ernment informed  Mr.  Stratford  Canning 
that  the  character  of  belligerency  was 
not  so  much  a  principle  as  a  fact ;  that  a 
certain  degree  of  force  and  consistency, 
acquired  by  any  mass  of  population  en- 
gaged in  war,  entitled  that  population  to 
be  treated  as  belligerent,  and,  even  if 
their  title  were  questionable,  rendered  it 
the  interest,  well  understood,  of  all  civil- 
ized nations  so  to  treat  them';  for  what 
was  the  alternative  ?  A  Power  or  a 


community,  call  it  which  you  will,  which 
was  at  war  with  another  and  which  cov- 
ered the  sea  with  its  cruisers,  must  either 
be  acknowledged  as  a  belligerent  or 
dealt  with  as  a  pir-ate  ;  which  latter 
character,  as  to  the  Greeks,  was  loudly 
disclaimed."  To  this  he  added  that  the 
law  officers  of  the  Crown  had  been  con- 
sulted, and  that  the  Attorney  and  Soli- 
citor-General, the  Queen's  Advocate  and 
the  Government  had  come  to  the  opin 
ion  that  "  the  Southern  Confederacy  of 
America,  according  to  those  principles 
which  seem  to  them  to  be  just  princi- 
ples, must  be  treated  as  a  belligerent." 

In  accordance  with  this  resolution, 
the  following  Royal  Proclamation  was 
agreed  upon  in  Privy  Council,  and  is- 
sued, on  the  15th  of  May  :  "  Victoria 
R. — Whereas,  we  are  happily  at  \  eace 
with  all  Sovereigns,  Powers,  and  States  ; 
and  whereas,  hostilities  have  unhappily 
commenced  between  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  of  America  and  cer- 
tain States  styling  themselves  the  Confed- 
erate States  of  America  ;  and  whereas, 
we,  being  at  peace  with  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  have  declared  our 
Royal  determination  to  maintain  a  strict 
and  impartial  neutrality  in  the  contest 
between  the  said  contending  parties  ; 
we,  therefore,  have  thought  fit,  by  and 
with  the  advice  of  our  Privy  Counsel,  to 
issue  this,  our  royal  proclamation.  [The 
provisions  of  the  Foreign  Enlistment  Act 
are  then  quoted,  and  the  Proclamation 
continues  as  follows  :]  And  we  do 
hereby  warn  all  our  loving  subjects, 
and  all  persons  whatsoever  entitled  to 
our  protection,  that  if  any  of  them  shall 
presume,  in  contempt  of  this  our  Royal 
proclamation,  and  of  our  high  displeas- 
ure, to  do  any  acts  in  derogation  of  their 
duty,  as  subjects  of  a  neutral  sovereign, 


THE   CONFEDERATE   COMMISSIONERS. 


451 


bat  against  slavery  would  have  pursued 
the  character  of  a  pacific  and  Christian 
struggle,  instead  of  assuming,  perhaps,  in 
the  end,  that  of  a  warlike  act  and  vio- 
lent proceeding  ;  slowly,  doubtless,  but 
surely,  the  progress  marked  by  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln,  would  have  been 
completed  by  legal  ways  ;  to  day,  the 
non-extension  of  slavery  ;  to-morrow, 
its  abolition,  with  indemnity,  in  those 
States  best  prepared  for  freedom  ;  by- 
and-by,  complete  measures,  rendered 
constitutionally  possible  by  the  inc "eas- 
ing majority  of  the  admirers  of  the  in- 
stitution.' ' 

The  Commissioners  from  the  Confed- 
erate States,  Messrs.  Yancy,  Mann  and 
Rost,  previously  to  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Adams,  in  an  informal  interview  on 
the  4th  of  May,  urged  upon  Lord  John 
Russell  the  recognition  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  ingeniously  setting  forth 
the  advantages  which  would  result  to 
England  from  commercial  intercourse 
with  the  seceding  States,  which  had 
already  adopted  the  policy  of  free  trade, 
and  whose  products  they  represented  as 
furnishing  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  exports  of  the  United  States.  The 
attention  of  the  British  minister  was 
also  called  to  the  fact,  that  the  Con- 
federate government  had,  by  an  article 
in  its  Constitution,  prohibited  the  slave 
trade.  Whatever  impression  these  re- 
presentations may  have  made,  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Government  in  the  Neutral- 
ity Proclamation,  fell  far  short  of  the 
wishes  of  the  Confederate  Commissioners. 
In  a  letter,  addressed  to  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, on  the  14th  of  August,  when  that 
policy,  with  its  limitation,  had  been  car- 
ried into  effect,  they  complained  of  the 
decision  by  which  neither  of  the  con- 
tending parties  would  be  permitted  to 


enter  the  British  ports  with  their  prizes. 
It  was  an  unusual  rule,  they  maintained, 
and  calculated  to  work  unequally  in 
favor  of  the  United  States,  and  deprive 
the  Confederacy  of  an  undoubted  public 
right.  In  fact  it  operated  exclusively 
as  they  represented,  "  to  prevent  the 
exercise  of  this  legitimate  mode  of  war- 
fare by  the  Confederate  States,  while  it 
is,  to  a  great  degree,  a  practical  protec- 
tion to  the  commerce  and  ships  of  the 
United  States."  At  the  same  time  the 
Commissioners  renewed  their  represen- 
tations of  the  commercial  resources  of 
the  Southern  States,  and  took  occasion 
to  combat  the  settled  principle  of  hos- 
tility to  the  institution  of  slavery  of 
the  people  of  England,  as  it  affected  the 
Confederacy,  by  a  crafty  effort  to  neu- 
tralize this  feeling  of  opposition.  They 
could  not  deny  that  slavery  was  amply 
recognized  by  the  Government  which 
they  were  there  to  represent ;  but, 
throwing  the  burden  upon  the  English 
colonists,  and  the  Fathers  of  the  Re- 
public, who  handed  it  down  to  the  pre- 
sent generation,  they  boldly  represented 
that  the  administration  of  President 
Lincoln,  upon  which  war  had  been  de- 
clared, in  advance  for  its  alleged  anti- 
slavery  tendencies,  was  really  pledged 
to  the  perpetual  maintenance  of  the 
institution  if  only  the  South  would  re- 
main in  the  Union.  Mr.  Lincoln's  mes- 
sage, said  they,  proposed  no  freedom 
to  the  slave ;  Congress,  in  its  extra 
session,  had  pledged  itself  to  the  main- 
tenance of  "  the  pro-slavery  Constitu- 
tion," and  the  commanding  general  had 
issued  an  order,  when  the  army  com- 
menced its  march,  that  no  slaves  should 
be  received  into,  or  follow  the  camp. 
"  The  great  object  of  the  war,  therefore, 
as  now  officially  announced."  they  urged, 


452 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


"  is  not  to  free  the  slave,  but  to  keep 
him  in  subjection  to  his  owner,  and  to 
control  his  labor  through  the  legislative 
channels."  They  therefore  submitted, 
that  "  so  far  as  the  anti-slavery  sen- 
timent of  England  is  concerned,  it  can 
have  no  sympathy  with  the  North  ; 
nay,  it  will  probably  become  disgusted 
with  a  canting  hypocrisy  which  would 
enlist  those  sympathies  on  false  pre- 
tences." Such  was  the  return  made  for 
the  anxiety  of  the  North  to  preserve  the 
rights  of  the  South !  Lest,  however, 
this  view  of  the  matter  might  be  set 
aside  by  the  consideration  of  an  opposite 
tendency  in  the  progress  of  events,  the 
Commissioners,  leaving  no  stone  unturn- 
ed, cunningly  exhibited  the  effects  of  the 
sudden  destruction  of  the  slave  system 
upon  the  laboring  classes  of  Europe  ; 
ten  millions  of  whom,  as  they  alleged, 
would  thus  be  deprived  of  the  means  of 
living.  "  Resort  to  servile  war,  has,  it 
is  true,"  they  admitted,  "  not  been  pro- 
claimed, but  officially  abandoned.  It 
has  been,  however,  recommended  by 
persons  in  influence  in  the  United  States  ; 
and  when  all  other  means  shall  fail,  as  we 
assure  your  Lordship,  they  will,  to  bring 
the  Confederate  States  into  subjection  to 
the  power  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Government, 
it  is  by  no  means  impossible  that  it  may 
be  inaugurated."  To  all  this,  and  other  ar- 
guments of  a  similar  object,  Lord  John 
Ilussell,  on  the  24th  August,  replied  that 
the  British  Government  did  not  pretend 
to  enter  into  the  merits  of  the  question 
"between  the  United  States  and  their 
adversaries  in  North  America ;"  but 
that,  regarding  the  contest  as  consti- 
tuting a  civil  war,  the  policy  of  neutral- 
ity would  be  strictly  adhered  to.  "Her 
Majesty  cannot  undertake  to  determine, 
by  anticipation,  what  may  be  the  issue 


of  the  contest,  nor  can  she  acknowledge 
the  independence  of  the  nine  States 
which  are  now  conbined  against  the 
President  and  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  until  the  fortune  of  arms,  or  the 
more  peaceful  mode  of  negotiation  shall 
have  more  clearly  determined  the  re- 
spective positions  of  the  two  belligerents. 
Her  Majesty  can,  in  the  meantime,  only 
express  a  hope  that  some  adjustment, 
satisfactory  to  both  parties,  may  be  come 
to,  without  the  calamities  which  must  en- 
sue in  the  event  of  an  embittered  and 
protracted  conflict."  With  this  unsatis- 
factory response,  with  hope  deferred, 
the  Commissioners  were  compelled  to 
rest  content.  Their  mission,  thus  far, 
was  unsuccessful. 

The  example  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment was  speedily  followed  by  France. 
Indeed,  the  policy  of  the  two  countries 
was  based  on  a  mutual  understand- 
ing of  agreement  and  cooperation.  A 
decree,  published  in  the  Moniteur,  June 
llth,  proclaimed  that  "His  Majes- 
ty the  Emperor  of  the  French,  taking 
into  consideration  the  state  of  peace 
which  now  exists  between  France  and 
the  United  States  of  America,  has  re- 
solved to  maintain  a  strict  neutrality  in 
the  struggle  between  the  Government 
of  the  Union  and  the  States  which  pro- 
pose to  form  a  separate  confederation  "- 
a  preamble,  which  was  followed  by  di- 
rections in  regard  to  the  reception  of 
privateers,  and  restrictions  upon  the  cit- 
izens of  the  country  in  respect  to  enlist- 
ments and  other  violations  of  neutrality 
similar  to  those  imposed  by  the  British 
orders  and  Proclamation  of  the  Queen. 
Spain  also  issued  her  royal  decree,  dated 
the  17th  of  June,  prohibiting  all  Span- 
iards from  taking  service  on  either  side, 
the  entrance  of  privateers  or  armed 


DIPLOMACY  IN  FRANCE. 


453 


ships  with  their  prizes  into  any  of  her 
ports,  the  acceptance  by  her  subjects  of 
letters  of  marque,  the  fitting  out  of  ves- 
sels with  a  hostile  purpose  in  her  har- 
bors, and  generally  enjoining  complete 
neutrality. 

The  intercourse  of  Mr.  Dayton  with 
the  French  Government,  represented  by 
the  able  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  M. 
Thouvenel,  was  marked  by  considera- 
tion, and  even  cordiality.  The  Emperor 
himself,  on  receiving  the  American  min- 
ister, expressed  his  concern  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  United  States,  his  desire  for 
the  perpetuation  of  the  Union,  and  that 
he  had  been  and  was  ready  "  to  offer 
his  kind  offices,  if  such  offer  would  be 
mutually  agreeable  to  the  contending 
parties.7'  In  acknowledging  the  report 
of  this  reception,  Mr.  Seward,  in  a  des- 
patch to  Mr.  Dayton,  paid  his  tribute  to 
"the  frank,  generous  and  cordial  tone 
of  M.  Thouvenel's  conversation,"  and 
warmly  reciprocated  the  expressions 
of  good  will  of  his  Majesty  as  "just 
what  have  been  expected  from  the  Em- 
peror of  France."  In  reference  to  the 
suggestion  of  mediation,  he  made  a  reply 
similar  to  that  which  he  shortly  after- 
wards addressed  to  England,  pronouncing 
the  measure  both  unnecessary  and  inex- 
pedient. "  This  Government,"  he  wrote, 
"desires  that  his  Majesty  may  be  in- 
formed that  it  indulges  not  the  least  ap- 
prehension of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union 
in  this  painful  controversy.  A  favorable 
issue  is  deemed  certain.  What  is  wanted 
is  that  the  war  may  be  as  short  and  at 
te-nded  by  as  few  calamities  at  home,  and 
as  few  injuries  to  friendly  nations  as  pos- 
sible. No  mediation  could  modify  in  the 
least  degree  the  convictions  of  policy 
and  duty  under  which  this  Government 
Is  acting ;  while  foreign  intervention, 


even  in  the  friendly  form  of  mediation, 
would  produce  new  and  injurious  com- 
plications. We  are  free  to  confess  that 
so  cordial  is  our  regard  for  the  Emperor, 
and  our  confidence  in  his  wisdom  and 
justice,  that  his  mediation  would  be  ac- 
cepted, if  all  intervention  of  that  kind 
were  not  deemed  altogether  inadmissible. 
This  Government  perceives,  as  it  thinks, 
that  the  French  Government  is  in- 
dulging in  an  exaggerated  estimate  of 
the  moral  power  and  natural  forces 
of  the  insurrection The  meas- 
ures we  have  adopte'd  and  are  now 
vigorously  pursuing,  will  terminate  the 
unhappy  contest  at  an  early  day,  and 
be  followed  by  benefits  to  ourselves 
and  to  all  nations,  greater  and  bet- 
ter assured  than  those  which  have 
hitherto  attended  our  national  pro- 
gress." 

Previously  to  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Day- 
ton in  France,  Mr.  Faulkner,  the  Amer- 
ican minister,  had  expressed  the  opinion 
that  force  would  not  be  employed  toward 
the  seceding  States,  not  that  the  Gov- 
ernment did  not  possess  "all  the  ordin- 
ary powers  necessary  for  its  preserva- 
tion," but  that  he  was  satisfied  that  the 
sentiment  of  the  people  was  opposed  to 
their  exercise  in  the  present  instance. 
"So  sincere  was  the  deference  felt  in 
that  country  for  the  great  principles  of 
self-government,  and  so  great  the  respect 
for  the  action  of  the  people,  when  adopt- 
ed under  the  imposing  form  of  State  or- 
ganization and  State  sovereignty,  that  I 
did  not  think  the  employment  of  force 
wonld  be  tolerated  for  a  moment,  and  I 
thought  the  only  solution  of  our  difficul- 
ties would  be  found  in  such  modifications 
of  our  constitutional  compact  as  would 
invite  the  seceding  States  back  into  the 
Union  or  a  peaceable  acquiescence  in 


454 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


the  assertion  of  their  claims  to  a  separate 
sovereignty."* 

To  this  Mr.  Seward  replied  in  a  des- 
patch to  Mr.  Dayton,  in  terms  which  he 
caused  to  be  published  at  the  time,  and 
which  were  evidently  intended  as  a  de- 
claration to  the  world  of  the  position  of 
the  American  Government  in  regard  to 
the  rebellion.  "The  time,"  he  wrote,  in 
allusion  to  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Faulkner, 
"  when  these  questions  had  any  pertinen- 
cy or  plausibility  has  passed  away. 
The  United  States  waited  patiently  while 
their  authority  was  defied  in  turbulent 
assemblies  and  in  seditious  preparations, 
willing  to  hope  that  mediation,  offered  on 
all  sides,  would  conciliate  and  induce  the 
disaffected  parties  to  return  to  a  better 
mind.  But  the  case  is  now  altogether 
changed.  The  insurgents  have  instituted 
revolution  with  open,  flagrant,  deadly 
war  to  compel  the  United  States  to  ac- 
quiesce in  the  dismemberment  of  the 
Union.  The  United  States  have  accepted 
this  civil  war  as  an  inevitable  necessity. 
The  constitutional  remedies  for  all  the  com- 
plaints of  the  insurgents  are  still  open  to 
them,  and  will  remain  so.  But,  on  tke 
other  hand,  the  land  and  naval  forces  of 
the  Union  have  been  put  into  activity  to 
restore  the  Federal  authority  and  to  save 
the  Union  from  danger.  You  cannot  be 
too  decided  or  too  explicit  in  making 
known  to  the  French  Government  that 
there  is  not  now,  nor  has  there  been,  nor 
will  there  be  any  the  least  idea  existing 
in  this  government  of  suffering  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Union  to  take  place  in  any 
way  whatever.  There  will  be  here  only 
one  nation  and  one  government,  and 
there  will  be  the  same  republic,  and  the 
same  constitutional  Union  that  have 
already  survived  a  dozen  national 

*  Mr.  Faulkner  to  Mr.  Seward.     Paris,  April  15,  1861. 


changes,  and  changes  of  government  in 
almost  every  other  country.  These  will 
stand  hereafter,  as  they  are  now,  objects 
of  human  wonder  and  human  affection. 
You  have  seen,  on  the  eve  of  your  de- 
parture, the  elasticity  of  the  national 
spirit,  the  vigor  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, and  the  lavish  devotion  of  the  na- 
tional treasures  to  this  great  cause.  Tell 
Mr.  Thouvenel,  then,  with  the  highest 
consideration  and  good  feeling,  that  the 
thought  of  a  dissolution  of  this  Union, 
peaceably  or  by  force,  has  never  entered 
into  the  mind  of  any  candid  statesman 
here,  and  it  is  high  time  that  it  be  dis- 
missed by  statesmen  in  Europe."* 

There  was  little  difficulty  in  impress- 
ing the  views  of  the  American  Govern 
ment  upon  Spain,  and  thwarting  in  that 
direction  the  efforts  at  "  recognition " 
of  the  Confederate  agents.  Mr.  Horatio 
J.  Perry,  the  United  States  Secretary 
of  Legation  at  Madrid,  previously  to  the 
arrival  of  the  new  minister,  Mr.  Schurz, 
readily  disposed  of  the  secession  cause  in 
his  representations  to  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment, particularly  in  a  notable  inter- 
view with  the  Minister  of  State,  Mr. 
Calderon,  in  the  course  of  which,  in  a 
single  short  phrase  which,  in  the  citation 
which  follows,  we  have  marked  in  italics, 
he  summed  up  the  natural  history  of  the 
rebellion  with  a  proverbial  felicity  pecu- 
liarly suited  to  the  ear  of  a  Spaniard. 
"  Yesterday,"  he  writes  to  Mr.  Seward, 
under  date  of  June  13, 1861,  "  in  a  long 
and  very  satisfactory  interview  with  Mr. 
Calderon,  I  explained  to  him  the  con- 
nection of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  and  other 
leaders  in  the  Southern  rebellion  with 
the  attempt  made  in  1854-'55  by  the 
same  parties  to  provoke  a  war  with 
Spain  for  the  conquest  of  Cuba.  He 


*  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Dayton.    Washington,  May  4, 1861 


THE  ATTITUDE   OF   GREAT  BRITAIN. 


455 


was  made  to  see  that  the  former  filibus- 
tering against  Cuba  had  its  origin,  like 
the  present  rebellion  at  the  South,  in  the 
political  ambition  of  our  slave  owners. 
They  then  wished  to  reinforce  the  slave 
power  in  the  Union  by  the  annexation 
of  new  slave  States,  but  having  failed  in 
Cuba,  in  Nicaragua,  in  Kansas,  and  lastly 
in  the  recent  Presidential  election,  they 
had  at  length  to  turn  their  arms  against 
the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
now  passed  out  of  their  control.  Seces- 
sion was  filibustering  struck  in.  I  ex- 
plained that,  unhappily,  a  class  at  the 
South,  called  by  the  slave-owners  '  mean 
whites,'  were  quite  ready  to  follow  their 
lead,  and  were  a  terrible  instrument  in 
their  hands.  .  Their  own  ignorance,  their 
dependence  upon  the  richer  class,  and 
their  contact  with  the  blacks  had  gradu- 
ally reduced  them,  intellectually  and 
norally,  to  a  point  of  which,  perhaps, 
there  were  few  examples  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race.  They  were  as  reckless  of 
danger  as  they  were  of  right,  as  ready 
to  embark  for  the  fever  lakes  of  Central 
America  as  for  the  sugar-fields  of  Cuba, 
or  the  wilds  of  Kansas,  or  a  campaign 
against  the  government  of  their  country. 
This  was  good  material  for  a  rebel  sol- 
diery ;  and  under  the  more  intelligent 
lead  of  the  slave-owners,  this  revolt  was 
undoubtedly  serious  and  would  cost 
blood.  But  the  result  was  not  doubt- 
ful. The  disparity  of  force  and  resources 
on  the  part  of  the  government  was  too 
overbalancing  to  leave  the  rebels  a 
chance  of  long  prolonging  the  struggle." 
The  condition  of  public  opinion  in 
England  at  this  time  was  not  without  its 
contradictions.  Apparently  inclined  to 
non-interference,  the  people  of  that  coun- 
try yet  seemed  to  regard  the  affairs  of 
America  as  under  their  especial  super-  I 


vision,  management  and  direction.  At 
one  moment  the  United  States  were 
charged  with  weakness  in  not  asserting 
their  authority  ;  when  they  began  to 
act  they  were  accused  of  harshness,  and 
the  very  authority  itself  was  disputed 
The  rebellion  was  at  one  moment  pro- 
nounced the  ruin  of  America,  and  at  the 
next  was  supposed  to  threaten  the  pow- 
er of  England.  The  country,  it  was  said, 
was  divided  forever,  and  in  the  same 
breath  a  united  nation  was  defying  the 
world.  It  is  singular  to  note,  recorded 
in  the  diplomatic  correspondence  of  Mr. 
Adams,  the  existence  of  an  impression 
which  certainly  had  no  warrant  in  the 
policy  or  sentiments  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  "The  idea,"  he  writes 
to  Mr.  Seward  on  the  21st  of  June, 
"still  remains  quite  general  that  there 
will  never  be  any  actual  conflict,"  allud- 
ing of  course  to  the  delay  of  active  hos- 
tilities on  the  Potomac,  "and  it  is  con- 
nected in  many  cases  with  an  apprehen- 
sion that  the  reunion  may  be  cemented 
upon  the  basis  of  hostile  measures  against 
Great  Britain.  Indeed,  such  has  been 
the  motive  hinted  at  by  more  than  one 
person  of  influence  as  guiding  the  policy 
of  the  President  himself."  Nothing 
could  well  be  more  absurd  than  such  a 
notion,  yet  Mr.  Adams  felt  himself  called 
upon  "to  discountenance  it  altogether, 
and  to  affirm  that  the  struggle  was  car- 
ried on  in  good  faith  and  from  motives 
not  subject  to  be  affected  by  mere  con- 
siderations of  policy,  or  by  temporary 
emotions.  More  especially  have  I  en- 
deavored to  disavow  any  '  arriere  pen- 
see'  which  has  the  effect  to  confirm  the 
suspicion  of  our  sincerity,  I  regret  to 
say,  by  far  too  much  disseminated."  It 
was  not  surprising  that,  with  such  ideas 
of  the  struggle  on  the  part  of  England, 


456 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


there  should  be  an  imperfect  sympathy 
between  the  two  countries.  The  United 
States  was  engaged  in  one  of  the  loftiest 
and  purest  undertakings  which  can  em- 
ploy the  energies  of  a  nation,  a  contest 
not  for  supremacy  or  power,  but  for  the 
preservation  of  a  system  of  government 
friendly  to  the  best  interests  of  civiliza- 
tion, which  had  proved  itself  of  the  ut- 
most advantage  to  countless  members 
of  the  human  family.  The  conflict  had 
been  brought  on  by  a  hostile  faction  in 
opposition  to  the  will  of  the  nation  to 
preserve  a  large  portion  of  the  virgin 
soil  of  the  continent  from  the  injurious 
influence  of  slavery.  The  principles  of 
the  new  administration  especially  chal- 
lenged the  respect  and  admiration  of 
England.  It  was  pledged  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  ideas  of  which  that  country 
claimed  to  be  the  great  exemplar  ;  it 
was  supported,  as  we  have  remarked,  by 
principles  of  constitutional  liberty  inher- 
ited from  that  land.  The  nation,  in  a 
spirit  of  solemn  duty,  calmly,  soberly, 
accepted  the  certain  sacrifice  of  peace 
and  property  to  contend  for  the  preser- 
vation of  a  Government  in  which  was 
wrapped  up  the  hopes  of  happiness  for 
vast  numbers  of  the  oppressed  and  desti- 
tute throughout  the  world.  How  could 
England  thus  misread  a  policy  so  clear 
and  explicit,  which,  not  without  great 
advantage  to  herself,  had  been  illustrated 
on  so  splendid  a  stage  in  what  one  of  her 
distinguished  authors  had  pronounced 
"a  magnificent  picture  of  human  happi- 
ness"? 

Something  of  this  could  not  but  be 
seen  and  admitted.  Mr.  Adams  remarks, 
in  the  same  despatch  from  which  we 
have  just  cited  :  "  Neither  party  would 
be  so  bold  as  to  declare  its  sympathy  with 
a  cause  based  upon  the  extension  of 


slavery,  for  that  would  at  once  draw 
upon  itself  the  indignation  of  the  great 
body  of  the  people."  He  adds,  however, 
to  this,  in  a  politic  vein,  a  significant  re- 
mark which  subsequent  events  will  recall 
to  mind:  "But  the  development  of  a 
positive  spirit  in  the  opposite  direction 
will  depend  far  more  upon  the  degree  in 
which  the  arm  of  the  Government  en- 
forces obedience  than  upon  any  absolute 
affinity  in  sentiments.  Our  brethren  in 
this  country,  after  all,  are  much  disposed 
to  fall  in  with  the  opinion  of  Voltaire, 
that  Dieu  est  toujours  sur  le  cote  de$  gros 
canons.  General  Scott  and  an  effective 
blockading  squadron  will  be  the  true 
agents  to  keep  the  peace  abroad,  as  well 
as  to  conquer  one  at  home."  It  is  the 
old  story  of  diplomacy,  and  not  at  all 
complimentary  to  human  nature.  One 
might  think  that,  as  the  affairs  of  men 
are  regarded  from  these  sublime  eleva- 
tions of  state,  they  would  lose  somewhat 
of  that  pettiness  of  self-interest  which 
adheres  to  them  on  a  lower  scale  among 

o 

individuals  in  private  life.  The  force  of 
the  smaller  passions,  however,  does  not 
seem  at  all  abated  in  the  cabinets  of 
princes.  There  is,  perhaps,  greater  jeal- 
ousy, more  eager  desire  to  take  advan- 
tage of  weakness,  and  a  more  profound 
deference  to  strength  and  power.  The 
hard  divinity  of  state  policy  is  certainly 
oii  the  side  of  the  largest  cannons.  Man 
is  kinder,  more  tractable,  more  generous, 
by  himself  than  in  Senates. 

While  Mr.  Adams  was  writing  at 
London  the  sentences  which  we  have 
quoted,  a  dispatch  from  the  Secretary 
of  State,  at  Washington,  was  on  its  way 
to  him,  fully  reciprocating  the  peaceful 
sentiments  which  he  had  conveyed. 
"We  are  anxious,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward, 
"  to  avoid  all  causes  of  misunderstand- 


FOREIGN  ARBITRATION. 


457 


ing  with  Great  Britain  ;  to  draw  closer, 
instead  of  breaking,  the  existing  bonds 
of  amity  and  friendship.  There  is  noth- 
ing good  or  great  which  both  nations 
may  not  expect  to  attain  or  effect  if 
they  remain  friends.  It  would  be  a 
hazardous  day  for  both  the  branches  of 
the  British  race  when  they  should  deter- 
mine to  try  how  much  harm  each  could 
do  the  other." 

To  an  intimation  from  the  British  gov- 
ernment, about  the  same  time,  of  their 
willingness  to  act  the  part  of  mediator, 
if  it  should  be  desired,  the  Secretary 
of  State  replied,  in  the  name  of  the 
President,  that  the  United  States  could 
neither  solicit  nor  accept  mediation  from 
any,  even  the  most  friendly  quarter. 
''The  conditions  of  society  here,"  was 
his  language,  "  the  character  of  our  gov- 
ernment, the  exigencies  of  the  country, 
forbid  that  any  dispute  arising  among 
us  should  ever  be  referred  to  foreign 
arbitration.  We  are  a  Republican  and 
American  people.  The  Constitution  of 
our  government  furnishes  all  needful 
means  for  the  correction  or  removal  of 
any  possible  political  evil.  Adhering 
strictly,  as  we  do,  to  its  directions,  we 
shall  surmount  all  our  present  compli- 
cations, and  preserve  the  Government 
complete,  perfect  and  sound,  for  the 
benefit  of  future  generations.  But  the 
integrity  of  any  nation  is  lost,  and  its 
fate  becomes  doubtful,  whenever  strange 
hands  and  instruments,  unknown  to  the 
Constitution,  are  employed  to  perform 
the  proper  functions  of  the  people,  es- 
tablished by  the  organic  laws  of  the 
SUite."  * 

It  may  be  regarded  as  a  commentary, 
a  thoughtful  aside  to  this  declaration, 

*  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr    Adams,  June  19,  1861.     Papers 
Relating  to  Foreign  Affairs,  p.  92. 

58 


that  a  prophetic  intimation  was  added, 
"by  way  of  satisfying  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, that  it  will  do  wisely  by  leav- 
ing us  to  manage  and  settle  this  domestic 
controversy  in  our  own  way."  The 
somewhat  enigmatic  utterance — the. Se- 
cretary was  thought  by  some  to  affect 
the  oracular — was  this  :  "  The  fountains 
of  discontent  in  any  society  are  many, 
and  some  lie  much  deeper  than  others. 
Thus  far  this  unhappy  controversy  has 
disturbed  only  those  which  are  nearest 
the  surface.  There  are  others  which 
lie  still  deeper,  that  may  yet  remain,  as, 
we  hope,  long  undisturbed.  If  they 
should  be  reached,  no  one  can  tell  how 
or  when  they  could  be  closed.  It  was 
foreign  intervention  that  opened,  and 
that  alone  could  open,  similar  fountains 
in  the  remarkable  French  revolution."  * 
A  month  later,  Secretary  Seward 
writes  again,  after  Congress  had  recom- 
mended the  closing  of  the  insurrection- 
ary ports,  accepting  the  position  of 
England,  in  its  practical  recognition 
of  American  sovereignty,  theoretically 
questioned  in  the  Queen's  Proclamation, 
but  adding,  at  the  same  time,  in  the 
spirit  of  his  former  communication,  this 
passage:  "I  cannot  leave  the  subject 
without  endeavoring  once  more,  as  I 
have  so  often  done  before,  to  induce  the 
British  government  to  realize  the  con- 
viction that  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment is  one  that  is  based  on  interests 
of  the  greatest  importance,  and  senti- 
ments of  the  highest  value,  and,  there- 
fore, is  in  no  case  likely  to  be  changed, 
whatever  may  be  the  varying  features  of 
the  war  at  home,  or  the  actions  of 
foreign  nations  on  this  subject,  while 
the  policy  of  foreign  States  rests  on 
ephemeral  interests  of  commerce  or  of 

*  Ibid. 


458 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


ambition  merely.  The  policy  of  these 
United  States  is  not  a  creature  of  the 
Government,  but  an  inspiration  of  the 
people,  while  the  policies  of  foreign 
States  are  at  the  choice  mainly  of  the 
governments  presiding  over  them.  If 
through  error,  on  whatever  side  this 
civil  contention  shall  transcend  the  na- 
tional bounds,  and  involve  foreign  States, 
the  energies  of  all  commercial  nations, 
including  our  own,  will  necessarily  be 
turned  to  war,  and  a  general  carnival 
of  the  adventurous  and  reckless  of  all 
countries,  at  the  cost  of  the  existing 
commerce  of  the  world,  must  ensue. 
Beyond  that  painful  scene,  upon  the  seas 
there  lie,  but  dimly  concealed  from  our 
vision,  scenes  of  devastation  and  deso- 
lation which  will  leave  no  roots  remain- 
ing, out  of  which  trade  with  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  as  it  has  here- 
tofore flourished,  can  ever  again  spring 
up."  * 

By  the  side  of  these  representations 
and  explanations,  there  was  an  import- 
ant negotiation  in  hand  between  the  two 
governments,  in  reference  to  the  accept- 
ance or  adherence  to  by  America  of 
certain  articles  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in 
the  year  1836,  involving  a  question  of 
great  humanity,  relating  to  the  practice 
of  war  on  the  high  seas.  It  was  then 
mutually  agreed,  between  the  contract- 
ing parties,  Great  Britain,  Austria, 
France,  Eussia,  Prussia,  Sardinia  and 
Turkey  :  1st,  that  privateering  is  abol- 
ished ;  2d,  that  the  neutral  flag  cover 
enemy's  goods,  except  contraband  of 
war  ;  3d,  that  neutral  goods,  with  the 
same  exception,  are  not  liable  to  cap- 
ture under  an  enemy's  flag  ;  4th,  that 
blockades,  to  be  binding,  must  be  ef- 
fective. Other  States,  not  a  party  to 

*  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Adams,  July  21,  1861. 


the  treaty,  were  invited  to  accede  to 
these  propositions.  The  subject  came 
before  the  United  States  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Pierce,  when  Mr. 
Marcy,  the  Secretary  of  State,  express- 
ed the  willingness  of  the  Government  to 
accept  the  propositions  provided  a  fifth 
was  added,  exempting  the  private  prop- 
erty of  belligerents  from  seizure  on  the 
high  seas.  Thus  amended,  the  proposi- 
tions were  laid  before  the  governments 
of  England  and  France.  Before  any 
action  was  had  Mr.  Buchanan  succeeded 
to  the  Presidency,  and  discontinued  the 
negotiation.  Nothing  further  was  done 
till  Mr.  Seward,  in  the  month  following 
the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln, 
reopened  the  matter,  by  addressing  a 
circular  to  the  new  minister  of  the 
United  States,  sent  to  the  States  of 
Europe,  requiring  them  to  bring  the 
subject  before  the  States  to  which  they 
were  accredited,  and  offer  the  accept- 
ance by  the  United  States  of  the  propo- 
sitions, as  originally  proposed  to  them.* 
The  amendment  of  Mr.  Marcy  would,  of 
course,  be  desirable,  but  as  there  was  lit- 
tle probability  of  gaining  that  at  present, 
it  might  be  omitted.  Under  this  direction 
Mr.  Adams  at  Paris,  and  Mr.  Dayton  at 
London,  began  negotiations  with  the  re- 
spective governments.  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, the  English  minister,  at  once  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  entertain  the  matter, 
but  threw  the  arrangement  upon  the 
legation  at  Washington,  which,  not  being 
empowered,  sent  it  back  to  London.  In 
Paris  Mr.  Dayton  hoped  to  obtain  the 
Marcy  addition,  but  this  M.  Thouvenel 
the  minister,  refused,  when,  having  been 
bandied  about  for  two  months  between 
London  and  Washington,  between  Eng- 
land and  France,  the  propositions,  "  pure 

*  Circular,  April  24,  1861. 


THE  TREATY  OF  PARIS. 


459 


and  simple,"  as  originally  offered  by  the 
Treaty  of  Paris,  seemed,  at  the  end  of 
July,  on  the  point  of  adjustment.  At  the 
last  moment  Lord  John  Russell  inter- 
posed the  modest  looking  provision  :  "I 
need  scarcely  add  that,  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain,  the  engagement  will  be 
prospective,  and  will  not  invalidate  any- 
thing already  done."*  The  whole  was 
now  finally  submitted  to  Mr.  Seward, 
who  at  once  saw  the  significance  of  the 
Russell  proviso.  Subjecting  the  latter 
to  an  acute  examination,  he  required 
that  an  explanation  should  be  asked 
from  its  author.  Before  this  request 
reached  London,  Lord  John  Russell  had 
answered  the  question  in  the  draft  of  a 
declaration  to  be  appended  to  the  treaty. 
It  was  that,  "  in  affixing  his  signature  to 
the  Convention,  Earl  Russell  declares, 
by  order  of  her  Majesty,  that  her  Majes- 
ty does  not  intend  thereby  to  undertake 
any  engagement  which  shall  have  any 
bearing,  direct  or  indirect,  on  the  inter- 
nal differences  now  prevailing  in  the 
United  States."  In  other  words,  the 
treaty  was  to  be  made  subject  to  the 
already  conceded  "belligerent  rights" 
—  whatever  they  might  be — of  the 
Southern  rebellion.  The  treaty,  "  pure 
and  simple,"  was  evidently  in  conflict 
with  the  view  which  Great  Britain 
thought  proper  to  entertain  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  United  States.  There 
were  various  diplomatic  objections  to 
this  mutilated  form  of  a  convention, 
beside  the  covert  blow  at  the  integrity 
of  the  Union.  Mr.  Adams  needed  no 
consultation  with  Washington  on  a  qual- 
ification which  he  could  not  fail  to  re- 
mind Lord  Russell  "  would  scarcely 
fail  to  be  regarded  by  many  unfavorably 

*  Lord   John  Russell  to  Mr.  Adams.     July  81,  1861. 
Papers  on  Foreign  Affairs,  p.  110. 


disposed  persons  as  more  or  less  directly 
an  insult  to  the  nation  in  its  present  dis- 
tress." He  rejected  it  at  once.  The 
Government  at  Washington,  of  course, 
acquiesced  in  the  decision.  "To  admit 
such  a  new  article,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward, 
"would,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States,  be  to  permit  a  foreign 
power  to  take  cognizance  of,  and  adjust 
its  relations  upon  assumed  internal  and 
purely  domestic  differences  existing  with- 
in our  own  country.  I  forbear  purposely, " 
he  added,  "from  a  review  of  the  past 
correspondence,  to  ascertain  the  relative 
responsibilities  of  the  parties  for  this 
failure  of  negotiation,  from  which  I  had 
hoped  results  would  flow  beneficial,  not 
only  to  the  two  nations,  but  to  the  whole 
world — beneficial  not  in  the  present  age 
only,  but  in  future  ages.  It  is  my  desire 
that  we  may  withdraw  from  the  subject, 
carrying  away  no  feelings  of  passion, 
prejudice  or  jealousy,  so  that  in  some 
happier  time  it  may  be  resumed,  and  the 
important  objects  of  the  proposed  con- 
vention may  be  fully  secured.  I  believe 
that  that  propitious  time  is  even  now  not 
distant ;  and  I  will  hope  that  when  it 
comes,  Great  Britain,  will  not  only  will- 
ingly and  unconditionally  accept  the  ad- 
hesion of  the  United  States  to  all  the 
benignant  articles  of  the  declaration  of 
the  Congress  of  Paris,  but  will  even  go 
further,  and,  relinquishing  her  present 
objections,  consent,  as  the  United  States 
have  so  constantly  invited,  that  the  pri- 
vate property,  not  contraband,  of  citizens 
and  subjects  of  nations  in  collision,  shall 
be  exempted  from  confiscation  equally  in 
warfare  waged  on  the  land  and  in  war- 
fare waged  upon  the  seas,  which  are  the 
common  highways  of  all  nations."* 
Whilst  these  discussions  and  negotia- 


*  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Adams.     Sept.  7,  1861. 


460 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


tions  were  going  on  with  the  various 
powers  of  Europe,  one  among  them,  in 
particular,  separated  by  her  position  and 
the  interests  of  her  vast  empire  from  any 
political  or  industrial  rivalry  with  the 
United  States,  Russia,  allied  to  the  new 
world  by  her  parallel  territorial  great- 
ness and  ambition  of  future  grandeur, 
stood  prepared  to  sympathize  with  the 
•difficulties  and  embarrassments  of  the 
Government  at  Washington.  In  his  first 
instructions  to  the  new  minister,  Mr. 
Clay,  Mr.  Seward  had  eloquently  dwelt 
upon  the  position  of  the  two  countries. 
"Nations,"  said  he,  "like  individuals, 
have  three  prominent  wants  :  first,  free- 
dom ; .  secondly,  prosperity  ;  thirdly, 
friends.  The  United  States  early  secured 
the  two  first  objects  by  the  exercise  of 
courage  and  enterprise.  But  although 
they  have  always  practiced  singular 
moderation,  they  nevertheless  have  been 
slow  in  winning  friends.  Russia  presents 
an  exceptional  case.  That  power  was 
an  early,  and  it  has  always  been  a  con- 
stant friend.  This  relationship  between 
two  nations,  so  remote  and  so  unlike,  has 
excited  much  surprise,  but  the  explana- 
tion is  obvious.  Russia,  like  the  United 
States,  is  an  improving  and  expanding 
empire.  Its  track  is  eastward,  while 
that  of  the  United  States  is  westward. 
The  two  nations,  therefore,  never  come 
into  rivalry  or  conflict.  Each  carries 
civilization  to  the  new  regions  it  enters, 
and  each  finds  itself  occasionally  resisted 
by  states  jealous  of  its  prosperity,  or 
alarmed  by  its  aggrandisement.  Russia 
and  the  United  States  may  remain  good 
friends  until,  each  having  made  a  circuit 
of  half  the  globe  in  opposite  directions, 
they  shall  meet  and  greet  each  other  in 
the  region  where  civilization  first  began, 
and  where,  after  so  many  ages,  it  has 


become  now  lethargic  and  helpless.  It 
will  be  your  pleasing  duty  to  confirm 
and  strengthen  these  traditional  relations 
of  amity  and  friendship."  * 

The  reception  of  Mr.  Clay  on  the  part 
of  the  Emperor  was  marked  by  its  cor- 
diality. The  American  minister  stated 
that  the  people  whom  he  represented 
"looked  with  profound  sympathy  upon 
the  great  reforms  which  his  Majesty  was 
attempting  in  his  empire,  which,  without 
considering  the  philanthropic  view  of  the 
movement,  by  building  up  a  middle  class, 
he  would  add  more  to  the  physical  power 
of  his  country  than  did  Peter  the  Grea' 
by  consolidation  and  extension  ;  and 
that  the  success  of  his  enterprise  would, 
in  the  estimation  of  the  western  na- 
tions, place  him  even  above  that  great 
ruler." 

To  this  the  Emperor  responded  through 
his  minister,  Prince  Gortchacow,  when 
the  formalities  of  the  interview  were  re- 
laxed by  a  little  unceremonious  conver- 
sation with  regard  to  that  recent  foe  of 
Russia,  Great  Britain.  "  The  Emperor," 
writes  Mr.  Clay  in  his  report  of  the  re- 
ception, "  wanted  to  know  if  I  thought 
England  would  interfere.  I  told  him  we 
did  not  care  what  she  did  ;  that  her  in- 
terference would  tend  to  unite  us  the 
more  ;  that  we  fought  the  South  with 
reluctance  ;  we  were  much  intermarried, 
and  of  a  common  history  ;  but  that  the 
course  of  England  had  aroused  our  sen- 
sibilities towards  her  in  no  very  pleasant 
manner.  The  Emperor  seemed  to  like 
my  seeming  defiance  of  old  '  John  Bull ' 
very  much."f 

The  "  liberal,  friendly  and  magnani- 
mous sentiments"  of  the  Emperor,  as 
they  were  acknowledged  by  Mr.  Seward, 

*  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Clay.     Washington,  May  6,  186L 
f  Mr.  Clay  to  Mr.  Seward.  St.  Petersburg,  June  21, 1861 


DESPATCH   OF  PRINCE   GORTCHACOW. 


461 


were  presently  shown  in  the  earnest 
words  of  sympathy  and  counsel  which 
he  caused  to  be  addressed  to  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  and  to  the 
American  people,  through  his  Ministers 
at  St.  Petersburg  and  Washington. 
This  document,  which  will  always  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  interesting 
State  papers  which  this  crisis  brought 
forth,  addressed  by  Prince  Gortchacow 
to  Mr.  De  Stoeckl,  was  dated  July  10, 
1861,  and  read  as  follows  : — "  Sir  :  From 
the  beginning  of  the  conflict  which  di- 
vides the  United  States  of  America,  you 
have  been  desired  to  make  known  to  the 
Federal  Government  the  deep  interest 
with  which  our  august  master  was  ob- 
serving the  development  of  a  crisis  which 
puts  in  question  the  prosperity  and  even 
the  existence  of  the  Union.  The  Em- 
peror profoundly  regrets  to  see  that  the 
hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  is  not  real- 
ized, and  that  American  citizens,  already 
in  arms  against  each  other,  are  ready  to 
let  loose  upon  their  country  the  most 
formidable  of  the  scourges  of  political 
society — a  civil  war.  For  the  more  than 
eighty  years  that  it  has  existed,  the 
American  Union  owes  its  independence, 
its  towering  rise,  and  its  progress  to  the 
concord  of  its  members,  consecrated,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  its  illustrious  founder, 
by  institutions  which  have  been  able  to 
reconcile  union  with  liberty.  This  union 
has  been  fruitful.  It  has  exhibited  to 
the  world  the  spectacle  of  a  prosperity 
without  example  in  the  annals  of  history. 
It  would  be  deplorable  that,  after  so  con- 
clusive an  experience,  the  United  States 
should  be  hurried  into  a  breach  of  the 
solemn  compact  which,  up  to  this  time, 
has  made  their  power.  In  spite  of  the 
diversity  of  their  constitutions  and  of 
their  interests,  and  perhaps,  even,  be- 


cause of  this  diversity,  Providence  seems 
to  urge  them  to  draw  closer  the  tra- 
ditional bond  which  is  the  basis  and 
the  very  condition  of  their  political  ex- 
istence. In  any  event,  the  sacrifices 
which  they  might  impose  upon  them- 
selves to  maintain  it  are  beyond  com- 
parison with  those  which  dissolution 
would  bring  after  it.  United,  they  perfect 
themselves  ;  isolated,  they  are  paralyzed. 
The  struggle  which  unhappily  has  just 
arisen  can  neither  be  indefinitely  pro- 
longed, nor  lead  to  the  total  destruction 
of  one  of  the  parties.  Sooner  or  later  it 
will  be  necessary  to  come  to  some  set- 
tlement, whatsoever  it  may  be,  which 
may  cause  the  divergent  interests  now 
actually  in  conflict  to  coexist.  The 
American  nation  would  then  give  a 
proof  of  high  political  wisdom  in  seeking 
in  common  such  a  settlement  before 
a  useless  effusion  of  blood,  a  barren 
squandering  of  strength  and  of  public 
riches,  and  acts  of  violence  and  recipro- 
cal reprisals  shall  have  come  to  deepen 
an  abyss  between  the  two  parties  to  the 
Confederation,  to  end  definitively  in  their 
mutual  exhaustion,  and  in  the  ruin,  per- 
haps irreparable,  of  their  commercial 
and  political  power. 

"  Our  august  master  cannot  resign 
himself  to  admit  such  deplorable  an- 
ticipations. His  Imperial  Majesty  still 
places  his  confidence  in  that  practical 
good  sense  of  the  citizens  of  the  Union 
who  appreciate  so  judiciously  their  true 
interests.  His  Majesty  is  happy  to  be- 
lieve that  the  members  of  the  Federal 
Government,  and  the  influential  men  of 
the  two  parties,  will  seize  all  occasions 
and  will  unite  all  their  efforts  to  calm 
the  effervescence  of  the  passions.  There 
are  no  interests  so  divergent  that  it  may 
not  be  possible  to  reconcile  them  by 


462 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


laboring  to  that  end  with  zeal  and  per- 
severance, in  a  spirit  of  justice  and  mod- 
eration. If,  within  the  limits  of  your 
friendly  relations,  your  language  and 
your  councils  may  contribute  to  this 
result,  you  will  respond,  sir,  to  the  in- 
tentions of  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  in 
devoting  to  this  the  personal  influence 
which  you  may  have  been  able  to  ac- 
quire during  your  long  residence  at 
Washington,  and  the  consideration  which 
belongs  to  your  character,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  sovereign  animated  by 
the  most  friendly  sentiments  towards  the 
American  Union.  This  Union  is  not 
simply,  in  our  eyes,  an  element  essential 
to  the  universal  political  equilibrium. 
It  constitutes,  besides,  a  nation  to  which 
our  august  master,  and  all  Russia,  have 
pledged  the  most  friendly  interest ;  for 
the  two  countries,  placed  at  the  ex- 
tremities of  the  two  worlds,  both  in  the 
ascending  period  of  their  development, 
appear  called  to  a  natural  community  of 


interests  and  of  sympathies,  of  which 
they  have  already  given  mutual  proofs 
to  each  other.  I  do  not  wish  here  to 
approach  any  of  the  questions  which 
divide  the  United  States.  We  are  not 
called  upon  to  express  ourselves  in  this 
contest.  The  preceding  considerations 
have  no  other  object  than  to  attest  the 
lively  solicitude  of  the  Emperor  in  pres- 
ence of  the  dangers  which  menace  the 
American  Union,  and  the  sincere  wishes 
which  his  Majesty  entertains  for  the 
maintenance  of  that  great  work,  so  la- 
boriously raised,  which  appeared  so  rich 
in  its  future.  It  is  in  this  sense,  sir, 
that  I  desire  you  to  express  yourself,  as 
well  to  the  members  of  the  general  Gov- 
ernment as  to  influential  persons  whom 
you  may  meet,  giving  them  the  assur- 
ance that,  in  every  event,  the  American 
nation  may  count  upon  the  most  cordial 
sympathy  on  the  part  of  our  august 
master  during  the  important  crisis  which 
it  is  passing  through  at  present." 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 


THE     CONFEDERATE     GOVERNMENT    AT    RICHMOND. 


THE  Confederate  Congress  met  in  its 
first  session  at  Richmond,  in  the  hall  of 
the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  on  the 
20th  of  July,  the  day  preceding  the  bat- 
tle of  Bull  Run.  About  seventy  mem- 
bers were  present.  The  Message  deliv- 
ered by  President  Davis  on  the  occasion 
of  the  opening  was  brief,  and  was  chiefly 
occupied  with  an  angry  criticism  of  the 
recent  Message  of  President  Lincoln  on 
the  opening  of  the  national  Congress, 
with  various  harsh  comments  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  war  by  the  United  States. 


After  congratulating  the  members  on  the 
accession  of  the  new  States,  "our  loved 
and  honored  brethren  of  North  Carolina 
and  Tennessee,"  and  Arkansas  and  Vir- 
ginia which  had  consummated  the  action 
uniting  them  to  "  our  Confederation  of 
free  and  equally  sovereign  States,"  and 
announcing  the  removal  of  the  archives 
to  the  new  seat  of  government,  President 
Davis  proceeded:  "Immediately  after 
your  adjournment,  the  aggressive  move- 
ments of  the  enemy  required  prompt, 
energetic  action.  The  accumulation  of 


MESSAGE   OF  JEFFERSON  DAYIS. 


463 


his  forces  on  the  Potomac  sufficient!}" 
demonstrated  that  his  efforts  were  to  be 
directed  against  Virginia,  and  from  no 
point  could  necessary  measures  for  her 
defence  and  protection  be  so  effectively 
decided  as  from  her  own  capital.  The 
rapid  progress  of  events,  for  the  last  few 
weeks,  has  fully  sufficed  to  lift  the  veil 
behind  which  the  true  policy  and  pur- 
poses of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  been  previously  concealed. 
Their  odious  features  now  stand  fully 
revealed.  The  Message  of  their  Presi- 
dent, and  the  action  of  their  Congress 
during  the  present  month,  confess  their 
intention  of  the  subjugation  of  these 
States  by  a  war,  by  which  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  attain  the  proposed  result,  while 
its  dire  calamities,  not  to  be  avoided  by 
us,  will  fall  with  double  severity  on 
themselves.  Commencing  in  March  last 
with  the  affectation  of  ignoring  the  seces- 
sion of  seven  States,  which  first  organ- 
ized the  Government ;  persevering  in 
April  in  the  idle  and  absurd  assumption 
of  the  existence  of  a  riot,  which  was  to 
be  dispersed  by  a  posse  comitatus  ;  con- 
tinuing in  successive  months  the  false 
representation  that  these  States  intended 
an  offensive  war,  in  spite  of  conclusive 
evidence  to  the  contrary,  furnished  as 
well  by  official  action  as  by  the  very 
basis  on  which  this  Government  is  con- 
stituted, the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  his  advisers  succeeded  in  de- 
ceiving the  people  of  these  States  into 
the  belief  that  the  purpose  of  this  gov- 
ernment was  not  peace  at  home,  but  con- 
quest abroad  ;  not  defence  of  its  own 
liberties,  but  subversion  of  those  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  The  series 
of  manoeuvres  by  which  this  impression 
was  created  ;  the  art  with  which  they 
were  devised,  and  the  perfidy  with 


which  they  were  executed,  were  already 
known  to  you  ;  but  yor  could  scarcely 
have  supposed  that  they  would  be  openly 
avowed,  and  their  success  made  the  sub- 
ject of  boast  and  self-laudation  in  an  ex- 
ecutive message.  Fortunately  for  truth 
and  history,  however,  the  President  of 
the  United  States  details,  with  minute- 
ness, the  attempt  to  reinforce  Fort  Pick- 
ens,  in  violation  of  an  armistice  of  which 
he  confessed  to  have  been  informed,  but 
only  by  rumors,  too  vague  and  uncertain 
to  fix  the  attention  of  the  hostile  expedi- 
tion despatched  to  supply  Fort  Sumter, 
admitted  to  have  been  undertaken  with 
the  knowledge  that  its  success  was  im- 
possible. The  sending  of  a  notice  to  the 
Governor  of  South  Carolina  of  his  inten- 
tion to  use  force  to  accomplish  his  ob- 
ject, and  then  quoting  from  his  inaugural 
address  the  assurance  that  "  there  could 
be  no  conflict  unless  these  States  were 
the  aggressors,"  he  proceeds  to  declare 
his  conduct,  as  just  related  by  himself, 
was  the  performance  of  a  promise,  so 
free  from  the  power  of  ingenious  sophis- 
try as  that  the  world  should  not  be  able 
to  misunderstand  it ;  and  in  defiance  of 
his  own  statement  that  he  gave  notice  of 
the  approach  of  a  hostile  fleet,  he  charges 
these  States  with  becoming  the  assailants 
of  the  United  States,  without  a  gun  in 
sight,  or  in  expectancy,  to  return  their 
fire,  save  only  a  few  in  the  fort.  He  is, 
indeed,  fully  justified  in  saying  that  the 
case  is  so  free  from  the  power  of  ingeni- 
ous sophistry  that  the  world  will  not  be 
able  to  misunderstand  it.  Under  cover 
of  this  unfounded  pretence,  that  the 
Confederate  States  are  the  assailants, 
that  high  functionary,  after  expressing 
his  concern  that  some  foreign  nations  had 
so  shaped  their  action  as  if  they  sup- 
posed the  early  destruction  of  the  national 


464 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


Union  probable,  abandons  all  further 
disguise,  and  proposes  to  make  this  con- 
test a  short  and  decisive  one,  by  placing 
at  the  control  of  the  Government  for  the 
work  at  least  four  hundred  thousand 
men,  and  four  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars. The  Congress,  concurring  in  the 
doubt  thus  intimated  as  to  the  sufficiency 
of  the  force  demanded,  has  increased  it 
to  half  a  million  of  men.  These  enor- 
mous- preparations  in  men  and  money, 
for  the  conduct  of  the  war,  on  a  scale 
more  grand  than  any  which  the  new 
world  ever  witnessed,  is  a  distinct  avow- 
al, in  the  eyes  of  civilized  man,  that  the 
United  States  are  engaged  in  a  conflict 
with  a  great  and  powerful  nation.  They 
are  at  last  compelled  to  abandon  the 
pretence  of  being  engaged  in  dispersing 
rioters  and  suppressing  insurrections,  and 
are  driven  to  the  acknowledgment  that 
the  ancient  Union  has  been  dissolved. 
They  recognize  the  separate  existence 
Df  these  Confederate  States,  by  an  inter- 
dictive  embargo  and  blockade  of  all 
commerce  between  them  and  the  United 
States,  not  only  by  sea,  but  by  land  •  not 
only  in  ships,  but  in  cars  ;  not  only  with 
those  who  bear  arms,  but  with  the  entire 
population  of  the  Confederate  States. 
Finally,  they  have  repudiated  the  foolish 
conceit  that  the  inhabitants  of  this  Con- 
federacy are  still  citizens  of  the  United 
States  ;  for  they  are  waging  an  indis- 
criminate war  upon  them  all,  with  savage 
ferocity,  unknown  in  modern  civiliza- 
tion." 

"In  this  war,"  he-  continued,  with  a 
strange  denial  of  the  humane  policy  uni- 
versally adopted  by  the  national  Govern- 
ment, and  abundantly  set  forth  in  the 
proclamations  of  the  commanding  officers, 
"  rapine  is  the  rule  ;  private  houses,  in 
beautiful  rural  retreats,  are  bombarded  i 


and  burnt ;  grain  crops  in  the  field  are 
consumed  by  the  torch,  and,  when  the 
torch  is  not  convenient,  careful  labor  is 
bestowed  to  render  complete  the  destruc- 
tion of  every  article  of  use  or  ornament 
remaining  in  private  dwellings  after  their 
inhabitants  have  fled  from  the  outrages 
of  brute  soldiery.  In  1781,  Great  Brit- 
ain, when  invading  the  revolted  colonies, 
took  possession  of  every  district  and 
county  near  Fortress  Monroe,  now  occu- 
pied by  the  troops  of  the  United  States. 
The  houses  then  inhabited  by  the  people, 
after  being  respected  and  protected  loy 
avowed  invaders,  are  now  pillaged  and 
destroyed  by  men  who  pretend  that  Vir- 
ginians are  their  fellow-citizens.  Man- 
kind will  shudder  at  the  tales  of  the  out- 
rages committed  on  defenceless  families 
by  soldiers  of  the  United  States  now  in- 
vading our  homes  ;  yet  these  outrages 
are  prompted  -by  inflamed  passions  and 
the  madness  of  intoxication.  But  who 
shall  depict  the  horror  they  entertain  for 
the  cool  and  deliberate  malignancy 
which,  under  the  pretext  of  suppressing 
insurrection  (said  by  themselves  to  be 
upheld  by  a  minority  only  of  our  people), 
makes  special  war  on  the  sick,  including 
children  and  women,  by  carefully-devised 
measures  to  prevent  them  from  obtaining 
the  medicines  necessary  for  their  cure. 
The  sacred  claims  of  humanity,  respected 
even  during  the  fury  of  actual  battle,  by 
careful  diversion  of  attack  from  hospitals 
containing  wounded  enemies,  are  out- 
raged in  cold  blood  by  a  Government 
and  people  that  pretend  to  desire  a  con- 
tinuance of  fraternal  connections.  All 
these  outrages  must  remain  unavenged 
by  the  universal  reprehension  of  man- 
kind. In  all  cases  where  the  actual  per- 
petrators of  the  wrongs  escape  capture, 
they  admit  of  no  retaliation.  The  hu- 


THE  PRIVATEERSMEX. 


465 


manity  of  our  people  would  shrink  in- 
stinctively from  the  bare  idea  of  urging 
a  like  war  upon  the  sick,  the  women, 
and  the  children  of  an  enemy." 

He  then  spoke  in  particular  of  the 
course  pursued  by  the  Government  at 
Washington  in  the  treatment  of  the  pri- 
vateersmen  of  the  Confederacy  as  pirates, 
and  of  the  measures  which  he  had  adopt- 
ed in  return.  "There  are  other  savage 
practices,"  said  he,  "  which  have  been 
resorted  to  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  which  do  admit  of  repres- 
sion by  retaliation,  and  I  have  been 
driven  to  the  necessity  of  enforcing  the 
repression.  The  prisoners  of  war  taken 
by  the  enemy  on  board  the  armed 
schooner  Savannah,  sailing  under  our 
commission,  were,  as  I  was  credibly  ad- 
vised, treated  like  common  felons,  put  in 
irons,  confined  in  a  jail  usually  appropri- 
ated to  criminals  of  the  worst  dye,  and 
threatened  with  punishment  as  such.  I 
had  made  application  for  the  exchange 
of  these  prisoners  to  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  enemy's  squadron  off 
Charleston,  but  that  officer  had  already 
sent  the  prisoners  to  New  York  when 
application  was  made.  I  therefore  deem- 
ed it  my  duty  to  renew  the  proposal  for 
the  exchange  to  the  constitutional  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy 
of  the  United  States,  the  only  officer 
having  control  of  the  prisoners.  To  this 
end,  I  despatched  an  officer  to  him  under 
a  flag  of  truce,  and  in  making  the  pro- 
posal, I  informed  President  Lincoln  of 
my  resolute  purpose  to  check  all  barbar- 
ities on  prisoners  of  war  by  such  sever- 
ity of  retaliation  on  prisoners  held  by 
us  as  should  secure  the  abandonment  of 
the  practice.  This  communication  was 
received  and  read  by  an  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  United  States  forces,  and  a 
59 


message  was  brought  from  him  by  the 
bearer  of  my  communication,  that  a  reply 
would  be  returned  by  President  Lincoln 
as  soon  as  possible.  I  earnestly  hope 
this  promised  reply  (which  has  not  yet 
been  received)  will  convey  the  assurance 
that  prisoners  of  war  will  be  treated,  in 
this  unhappy  contest,  with  'that  regard 
for  humanity  which  has  made  such  con- 
spicuous progress  in  the  conduct  of  mod- 
ern warfare.  As  measures  of  precau- 
tion, however,  and  until  this  promised 
reply  is  received,  I  still  retain  in  close 
custody  some  officers  captured  from  the 
enemy,  whom  it  had  been  my  pleasure 
previously  to  set  at  large  on  parole,  and 
whose  fate  must  necessarily  depend  on 
that  of  prisoners  held  by  the  enemy." 

Returning  again  to  President  Lincoln's 
Message,  he  says  :  "  There  are  some 
other  passages  in  the  remarkable  paper 
to  which  I  have  directed  your  attention 
having  reference  to  the  peculiar  relations 
which  exist  between  this  government 
and  the  States  usually  termed  the  Border 
Slave  States,  which  cannot  properly  be 
withheld  from  notice.  The  hearts  of 
our  people  are  animated  by  sentiments 
toward  the  inhabitants  of  these  States, 
which  found  expression  in  your  enact- 
ment refusing  to  consider  them  enemies, 
or  authorize  hostilities  against  them. 
That  a  very  large  portion  of  the  people 
of  these  States  regard  us  as  brethren  ; 
that,  if  unrestrained  by  the  actual  pre- 
sence of  large  armies,  subversion  of  civil 
authority,  and  declaration  of  martial  law, 
some  of  them,  at  least,  would  joyfully 
unite  with  us  ;  that  they  are,  with  almost 
.entire  unanimity,  opposed  to  the  prose- 
cution of  the  war  waged  against  us,  are 
facts  of  which  daily-recurring  events  fully 
warrant  the  assertion  that  the  President 
of  the  United  States  refuses  to  recognize 


466 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


in  these,  our  late  sister  States,  the  right 
of  refraining  from  attack  upon  us,  and 
justifies  his  refusal  by  the  assertion  that 
the  States  have  no  other  power  than  that 
reserved  to  them  in  the  Union  by  the 
Constitution.  Now,  one  of  them  having 
ever  been  a  State  of  the  Union,  this 
view  of  the  Constitutional  relations  be- 
tween the  States  and  the  General  Gov- 
ernment is  a  fitting  introduction  to  an- 
other assertion  of  the  Message,  that  the 
executive  possesses  power  of  suspending 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  of  delegat- 
ing that  power  to  military  commanders 
at  their  discretion.  And  both  these  pro- 
positions claim  a  respect  equal  to  that 
which  is  felt  for  the  additional  statement 
of  opinion  in  the  same  paper — that  it  is 
proper,  in  order  to  execute  the  laws, 
that  some  single  law,  made  in  such  ex- 
treme tenderness  of  citizens'  liberty  that 
practically  it  relieves  more  of  the  guilty 
than  the  innocent,  should  to  a  very  lim- 
ited extent  be  violated.  We  may  well 
rejoice  that  we  have  forever  severed  our 
connection  with  a  Government  that  thus 
trampled  on  all  principles  of  constitu- 
tional liberty,  and  with  a  people  in 
whose  presence  such  avowals  could  be 
hazarded." 

After  this  earnest  congratulation  on 
the  felicity  of  the  Confederate  States,  the 
Message  alludes  to  the  measures  ren- 
dered necessary  for  the  increase  of  the 
army,  exhibits  the  prosperous  condition 
of  the  crops,  takes  a  favorable  view  of 
the  finances,  and  closes  with  the  promise 
of  an  obstinate  and  protracted  war. 
"  The  operations  in  the  field  will  be 
greatly  extended  by  reason  of  the  policy 
which  heretofore  has  been  secretly  enter- 
tained, and  is  now  avowed  and  acted  on 
by  us.  The  forces  hitherto  raised  pro- 
vide amply  for  the  defence  of  seven 


States,  which  originally  organized  in  the 
Confederacy,  and  is  evidently  the  fact, 
since,  with  the  exception  of  three  for- 
tified islands,  whose  defence  is  efficiently 
aided  by  a  preponderating  naval  force, 
the  enemy  has  been  driven  completely 
out  of  those  stations  ;  and  now,  at  the 
expiration  of  five  months  from  the  form- 
ation of  the  government,  not  a  single 
hostile  foot  presses  their  soil.  These 
forces,  however,  must  necessarily  prove 
inadequate  to  repel  invasion  by  the 
half  million  of  men  now  proposed  by  the 
enemy,  and  a  corresponding  increase  of 
our  forces  will  become  necessary.  In 
my  message,  delivered  in  April  last,  I 
referred  to  the  promise  of  the  abundant 
crops  with  which  we  were  cheered.  The 
grain  crops,  generally,  have  since  been 
harvested,  and  the  yield  has  proven  to 
be  the  most  abundant  ever  known  in  our 
history.  Many  believe  the  supply  ade- 
quate to  two  years'  consumption  of  our 
population.  Cotton,  sugar,  tobacco, 
forming  a  surplus  of  the  production  of 
our  agriculture,  and  furnishing  the  basis 
of  our  commercial  interchange,  present 
the  most  cheering  promises  ever  known. 
Providence  has  smiled  on  the  labor  which 
extracts  the  teeming  wealth  of  our  soil 
in  all  parts  of  our  Confederacy.  It  is 
the  more  gratifying  to  be  able  to  give 
you  this,  because,  in  need  of  large  and 
increased  expenditure,  in  support  of  our 
army,  elevated  and  purified  by  a  sacred 
cause,  they  maintain  that  our  fellow- 
citizens,  of  every  condition  of  life,  ex- 
hibit most  self-sacrificing  devotion.  They 
manifest  a  laudable  pride  of  upholding 
their  independence,  unaided  by  any  re- 
sources other  than  their  own,  and  the 
immense  wealth  which  a  fertilized  and  ge- 
nial climate  has  accumulated  in  this  Con- 
federacy of  agriculturists,  could  not  be 


THE  VICTORY  AT  MANASSAS. 


4G7 


more  strongly  displayed  than  in  the  large 
revenues  which,  with  eagerness,  they 
have  contributed  to  the  call  of  their 
country.  In  the  single  article  of  cotton, 
the  subscriptions  to  the  loan  proposed  by 
the  Government,  cannot  fall  short  of 
fifty  millions  of  dollars,  and  will  proba- 
bly exceed  that  sum  ;  and  scarcely  an 
article  required  for  the  consumption  of 
our  army  is  provided  otherwise  than  by 
subscription  to  the  produce  loan,  so  hap- 
pily devised  by  your  wisdom.  The  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury,  in  his  report 
submitted  to  you,  will  give  you  the 
amplest  details  connected  with  that 
branch  of  the  public  service  ;  but  it  is 
not  alone  in  their  prompt  pecuniary  con- 
tributions that  the  noble  race  of  freemen 
who  inhabit  these  States  evidence  how 
worthy  they  are  of  those  liberties  which 
they  so  well  know  how  to  defend.  In 
numbers  far  exceeding  those  authorized 
by  your  laws,  they  have  pressed  the 
tender  of  their  services  against  the 
enemy.  Their  attitude  of  calm  and  sub- 
lime devotion  to  their  country,  the  cool 
and  confident  courage  with  which  they 
are  already  preparing  to  meet  the  in- 
vasion, in  whatever  proportions  it  may 
assume  ;  the  assurance  that  their  sacri- 
fices and  their  services  will  be  renewed 
from  year  to  year  with  unfailing  purpose, 
until  they  have  made  good  to  the  utter- 
most their  rights  of  self-government ;  the 
generous  and  almost  unequivocal  con- 
fidence which  they  display  in  their  gov- 
ernment during  the  pending  struggle,  all 
combine  to  present  a  spectacle,  such  as 
the  world  has  rarely,  if  ever,  seen.  To 
speak  of  subjugating  such  a  people,  so 
united  and  determined,  is  to  speak  in  a 
language  incomprehensible  to  them  ;  to 
resist  attack  on  their  rights  or  their 
liberties  is  with  them  an  instinct. 


Whether  this  war  shall  last  one,  or 
three,  or  five  years,  is  a  problem  they 
leave  to  be  solved  by  the  enemy  alone. 
It  will  last  till  the  enemy  have  with- 
drawn from  their  borders ;  till  their 
political  rights,  their  altars,  and  theii 
homes  are  freed  from  invasion.  Then, 
and  then  only,  will  they  rest  from  this 
struggle,  and  enjoy,  in  peace,  the  bless- 
ings which,  with  the  favor  of  Provid- 
ence, they  have  secured  by  the  aid  of 
their  own  strong  hearts  and  steady 
arms." 

The  victory  achieved  at  Bull  Run,  fol- 
lowing so  close  upon  the  opening  of  the 
session,  was  of  course  received  with  en- 
thusiasm by  the  Congress.  Immediately 
after  the  reading  of  the  letter  of  Pres- 
ident Davis  from  the  battle  field,  given 
on  a  previous  page,*  Mr.  Memminger, 
of  South  Carolina,  offered  the  following 
stirring  resolutions,  which  were  unani- 
mously adopted:  "Resolved,  that  we 
recognize  the  hand  of  the  Most  High 
God,  the  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord  of 
Lords,  in  the  glorious  victory  with  which 
He  hath  crowned  our  army  at  Manassas  ; 
and  that  the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States  are  invited,  by  appropriate  ser- 
vices, on  the  ensuing  Sabbath,  to  offer 
up  their  united  thanksgiving  and  praise 
for  this  mighty  deliverance.  Resolved, 
that,  deeply  deploring  the  necessity 
which  has  washed  the  soil  of  our 
country  with  the  blood  of  so  many  of 
her  noblest  sons,  we  offer  to  their  re- 
spective families  and  friends  our  warm- 
est and  most  cordial  sympathy,  assuring 
them  that  the  sacrifice  made  will  be  con- 
secrated in  the  hearts  of  our  people,  and 
will  there  enshrine  the  names  of  the  gal- 
lant dead,  as  the  champions  of  free  and 
constitutional  liberty."  In  respect  foi 

Ante,  p.  402. 


468 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


the  event,  Congress,  after  the  passage 
of  the  Resolutions,  immediately  adjourn- 
ed. Sunday,  the  28th  of  July,  was  in 
accordance  with  this  recommendation, 
observed  in  the  Confederate  States  as  a 
day  of  thanksgiving  ;  thus  giving  a  new 
religious  sanction  and  energy  to  the  war, 
or  at  least  enlisting  the  aid  of  the  clergy 
in  the  cause,  and  promoting  a  public 
opinion  in  favor  of  a  vigorous  prosecu- 
tion of  the  conflict. 

At  a  meeting  at  New  Orleans  the  day 
following  the  "  Thanksgiving,"  in  aid  of 
the  soldiers  wounded  at  Manassas,  pre- 
sided over  by  Gen.  W.  A.  Elmore,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Palmer  again  addressed  the 
assembly.  He  did  not  believe,  he  said, 
this  would  be  a  protracted  war.  "  Pro- 
tracted wars  did  not  prevail  among  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  earth,  but  only 
among  barbarians.  Such  a  war  would 
bankrupt  any  nation  in  one  year.  Even 
England,  in  the  war  with  the  Crimea, 
found  herself  pressed  and  worried  to  the 
extreme  in  furnishing  her  army  with 
supplies.  For  what  duration  of  time 
could  the  North  hope  to  sustain  400,000 
men  ?  As  to  the  issue,  the  enemy  might 
as  well  throw  their  millions  into  the 
river  as  to  expect  to  subjugate  us.  Our 
cotton  gave  us  immense  power.  The 
millions  in  Europe  depended  on  it  for 
their  bread.  As  to  the  blockade,  we 
laughed  it  to  scorn.  The  war  must  soon 
terminate  or  the  civilized  nations  of 
Europe  must  become  engaged  in  it ; 
and  he  predicted  our  independence 
would  be  acknowledged  before  the  first 
day  of  next  year.  But  we  would  carry 
on  this  war  until  that  end  was  accom- 
plished." A  resolution  of  the  meeting 
expressed  the  conviction,  "  that  we  re- 
cognise in  these  victories,  on  the  side  of 
liberty,  against  tyranny  and  oppression, 


the  hand  of  the  same  just  and  righteous 
God  who  guided  the  armies  of  the 
country  when  led  by  Washington  in 
defence  of  its  liberty  ;  that  our  hearts 
are  filled  with  gratitude  to  the  Most 
High  and  Mighty  Ruler  of  the  universe, 
for  that  signal  interposition  in  our  be- 
half, manifested  in  the  strength  and 
courage  given  to  our  soldiers,  and  the 
terror  which  seized  upon  our  enemies." 

The  spirit  and  resolve  of  the  Govern- 
ment at  Washington,  in  regard  to  the 
conduct  of  the  war,  representing  a  cor- 
respondent determination  and  energy  on 
the  part  of  the  people,  could  not  fail  to 
make  its  impression  upon  the  councils 
of  the  Confederate  leaders.  Conducted, 
as  the  administration  of  the  government 
at  Richmond  was,  with  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  secrecy  and  reserve,  in  com- 
municating its  intentions  to  the  public, 
we  have  few  opportunities  of  getting  a 
clear  insight  into  its  policy  and  calcu- 
lations. There  was  one  occasion,  how- 
ever, on  which  it  became  necessary  to 
speak.  Military  preparations  might  be 
made  at  various  quarters,  and  little  be 
disclosed  of  the  general  plan  of  action  ; 
the  machinery  of  political  agitation  might 
be  made  to  work  noiselessly  in  influ- 
encing and  coercing  the  opinions  of  the 
people  ;  a  subtle  intangible  species  of 
authority  over  men's  minds  might  be  ex- 
erted without  its  influence  being  sus- 
pected ;  but,  for  one  important  and  in- 
dispensable proceeding,  a  certain  degree 
of  publicity  was  absolutely  inevitable. 
A  general  system  of  credit  could  not  be 
established  without  the  public  being 
made  a  party  to  the  affair.  When 
money  was  wanted  by  the  hundred  mil- 
lions to  carry  on  the  war,  it  had  to 
be  drawn  from  the  pockets  of  a  great 
many  people  to  whom  the  least  possible 


VICE-PRESIDENT   STEPHENS'  ADDliESS. 


469 


return  which  could  be  offered  was  to 
present  them  a  sufficient  explanation  of 
the  transaction.  Conscious  of  the  im- 
portance of  this  duty,  the  Confederate 
government  assigned  its  performance  to 
one  of  the  most  skillful  and  persuasive 
orators  of  the  Southern  States — no  less 
a  person  than  Vice-President  Stephens 
— who  was  charged  with  the  task  of 
preparing  the  minds  of  the  planters  for 
the  reception  of  the  scheme  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  basis  of  credit.  On  the  llth 
of  July,  accordingly,  Mr.  Stephens  ad- 
dressed his  fellow-citizens  at  Augusta, 
Georgia,  in  a  bold  and  artfully-planned 
speech,  in  which  he  certainly  succeeded 
in  making  an  unpleasant  subject  as 
palatable  as  possible,  by  investing  it 
with  complimentary  political  statements 
and  earnest  patriotic  appeals.  Arousing 
no,v  the  self-love  of  his  audience,  and 
now  their  pride,  and  even  their  fears,  no 
charity  preacher  from  the  pulpit,  blend- 
ing persuasion  with  authority,  ever  more 
adroitly  sheathed  a  financial  appeal. 
The  speech,  in  fact,  covered  a  wide 
range,  and  as  we  have  few  such  ex- 
hibitions of  the  plans  and  expectations 
of  the  Confederates,  it  is  well  worth 
while  for  us  here  to  note  its  chief  topics, 
and  the  manner  in  which  they  were  pre- 
sented. Throughout  the  whole  of  this 
contest  we  find  no  more  candid  and  in- 
structive commentator  than  Mr.  Ste- 
phens. 

"  My  business  to-day,"  said  he,  stating 
the  object  of  his  mission,  "is  to  unfold  to 
you  the  exigencies  of  this  war  and  its 
requirements.  The  Congress,  it  is  known 
to  you,  provided  for  raising  one  hundred 
thousand  men.  Nobly,  gallantly,  and 
patriotically  has  that  call  been  respond- 
ed to,  and  is  now  being  responded  to. 


Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  (the 
exact  number  I  am  not  ab'e  to  state  to 
you)  have  gone  to  the  battle  field.  These 
men,  however,  must  be  clothed  ;  they 
must  be  fed  ;  they  must  be  armed  ;  they 
must  be  equipped.  Wars  can  be  sus- 
tained, not  by  men  alone  ;  it  requires 
men  arid  money.  The  gallant  volunteers 
have  responded  on  their  part.  The 
questions  upon  which  I  am  to  address 
you  to-day  relate  to  the  importance  of 
raising  the  necessary  amounts  of  money 
to  meet  these  requisitions.  Upon  the 
adjournment  of  the  Congress  from  Mont- 
gomery to  Richmond,  the  estimate  was 
for  one  hundred  thousand  men  for  the 
first  fiscal  year.  The  amount  estimated 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  meet 
the  requirements  to  support  an  army  of 
this  number  was  fifty  millions  of  dollars 
—a  large  amount.  This  amount  must 
be  raised.  How  to  do  it  is  the  ques- 
tion. But,  since  that  adjournment,  since 
that  estimate,  this  war  has  assumed  a 
wider  and  broader  range.  It  has  taken 
on  larger  and  more  gigantic  proportions, 
and  instead  of  one  hundred  thousand 
men,  we  may  have  to  send  two  hundred 
thousand  to  meet  the  enemy  ;  instead  of 
fifty  millions  of  dollars,  we  may  have, 
and  the  probability  is,  that  we  shall 
have  to  raise  one  hundred  millions  ;  and 
it  may  be,  if  it  goes  on  and  increases, 
that  we  shall  have  to  raise  more.  The 
estimate,  however,  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  was  fifty  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  whatever  number  of  men, 
and  whatever  amount  of  money,  shall 
be  necessary  must  be  raised.  We  do 
not  intend  to  be  subjugated.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln has  increased  his  caH  from  seventy- 
five  thousand  to  four  hundred  thousand 
men.  He  has  increased  his  demand  for 
money  from  the  five  millions  first  asked 


470 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


for  (the  amount  I  do  not  exactly  recol- 
lect), and  asks  his  Congress,  now  in 
session,  for  four  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars. Whether  he  will  raise  his  men  or 
his  money,  I  know  not.  All  I  have  to 
say  about  it  is,  that  if  he  raises  his  four 
hundred  thousand  men,  we  must  raise 
enough  to  meet  him,  and  if  he  raises  his 
four  hundred  millions  of  money,  we  must 
raise  enough  to  meet  it." 

Before  entering  upon  the  financial 
part  of  this  proposition,  Mr.  Stephens 
roused  the  minds  of  his  hearers  by  a 
glance  at  the  military  conditions  of  the 
position.  "It  is  a  war,"  said  he,  "of 
political  and  social  existence,  and  unless 
we  intend  to  be  overridden  and  beaten 
down  and  subjugated,  and  to  become  the 
vassals  of  his  mercenaries  and  myrmi- 
dons, we  must  every  one  of  us — every 
man,  every  boy,  and  every  woman — be 
prepared  to  do  our  duty.  Our  means  in 
men  and  money  are  ample  to  sustain  our 
independence.  We  have,  upon  a  reason- 
able estimate,  at  least  seven  hundred 
thousand  fighting  men.  Whether  all 
these  will  be  required  to  drive  back  his 
armed  myrmidons  I  know  not  ;  but  if 
they  are,  every  man  must  go  to  the  bat- 
tle-field. He  may  think,  and  doubtless 
does,  that  four  hundred  thousand  men 
will  intimidate,  subjugate,  and  overrun 
us.  He  should  recollect,  however,  as  we 
should,  and  reverently,  too,  that  the 
'  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle 
to  the  strong,'  but  it  is  God  that  gives 
the  victory.  Four  hundred  thousand 
may  be  a  formidable  army  against  us, 
but  it  is  not  as  formidable  as  the  six 
hundred  thousand  led  by  Darius  against 
the  Grecian  States  ;  and  we  there  have 
the  example  of  much  fewer  numbers  than 
we  are,  fighting  a  battle  for  right,  for 
justice,  for  independence  and  for  liberty. 


We  have  an  example  worthy  of  our  im- 
itation. Six  hundred  thousand  Persians 
invaded  Greece.  These  small  States 
could  bring  '  against  them  but  eleven 
thousand  all  told.  The  eleven  thousand 
met  the  hosts  of  Persia,  not  the  six  hun- 
dred thousand,  but  all  that  could  be 
brought  against  them,  on  the  common 
plain.  The  eleven  thousand,  with  valor- 
ous hearts,  fighting  for  home,  fighting  for 
country,  fighting  for  everything  dear  to 
freemen,  put  to  flight  the  hosts  of  Persia, 
leaving  sixty  thousand  slain  upon  the 
field.  Men  of  the  South,  therefore,  let 
this  war  assume  its  gigantic  proportions, 
its  most  threatening  prospects  (nerving 
our  hearts  with  the  spirit  of  our  Revolu- 
tionary fathers,  when  they  were  but 
three  millions,  and  coped  with  Great 
Britain,  the  most  powerful  nation  in  the 
world) — animated  by  these  sentiments, 
fighting  for  everything  dear  to  us,  fear 
not  the  result,  recollecting  that  '  thrice 
armed  is  he  who  hath  his  quarrel  just  :' 
and  as  our  fathers,  in  the  bloody  conflict 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  appealed  to 
the  God  of  Battles  for  success  in  their 
cause,  so  may  we,  since  we  have  the  con- 
sciousness, in  any  event,  that  this  is  no 
war  of  our  seeking." 

From'  this  somewhat  stern  view  of  the 
necessities  of  battle,  the  orator  pleasant- 
ly passed  to  a  political  disquisition  on 
the  origin  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which,  he  claimed  as  the 
work  of  Southern  hands.  Madison,  he 
said,  was  its  father,  and  "  not  a  single 
pillar  in  the  temple,  not  a  single  arch  in 
this  great  building,  was  laid  or  reared, 
or  constructed  by  Northern  men  ;"  and 
to  this  extraordinary  assertion  was  added 
a  declaration  equally  flattering  to  his 
auditors — that  "  during  the  time  of  our 
political  existence,  the  administration  of 


COTTON  THE  BASIS   OF   CREDIT. 


471 


the  Government  was  mostly  under 
Southern  hands  and  Southern  policy." 
The  rise  of  a  new  party,  however,  had 
changed  all  that ;  seven  States,  "in 
open,  palpable  violation"  of  their  obliga- 
tion to  return  fugitive  slaves,  had  openly 
disregarded  the  Constitution,  and  it  was 
then  that  the  South,  thinking  it  neces- 
sary to  look  out  for  new  safeguards  of 
security,  had  "resumed  her  sovereign 
power."  They  were  now  in  the  position 
of  their  Revolutionary  fathers,  asking 
to  govern  themselves  as  they  pleased — a 
principle  which  the  orator,  for  one, 
"would  never  surrender,  though  every 
valley  from  here  to  the  Potomac  should 
run  with  Southern  blood,  and  every  hill- 
top be  bleached  with  Southern  bones. 
Home,  firesides,  life,  friends,  and  luxuries 
are  dear,  but  there  is  something  dearer  to 
a  true  man  than  life,  and  home,  and  all. 
It  is  honor  and  independence.  Let  the 
enemy,  therefore,  make  his  calculation  as 
wide  and  broad  as  he  pleases.  I  say 
every  true  Southern  heart  is  impressed 
with  the  magnitude  of  the  responsibility 
that  now  rests  upon  us  ;  and  let  every 
man  be  nerved  to  meet  that  responsibil- 
ity at  any  and  every  cost.  Our  fathers 
pledged  life,  honor,  and  fortune  for  this 
principle,  and  I  know  we  are  not  the 
degenerate  sons,  nor  are  we  the  degen- 
erate daughters  of  the  noble  matrons  of 
that  day,  that  would  sacrifice,  lose,  or 
surrender  these  principles  at  a  less  cost." 
Having  thus  travelled  round  to  the 
point  with  which  he  set  out — a  proper 
provision  of  the  sinews  of  war  —  Mr. 
Stephens  applied  himself  directly  to  his 
main  intention  —  the  attack  upon  the 
cotton  crop  of  the  planters,  which  he 
thus  strategetically  conducted:  —  "The 
men,"  said  he,  "are  ample  ;  the  means 
to  support  them  is  the  subject  upon 


which  I  am  to  address  to  you,  and  how  is 
the  money  to  be  raised?  War,  I  tell 
you,  costs  treasure  as  well  as  blood. 
Have  we  the  means  ?  Can  we  cope  with 
the  North  ? — that  is  the  question.  We 
have  not  less  than  four  thousand  millions 
of  taxable  property  within  the  Confeder- 
ate States,  upon  the  last  minimum  estim- 
ate. At  last  year's  rates,  we  therefore 
could  raise  from  one  hundred  millions  to 
two  hundred  millions  for  years  to  come, 
and  yet  survive.  The  wealth  of  nations, 
the  ability  of  nations  to  sustain  war,  de- 
pends not  so  much  upon  its  taxable  pro- 
perty as  its  productive  capital.  It  is  to 
the  latter  we  must  look  for  the  means 
and  ability  to  sustain  war,  for  in  times 
of  war  generally  all  business  is  inter- 
rupted. In  this  particular  of  productive 
capital,  perhaps  there  is  no  people  in  the 
world  more  favored  under  heaven,  and 
for  which  we  ought  to  be  grateful,  not 
boastful,  and  it  is  one  of  those  blessings 
for  which  we  should  return  thanks.  No 
nation  in  the  world,  with  the  same  pop- 
ulation, has  such  a  continuous  annual 
productive  capital.  I  have  not  stated 
the  wealth  of  the  North  ;  but  it  is  not 
my  purpose  to  detract  from  it.  They 
were  a  people  of  wealth.  Most  of  it. 
however,  came  li'om  their  connection  and 
trade  with  us.  They  were  an  ingenious 
and  manufacturing  people.  We  are  an 
agricultural  people.  Their  interests  and 
ours  were  all  blended  together.  Our 
prosperity  enabled  them  to  become  pros- 
perous, and  their  States  grew  up  by  our 
trade  and  commerce.  Most  of  their 
wealth,  when  you  come  to  estimate  it  and 
look  at  it,  was  nothing  but  profits  derived 
from  our  trade.  Cut  off  that  trade. 
Most  of  the  wealth  of  the  State  of  New 
York — and  that  State  alone  is  estimated 
to  be  worth  four  hundred  millions  of 


472 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNIOX. 


dollars  (that  is,  the  taxable  property  of 
the  State  of  New  York) — and  in  what 
does  it  consist  ?  Close  up  the  harbor  ; 
cut  off  manufactures.  What  does  it  con- 
sist in  ?  Bricks  and  mortar,  and  noth- 
ing else.  And  if  the  war  last  as  long  as 
the  siege  of  Troy,  in  what  will  their 
wealth  consist  ?  It  will  disappear,  for 
the  bricks  and  mortar  will  be  worth  no 
more,  unless  there  are  tenants  and  the 
profits  derived  from  labor,  than  the 
bricks  and  mortar  in  the  arid  plains  of 
Bab3rlon.  Sixty-one  millions  of  New 
England  capital  consist  alone  in  cotton 
manufactures  and  cotton  spindles.  These 
factories  look  to  us  for  our  raw  materials. 
This  capital  is  now  literally  paralyzed  ; 
it  is  dead  capital,  and  will  be  as  long  as 
this  war  lasts.  Of  their  nominal  pro- 
ducts I  do  not  now  speak.  Woolens, 
hats,  shoes  or  silk,  of  every  variety  of 
dress  I  see  before  me,  from  the  crowns 
of  the  heads  of  the  fair  ladies  to  the  soles 
of  their  feet,  all,  nearly  all,  are  supplied 
by  the  North,  and  there  are  eleven  mil- 
lions of  annual  produce  from  the  sales 
of  cotton  goods  alone.  All  this  will  be 
cut  off,  and  other  things  will  be  equally 
cut  off. 

"  The  great  difference  between  the 
North  and  the  South  to  carry  on  the 
war — and  this  I  say  to  you  in  prospect 
of  a  long  war,  for  I  wish  our  people  to 
see  the  full  magnitude,  and  to  feel  the 
full  responsibility  that  rests  upon  us  in  it, 
and  to  see  our  responsibility  to  meet  it 
—is  this  :  The  North  sold  us  some  two 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  annually. 
This  was  their  riches  ;  hence  came  their 
wealth  ;  hence  grew  their  cities.  Their 
wealth  was  but  the  accumulation  depos- 
ited from  our  commerce,  just  as  the 
delta  of  the  Nile  was  enriched  above 
the  lands  of  any  other  portion  of  Egypt 


by  the  deposit  of  the  rich  alluvial  soil 
brought  down  from  the  mountains  and 
deposited  in  it.  The  riches,  money,  and 
power  of  the  North  came  in  the  same 
way.  Our  cotton  was  the  source  of  it, 
and  how  Mr.  Lincoln  is  to  get  his  four 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  I  do  not 
know.  That  is  a  matter  for  him  to  de- 
termine, though  I  may  say  more  about 
it  before  I  get  through  ;  but  at  present 
it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  Lincoln  has 
dammed  up  the  water  that  turns  the 
mill  of  Northern  prosperity.  How  long 
the  mill  will  run,  time  alone  will  <! 
mine.  But  it  is  not  so  with  us.  We 
grow  breadstuffs  enough  to  supply  all 
our  wants.  We  live  in  a  heaven-favored 
land,  for  all  the  cereals  grow  here  equal- 
ly as  well  as  in  any  other  portion  of  the 
world — wheat,  rye,  oats,  and  corn  in  a 
great  abundance.  '  We .  could  compete 
with  the  world  in  the  production  of 
these.  We  grow  also  the  tobacco  plant 
and  rice.  We  live  in  the  land  of  the  fig- 
tree,  the  pomegranate  and  the  vine. 
Hardly  anything  used  as  food  but  is 
grown  in  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and 
we  could,  if  need  be,  grow  an  abundance 
of  everything  except  coffee.  We  there- 
fore have  the  means,  under  the  blessings 
of  Heaven,  to  support  ourselves,  and 
keep  upon  the  field  every  variety  of 
cattle  suitable  for  food  or  draft.  We, 
therefore,  can  grow  bread  enough  to 
support  our  people  and  keep  from  one 
to  two  hundred  thousand  men  in  the 
field.  Let  the  blockade  last,  let  the 
Western  people  be  cut  off  from  trade 
with  us,  and  within  the  eleven  Southern 
States  we  could  for  years  carry  on  the 
war,  support  ourselves  and  our  armies, 
and,  rather  than  be  subjugated  and  be- 
come vassals  of  Lincoln's  power,  fight  it 
out  beleaguered  by  blockade  all  around. 


KING   COTTON. 


473 


"  But  this  is  not  our  only  capacity. 
We  grow  supplies  that  the  nations  of  the 
earth  must  have — that  is,  the  cotton. 
I  low  the  North  is  to  do  without  it,  as  I 
have  said,  I  cannot  say.  Hundreds  of 
thousands  are  dependent  upon  it  for 
their  daily  bread,  and  these  people  are 
no\*  turned  out  of  employment.  Per- 
haps they  are  the  men  who,  for  want  of 
bread,  have  joined  in  this  unnatural  and 
suicidal  war,  which  will  be  to  them  as 
disastrous  as  to  us.  In  England,  per- 
haps no  less  than  five  millions  of  people 
depend  upon  cotton  for  their  daily 
bread  ;  in  France,  several  hundred  thou- 
sands, if  not  millions  (I  am  not  particu- 
lar in  my  statistics).  And  when  you 
come  to  take  into  consideration  the 
amount  of  capital,  the  number  of  sailors, 
and  the  amount  of  tonnage  employed  in 
this  trade,  you  will  be  still  more  sur- 
prised. Why,  in  the  United  States  there 
are  forty  thousand  seamen  engaged  in 
the  transportation  of  cotton  alone.  And 
if  you  take  into  account  the  numbers  in 
England,  France,  Germany,  Holland  and 
Bremen  engaged  in  it,  you  will  find  that 
it  will  amount  to  not  less  than  ten  mil- 
lions of  money  capital  engaged  in  it. 
This,  therefore,  is  an  element  of  great 
power,  the  great  motor  of  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  We  grow  it.  There  is 
no  part  of  the  world  that  grows  it  as  we 
do.  We  supply  the  markets  of  the 
world.  They  must  have  it.  I  meet 
many  asking  about  the  blockade.  I  can- 
not to-day  tell  you  how  the  blockade  is 
to  be  raised.  But  there  is  one  thing 
certain — in  some  way  or  other  it  will  be 
obliged  to  be  raised,  or  there  will  be 
revolution  in  Europe  —  there  will  be 
starvation  there.  Our  cotton  is  the  ele- 
ment that  will  do  it.  Steam  is  powerful, 
but  steam  is  far  short  in  its  power  to  the 
60 


tremendous  power  of  cotton.  If  you  look 
out  upon  the  ocean  to-day,  and  inquire 
into  the  secret  agency  of  commerce,  you 
will  find  that  it  is  cotton  that  drives  it, 
and  the  spindles  and  looms,  from  those 
in  your  own  State  to  the  remotest  quar- 
ter of  the  world — it  is  this  element  of 
cotton  that  drives  them  ;  and  it  is  this 
great  staple  which  is  the  tremendous 
lever  by  which  we  can  work  our  destiny, 
under  Providence,  I  trust,  against  four 
hundred  thousand,  or  against  four  times 
four  hundred  thousand.  Upon  a  reason- 
able and  ordinary  estimate,  we  may 
grow  four  million  bales  of  cotton.  I  am 
here  to-day  to  discuss  before  you  the 
fifty  million  loan,  but  I  am  frank  to  tell 
you  it  may  be  one  hundred  millions,  and 
I  think  it  probably  will  be.  The  propo- 
sition that  the  government  makes  is  not 
to  tax  the  people.  The  object  of  a  wise 
and  good  government  is  to  make  the 
burdens  fall  as  light  upon  the  people  as 
possible  to  meet  every  exigency.  The 
proposition  the  government  makes,  there- 
fore, is  to  take  a  loan  in  produce.  In 
the  grain-growing  sections,  the  members 
of  Congress  solicit  the  loan  in  grain,  army 
subsistence,  meat,  corn,  wheat  and  flour 
We  are  not  a  grain-growing  country. 
Our  supply  is  cotton.  I  address  you, 
therefore,  solely  on  the  subject  of  cotton. 
"  The  object  is  to  get  along  with  as 
little  tax  as  possible  ;  but,  my  country- 
men, do  not  suppose  the  government  will 
not  tax  you  if  necessary  ;  for  I  tell  you 
the  government  does  not  intend  to  be 
subjugated  ;  and  if  we  do  not  raise  the 
money  by  loans,  if  the  people  do  not 
contribute,  I  tell  you  we  intend  to  have 
the  money,  and  taxation  will  be  resorted 
to,  if  nothing  else  will  raise  it.  Every 
life  and  dollar  in  the  country  will  be  de- 
manded rather  than  you  and  eveiy  one 


474 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


of  us  shall  be  overrun  by  the  enemy.  On 
that  you  may  count.  The  government, 
while  it  desires  to  carry  on  the  war, 
establish  your  independence,  and  main- 
tain the  government,  at  the  same  time 
wishes  to  do  it  in  such  a  way  as  not  to 
cripple  industry  ;  and  while  our  men  are 
in  the  field  fighting  the  battles  of  their 
country,  their  brethren  at  home  are  dis- 
charging an  equal  duty,  so  that  no  serious 
detriment  to  public  property  will  be  sus- 
tained ;  and  we  have  the  element  to  do 
this  that  no  other  people  in  the  world 
have.  Now  then,  if  four  millions  of 
bales  of  cotton  are  made,  upon  an  aver- 
age price  they  will  bring  two  hundred 
millions  of  dollars.  If  the  cotton-planter 
will  but  lend,  not  give — lend  to  the  gov- 
ernment the  proceeds  of  but  one-half, 
that  will  be  one  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars, double  what  the  government  wants, 
or  did  want  when  we  adjourned — quite 
enough  to  keep  two  hundred  thousand 
men  in  the  field — the  balance  you  can 
use  as  you  please.  I  now  will  read  to 
you,  just  at  this  part  of  my  address,  the 
proposition,  upon  which  I  will  make  some 
comments,  for  I  wish  every  gentleman  to 
understand  it.  It  is  not  asking  a  dona- 
tion ;  the  government  simply  wishes  to 
control  the  proceeds  of  your  cotton.  The 
government  proposes  to  give  you  a  bond 
bearing  eight  per  cent,  interest,  paying 
the  interest  semi-annually.  It  is  not  a 
gift  or  donation,  but  simply  your  surplus 
cotton,  as  much  as  you  can  spare.  This 
is  the  proposition  : 

"  '  We.  the  subscribers,  agree  to  con- 
tribute to  the  defence  of  the  Confederate 
States  that  portion  of  our  crop  set  down 
to  our  respective  names  ;  the  same  to  be 
placed  in  warehouse  or  in  the  hands  of 
our  factors,  and  sold  on  or  before  the 
next.' 


"  Fix  the  day  of  sale  as  soon  as  you 
please  ;  the  first  of  January,  the  first  of 
February,  or  the  first  of  March,  if  you 
please  ;  though  I  am  aware  the  govern- 
ment wishes  you  to  sell  it  as  soon  as  con- 
venient ;  but  let  each  planter  consult  his 
interest,  and  in  the  meanwhile  consult 
the  market.  But  to  proceed  : 

"  'And  our  net  proceeds  of  sale  we 
direct  to  be  paid  over  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Confederate  States  for  bonds  foi 
the  same  amount,  bearing  eight  per  cent, 
interest.' 

"  There  is  the  whole  of  it.  The  cotton 
planter  directs  his  cotton  to  be  sent  into 
the  hands  of  his  factor,  or  his  commission 
merchant.  He  only  tells  the  govern- 
ment in  the  subscription  the  portion  he 
can  lend.  He  directs  it  to  be  sold,  and 
the  proceeds  to  be  invested  in  Confeder- 
ate bonds.  I  understand  that  a  commit- 
tee will  be  appointed  before  this  meeting 
adjourns  to  canvass  this  county.  Every 
planter,  therefore,  of  Richmond  county 
will  be  waited  upon  and  afforded  an  op- 
portunity to  subscribe.  I  wish,  there- 
fore, to  say  to  that  committee  and  every- 
body, subscribe.  I  prefer  your  putting 
down  first,  your  name  ;  second,  the  num- 
ber of  bales  ;  and  I  prefer  you  putting 
down  the  proportion  of  your  crop.  I 
want  especially  the  number  of  bales,  but 
would  like  also  to  know  the  proportion 
it  bears  to  your  crop.  Let  everybody, 
therefore,  put  down  a  portion  of  their 
crop,  if  it  be  two  bales,  or  fifty  bales, 
or  one  hundred  bales,  or  five  hundred 
bales.  Inquiries  have  been  made  of  me, 
and  I  take  this  opportunity  to  answer 
them  :  '  Whether  these  bonds  will  cir- 
culate as  money — will  they  pay  debts  ?' 
On  this  point  I  wish  no  mistake.  They 
are  not  intended  as  currency  ;  they  are 
unfitted  to  answer  the  purpose  of  circu- 


CONFEDERATE  BONDS. 


475 


lation.  The  bonds  are  larger  than  this 
paper.  (A  letter-sheet.)  The  obligation 
is  on  the  upper  part  of  it,  and  the  whole 
of  the  lower  part  is  divided  into  forty 
squares  or  checks.  In  each  one  of  these 
checks  the  interest  is  counted  for  each 
six  months  for  twenty  years.  The 
checks  are  called  coupons,  and  all  the 
party  holding  them  has  to  do  is  every 
six  months  to  clip  off  the  lower  coupon, 
send  it  to  the  Treasury  and  get  his  in- 
terest. The  bond  is  not  suitable  to  car- 
ry in  your  pocket-book  and  use.  It 
would  wear  out.  It  is  intended  to  repre- 
sent a  fixed  capital  or  permanent  invest- 
ment— just  so  much  as  you  can  spare 
from  your  cotton  crop.  That  is  all. 
Instead  of  putting  your  surplus  in  lands, 
negroes,  houses,  furniture,  useless  extrav- 
agance or  luxuries,  just  put  it  in  Confed- 
erate bonds.  But  while  I  said  it  was 
not  intended  to  circulate  or  to  pay  debts, 
I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  anybody 
who  will  sell  his  crop  entire  for  bonds, 
will  find  no  difficulty  in  getting  the 
money  for  them,  for  they  draw  interest, 
and  are  better  than  money  ;  and  any 
man  holding  a  note  will  give  it  up  and 
take  a  bond,  for  a  note  draws  but  seven 
per  cent.,  and  this  draws  eight.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  all  minors  and  trust  prop- 
erty will  soon  be  invested  in  it.  The 
entire  amount  of  private  funds  in  the 
State  of  Georgia,  on  private  loans,  I  sup- 
pose is  ten  or  twenty  millions  of  dollars 
at  seven  per  cent.  All  that  amount 
will  immediately  find  its  way  into  these 
bonds,  and  hence  a  planter  who  sells  his 
entire  crop,  and  needs  money,  can  get  it 
from  the  money-lenders  on  these  bonds. 
I  have  been  frequently  asked  if  these 
bonds  were  good.  Well,  I  want  to  be 
equally  frank  upon  that  point.  If  we 
succeed,  if  we  establish  our  independ- 


ence, if  we  are  not  overridden,  if  we  are 
not  subjugated,  I  feel  no  hesitancy  in 
telling  you  that  it  is  the  best  government 
stock  in  the  world  that  I  know  of.  It  is 
eight  per  cent,  interest ;  and  if  we  suc- 
ceed in  a  "short  time — in  a  few  years,  if 
not  more  than  one  hundred  millions  or 
two  hundred  millions  are  issued,  I  have 
but  little  doubt  they  will  command  a 
considerable  premium.  The  old  United 
States  stock  (six  per  cent,  bonds)  five 
years  ago  commanded  fifteen  and  sixteen 
per  cent.,  and  went  as  high  as  twenty 
per  cent.  Take  the  Central  Railroad. 
The  stock  of  that  company  commands 
fifteen  per  cent,  premium  now.  These 
bonds  pay  eight  per  cent,  semi-annually  ; 
therefore,  if  there  is  a  short  war,  these 
bonds  very  soon  will  command  fifteen  or 
twenty  per  cent.  But  candor  also  com- 
pels me  to  state  that  if  Lincoln  overruns 
us — if  we  are  subjugated,  these  bonds 
will  not  be  worth  a  single  dime,  and 
nothing  else  you  have  will  be  worth  any- 
thing. If  we  are  overrun,  they  will  be 
worth  just  as  much  as  anything  else  you 
have,  and  nothing  else  you  have  will  be 
worth  anything.  (Laughter.)  So  that 
is  the  whole  of  it." 

Having  thus  fully  unfolded  his  propo- 
sition, the  orator  offered  some  specula- 
tions on  the  probable  duration  of  the 
war,  not  of  a  very  hopeful  character, 
for  its  short  continuance.  "With  these 
were  interspersed  reflections  on  alleged 
infringements  of  the  Constitution  by 
President  Lincoln,  such  as  his  calling  for 
an  army  and  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  privilege,  without  the  special 
authority  of  Congress — a  criticism  which 
certainly  lost  much  of  its  force  from  the 
position  of  the  critic — an  enemy  in  arms 
against  the  Government,  whose  powers, 
under  the  circumstances,  he  might  natu- 


476 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


rally  be  disposed  to  depreciate.  In  fact, 
as  a  genuine  secessionist,  he  considered 
it  wholly  "unconstitutional"  to  attempt 
forcibly  to  put  down  the  rebellion. 

It  is  curious  to  note  the  calculations 
of  so  well-read  and  thoughtful  a  man  as 
the  Confederate  Yice-President  at  this 
time,  and,  "  I  tell  you,"  said  he,  "  the 
revolution  is  at  the  North.  There  is 
where  constitutional  liberty  has  been 
destroyed  ;  and  if  you  wish  to  know  my 
judgment  about  the  history  of  this  war, 
you  may  read  it  in  the  history  of  the 
French  Jacobins.  They  have  become  a 
licentious  and  lawless  mob,  and  I  shall 
not  at  all  be  surprised  if  in  less  than 
three  years  the  leaders  in  this  war,  Lin- 
coln and  his  Cabinet,  its  head,  come  to 
the  gallows  or  guillotine,  just  as  those  who 
led  the  French  war  (applause)  ;  for  hu- 
man passions,  when  once  aroused,  are  as 
uncontrollable  as  the  elements  about 
us.  The  only  hope  of  mankind  rests  in 
the  restraints  of  constitutional  law,  and 
the  day  they  framed  and  ratified  these 
lawless  measures  of  Lincoln,  they  dug 
their  own  graves.  They  may  talk  of 
freedom  and  liberty,  but  I  tell  you  no 
people  without  rulers  sustained  by  con- 
stitutional law  can  be  free.  They  may 
be  nominally  free,  but  they  are  vassals 
and  slaves,  and  this  unbridled  mob, 
when  they  attempt  to  check  it,  Lincoln 
and  the  rest  will  be  dealt  with  just  as  I 
tell  you  it  was  in  France.  Why,  the 
conservative  sentiment  of  the  North  is 
against  this  war.  When  I  tell  you  it  is 
fanatical,  I  do  not  mean  that  all  men  are 
fanatics.  Just  as  the  sturdiest  trees  of 
the  forest  yield  to  the  blast  of  the  storm, 
so  have  the  friends  of  the  Constitution 
yielded  at  the  North.  How  is  Lincoln 
to  get  those  four  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  ?  I  told  you  I  might  say  some- 


thing more  about  it.  They  have  not  the 
money.  That  is  true.  I  suppose  the 
North  now  might  raise  one  hundred 
millions  in  gold  and  silver.  I  have  not 
seen  the  returns  of  the  banks.  But 
their  money-lenders  are  not  going  to 
lend  it.  Some  say  that  the  war  is  going 
to  be  a  short  one.  No,  my  friends,  do 
not  lay  the  flattering  unction  to  your 
souls.  How  did  the  Jacobins  raise  their 
money  ?  Why,  they  laid  their  hands 
upon  it ;  and  this  is  the  way  they  will 
do  at  the  North.  First  they  will  issue 
scrip  ;  but  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury cannot  come  up  and  tell  them  that 
it  is  wrong.  He  has  not  the  nerve  ;  and 
he  might  lose  his  head  if  he  were  to  do 
it.  They  may  issue  four  hundred  mil- 
lions of  Treasury  notes,  and  thus  get 
along  for  twelve  months,  or  perhaps  for 
two  years,  before  they  are  too  much  de- 
preciated. They  will  then  issue  scrip 
against  the  rich  man's  property.  What 
is  to  be  the  result  of  this  war?  I  am 
not  a  prophet,  but  I  look  upon  it  as 
fraught  with  the  most  momentous  con- 
sequences, not  only  to  us,  but  to  the 
people  of  the  North.  I  have  always 
believed  that  if  the  Union  were  destroy- 
ed the  North  would  run  into  anarchy 
and  despotism.  We  are  the  salt  of  the 
concern,  and  it  is  only  questionable 
whether  or  not  we  have  quit  too  soon. 
That  is  the  only  doubt  I  have.  Where 
it  will  end  I  do  not  know,  but  never 
again  will  they  enjoy  constitutional  gov- 
ernment at  the  North.  They  never  un- 
derstood it.  Constitutional  liberty  is  a 
plant  of  Southern  growth,  watered  by 
Southern  hands,  nurtured  by  Southern 
hands,  and,  if  it  is  to  be  maintained,  to 
live  to  light  the  world,  it  is  to  be  done 
in  the  Southern  Confederacy.  At  the 
North  there  is  anarchy.  Property  will 


THE   WOMEN   OF  THE  SOUTH. 


477 


migrate  just  as  it  did  in  France.     That 
is  the  end." 

In  conclusion,  the  orator,  not  without 
an  eye  to  the  object  in  hand,  introduced 
that  indispensable  part  of  a  well-regulat- 
ed popular  discourse,  to  an  audience  of 
both  sexes,  a  compliment  to  the  ladies, 
whose  active  participation  in  the  sup- 
port and  encouragement  of  the  rebellion, 
it  must  be  admitted,  well  entitled  them 
to  the  attention.  "  The  patriotism  of  the 
women,  I  believe,  throughout  the  country 
where  I  have  been — the  mothers  and 
daughters — has  not  been  behind  the 
men,  but  even  ahead  of  them.  In  Mont- 
gomery, when  the  order  came  from  Gen- 
eral Bragg  for  ten  thousand  sand  bags, 
the  women  turned  out  on  the  Sabbath, 
as  well  as  the  week  days,  and  completed 
the  order  in  a  very  short  time.  In  other 
places,  where  volunteer  companies  had 
been  called  out,  the  ladies  have  made 
the  uniforms  in  a  remarkably  short  space 
of  time.  In  my  own  county,  which  has 
raised  three  hundred  and  fifty  men,  the 
ladies  made  the  uniforms  for  the  last 
company  in  two  days,  and  it  was  ready 
to  go  with  the  rest.  The  ladies  have 
done  their  duty  as  well  as  the  men  have. 
Richmond  county  has  sent  ten  companies 
to  the  field.  Nobly  have  you  done  your 
duty,  and  just  as  nobly  have  the  women 
done  theirs.  And  I  wish  you  to  under- 
stand, while  I  do  not  speak  much  to  you, 
for  the  tented  field  is  not  your  place, 
women  exercise  more  influence  even  in 
war,  perhaps,  than  anything  else  ;  and 
it  is  a  problem  whether  they  do  not 
govern  the  world  at  last.  It  is  their 
spirit  which  animates  the  soldier  to  fight. 
Some  recollect  the  pious  admonitions  of 
their  mothers,  and  others  recollect  the 
smiles  and  beaming  countenances  of  some 
fair  one  at  home.  These  are  the  senti- 


ments which  actuate  our  soldiers.  The 
attractions  of  the  women  are  a  power 
like  that  which  holds  the  orbs  of  the 
universe  in  their  proper  places.  Now 
then,  in  this  work  you  have  much  to  do, 
and  if  the  men  are  in  doubt  how  much  to 
subscribe,  I  am  perfectly  willing  that 
they  shall  go  home  and  ask  their  wives." 
In  addition  to  the  "  produce  loan,"  for 
which  the  planters  received  the  bonds 
of  the  Confederacy,  the  Congress  at 
Richmond  authorized  the  issue  of  one 
hundred  millions  of  treasury  notes, 
drawn  payable  to  bearer  at  the  ex- 
piration of  six  monthsafter  the  ratifica- 
tion of  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the 
Confederate  States  and  the  United  States, 
and  exchangeable  for  eight  per  cent, 
bonds,  and  imposed  a  direct  tax,  which 
was  assumed  by  the  States,  of  fifteen 
millions  of  dollars.  A  war  tax  was  also 
imposed  of  fifty  cents  upon  each  one 
hundred  dollars  in  value  of  real  and 
personal  estate,  including  slaves,  horses, 
gold  watches,  gold  and  silver  plate, 
pianos,  and  pleasure  carriages.  Prop- 
erty of  the  value  of  less  than  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  in  the  hands  of  a  head  of  a 
family,  was  exempted.  The  States  also 
borrowed  large  sums  on  their  own  credit, 
to  place  their  quotas  of  troops  in  the 
field.  Specie,  naturally,  was  withdrawn 
from  circulation  on  the  first  appearance 
of  civil  commotion,  and  the  Confederate 
paper  money  depreciated  rapidly  in  pro- 
portion as  it  was  multiplied,  and  the 
trade  and  resources  of  the  country  were 
cut  off.  The  usual  phenomena  of  a 
vitiated  currency  were  exhibited.  Prices 
of  commodities  rose  rapidly,  and  pru- 
dent dealers  were  accused  of  extortion 
when  the  value  of  their  goods  was  en- 
hanced by  the  blockade  and  interruption 
of  traffic,  and  the  return  offered  for 


478 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


them  was  comparatively  worthless.  Pa- 
triotism was  appealed  to,  to  give  a 
fictitious  value  to  the  promises  to  pay 
of  the  government,  and  force,  when 
necessary,  to  provide  for  the.  wants  of 
the  army,  supplied  the  absence  of  patri- 
otic confidence.  Every  principle  of 
equity  and  the  law  of  trade  was  set  at 
nought,  to  give  effect  to  the  irredeem- 
able paper  thrown  upon  the  country  by 
the  government,  states,  cities  and  cor- 
porations. It  was  the  object  of  the  gov- 
ernment, of  course,  to  keep  the  issue  of 
treasury  notes  at  the  lowest  point,  and 
in  accordance  with  this  well-understood 
policy,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
Mr.  Memminger,  was  compelled  to  re- 
fuse an  application  from  the  planters  for 
the  purchase  of  their  crops.  Without  the 
opportunity  of  selling  their  products,  they 
were  actually  in  want.  The  Secretary 
referred  the  planters  to  the  local  banks 
for  aid,  and  advised  a  change  of  labor, 
from  cotton  to  other  commodities  and 
pursuits  more  available  for  immediate 
subsistence.  "Let  them  immediately 
take  measures  for  winter  crops,  to  re- 
lieve the  demand  for  grain  and  pro- 
visions. Let  them  make  their  own 
clothing  and  supplies."* 

The  Confederate  army  was  reported 
at  this  session  of  the  Congress  to  num- 
ber one  hundred  and  ninety  four  regi- 
ments, and  thirty-two  battalions,  besides 
other  detachments,  making,  in  all,  over 
two  hundred  thousand  men  in  the  field. 
The  President  was  authorized  to  in- 
crease this  force  by  the  addition  of 
400,000  volunteers,  to  serve  for  not 
less  than  twelve  months,  nor  more  than 


*  C.  G.  Memminger  to  the  Commissioners  appointed  to 
receive  subscriptions  to  the  Produce  Loan,  Oct.  17,  1861. 


three  years.     It  was   resolved   also   to 
increase  the  naval  force. 

The  post  of  Secretary  of  War,  pre- 
viously held  by  L.  Pope  Walker,  of 
Alabama,  was  now  taken  by  J.  P.  Ben- 
jamin, of  Louisiana,  when  the  latter  was 
succeeded  in  his  office  of  Attorney-Gen- 
eral by  Thomas  Bragg,  formerly  Gov- 
ernor of  North  Carolina.  Robert  Toombs, 
of  Georgia,  also  resigned  the  Secretary- 
ship of  State,  and  was  succeeded  by 
R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  recently  United  States 
senator  from  Virginia. 

An  act  respecting  alien  enemies, 
passed  at  this  session  of  the  Congress, 
decreed  that  all  citizens  or  subjects 
of  any  foreign  nation  or  government, 
with  which  the  Confederate  States 
should  be  at  war,  should  be  liable  to 
arrest,  restraint  or  removal,  and  the 
President  was  especially  -directed,  by 
proclamation,  to  require  every  male  cit- 
izen of  the  United  States,  of  fourteen 
years  and  upward,  within  the  Confed- 
erate States,  and  adhering  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  and  ac- 
knowledging the  authority  of  the  same, 
and  not  being  a  citizen  of  the  Confed- 
erate States,  to  depart  from  the  said 
States  within  forty  days  of  the  date 
of  such  proclamation.  A  proclamation 
was  accordingly  issued  to  this  effect 
by  Jefferson  Davis,  on  the  14th  of 
August.  Another  act  sequestrated  the 
property  owned  byr  or  for  any  alien 
enemy  since  the  21st  of  May,  1861,  to 
be  held  for  the  indemnity  of  "  any  true 
and  loyal  citizen,"  who  might  be  a  suf- 
ferer by  the  Act  of  Confiscation  passed 
by  the  United  States  Congress  on  the 
6th  of  August.  After  a  short  session 
the  Congress  adjourned,  to  meet  again  in 
Richmond  in  November. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 


THE      SOUTHERN      PRIVATEERS. 


THE  communication  to  which  President 
Davis,  in  his  Message  of  July  20th  re- 
ferred as  sent  to  President  Lincoln,  in 
relation  to  the  captured  privateersmen 
of  the  Savannah,  was  carried  by  Captain 
Thomas  H.  Taylor,  of  the  Confederate 
cavalry,  accompanied  by  an  escort,  to 
the  lines  of  the  Union  army  before 
Washington.  The  messenger  was  cour- 
teously received,  and  conducted  to  Gen- 
eral Scott's  headquarters  at  the  capital. 
The  letter  which  he  bore  read  as  follows  : 
"  RICHMOND,  July  6,  1861.  To  Abraham 
Lincoln,  President,  and  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States: — Sir, — Having  learned 
that  the  schooner  Savannah,  a  private 
armed  vessel  in  the  service,  and  sailing 
under  a  commission  issued  by  authority 
of  the  Confederate  States  of  America, 
had  been  captured  by  one  of  the  vessels 
forming  the  blockading  squadron  off 
Charleston  harbor,  I  directed  a  proposi- 
tion to  be  made  to  the  officer  command- 
ing that  squadron  for  an  exchange  of  the 
officers  and  crew  of  the  Savannah  for 
prisoners  of  war  held  by  this  govern- 
ment '  according  to  number  and  rank.' 
To  this  proposition,  made  on  the  19th 
ult.,  Captain  Mercer,  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  blockading  squadron,  made 
answer  on  the  same  day  that  '  the  pris- 
oners (referred  to)  are  not  on  board  of 
any  of  the  vessels  under  my  command.' 
It  now  appears,  by  statements  made 
without  contradiction  in  newspapers  pub- 
lished in  New  York,  that  the  prisoners 
above  mentioned  were  conveyed  to  that 


city,  and  have  there  been  treated,  not  as 
prisoners  of  war,  but  as  criminals  ;  that 
they  have  been  put  in  irons,  confined  in 
jail,  brought  before  the  Courts  of  Justice 
on  charges  of  piracy  and  treason,  and  it 
is  even  rumored  that  they  have  been 
actually  convicted  of  the  offences  charged, 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  bore 
arms  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  this  gov- 
ernment and  under  the  authority  of  its 
commission.  I  could  not,  without  grave 
discourtesy,  have  made  the  newspaper 
statements  above  referred  to  the  subject 
of  this  communication,  if  the  threat  of 
treating  as  pirates  the  citizens  of  this 
Confederacy,  armed  for  service  on  the 
high  seas,  had  not  been  contained  in 
your  proclamation  of  the  -  -  April  last. 
That  proclamation,  however,  seems  to 
afford  a  sufficient  justification  for  consid- 
ering these  published  statements  as  not 
devoid  of  probability.  It  is  the  desire 
of  this  government  so  to  conduct  the 
war  now  existing  as  to  mitigate  its  hor- 
rors as  far  as  may  be  possible  ;  and, 
with  this  intent,  its  treatment  of  the  pris- 
oners captured  by  its  forces  has  been 
marked  by  the  greatest  humanity  and 
leniency  consistent  with  public  obliga- 
tion ;  some  have  been  permitted  to  re- 
turn home  on  parole,  others  to  remain  at 
large  under  similar  condition  within  this 
Confederacy,  and  all  have  been  furnished 
with  rations  for  their  subsistence,  such 
as  are  allowed  to  our  own  troops.  It  is 
only  since  the  news  has  been  received 
of  the  treatment  of  the  prisoners  taken 
on  the  Savannah,  that  I  have  been  com- 


480 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


pelled  to  withdraw  these  indulgencies, 
and  to  hold  the  prisoners  taken  by  us  in 
strict  confinement.  A  just  regard  to  hu- 
manity and  to  the  honor  of  this  govern- 
ment now  requires  me  to  state  explicitly 
that,  painful  as  will  be  the  necessity,  this 
government  will  deal  out  to  the  prisoners 
held  by  it  the  same  treatment  and  the 
same  fate  as  shall  be  experienced  by 
those  captured  on  the  Savannah,  and  if 
driven  to  the  terrible  necessity  of  retali- 
ation by  your  execution  of  any  of  the 
officers  or  the  crew  of  the  Savannah,  that 
retaliation  will  be  extended  as  far  as 
shall  be  requisite  to  secure  the  abandon- 
ment of  a  practice  unknown  to  the  war- 
fare of  civilized  man  ;  and  so  barbarous 
as  to  disgrace  the  nation  which  shall  be 
guilty  of  inaugurating  it.  With  this 
view,  and  because  it  may  not  have 
reached  you,  I  now  renew  the  proposi- 
tion made  to  the  commander  of  the  block- 
ading squadron,  to  exchange  for  the 
prisoners  taken  on  the  Savannah,  an 
equal  number  of  those  now  held  by  us, 
according  to  rank.  I  am  yours,  &c., 
JEFFERSON  DAVIS." 

The  Savannah  spoken  of  in  this  letter 
was  a  small  schooner  of  54  tons,  for- 
merly employed  as  a  pilot-boat  in  Char- 
leston harbor.  She  was  fitted  out  as  a 
privateer  with  a  single  18-pounder  pivot- 
gun  amidships  ;  and  with  a  crew  of  twenty 
men,  commanded  by  Captain  Thomas  F. 
Harrison  Baker,  left  Charleston  on  the 
2d  of  June  on  her  first  cruise.  On  the 
following  morning  she  captured  the  brig 
Joseph,  of  Eockland,  Maine  ;  and  in  the 
course  of  the  day,  while  in  company  of 
that  vessel,  was  fallen  in  with  by  the 
United  States  brig  Perry,  E.  Gr.  Parrott, 
Lieutenant  Commanding.  After  some 
hours'  pursuit  and  the  exchange  of  sev- 
eral harmless  shots,  she  was  overtaken, 


and  surrendered  without  further  con- 
test.* Lieutenant  Parrott  reported  his 
capture  to  Flag  Officer  Stringham  on  the 
Minnesota,  of  the  blockading  squadron 
off  Charleston.  The  Savannah  was  sent 
with  a  prize  crew  to  New  York,  and  her 
officers  and  crew  were  taken  by  the 
Minnesota  to  Hampton  Eoads,  whence 
they  were  brought  in  the  Harriet  Lane 
to  New  York,  and  there  placed  in  keep- 
ing of  the  United  States  Marshal  in  close 
confinement  in  the  city  prison.  A  bill 
of  indictment  for  robbery  on  the  high 
seas  was  promptly  found  by  the  Grand 
Jury,  and  on  the  23d  of  July  the  pris- 
oners, thirteen  in  number,  were  arraign- 
ed for  trial,  which  was  set  down  for  the 
October  term.  At  the  appointed  time 
the  trial  took  place,  the  Hon.  Judges 
Nelson  and  Shipman  presiding,  the  cause 
of  the  United  States  "being  conducted  by 
Mr.  E.  Delafield  Smith,  District  Attor- 
ney, assisted  by  William  M.  Evarts  and 
other  learned  counsel,  while  the  defence 
was  ably  conducted  by  Daniel  Lord,  James 
T.  Brady  and  others..  The  trial  contin- 
ued for  seven  days,  and  was  allowed  to 
take  a  wide  range  in  the  speeches  of  the 
counsel  over  the  various  political  and 
other  questions  involved  in  the  history 
and  principles  of  the  rebellion.f  The 
result  was  a  disagreement  of  the  jury, 
eight,  it  is  said,  standing  for  conviction, 
and  four  for  acquittal.  The  prisoners 
were  then  remanded  to  the  custody  of 
the  marshals. 

Whilst  these  proceedings  were  going 
on  at  New  York,  another  trial  of  similar 
nature  at  Philadelphia,  that  of  William 
Smith,  a  Confederate  privateersman, 


*  Lieutenant  Parrott  to  Flag  Officer  Stringham.  U.  S. 
Brig  Perry,  at  Sea,  June  5,  1861. 

f  See  the  full  report  of  the  trial  by  A.  F.  Warburton, 
Stenographer.  8vo.  New  York,  1862. 


RETALIATORY  MEASURES. 


481 


taken  on  board  of  a  recaptured  prize, 
resulted  in  his  being  found  guilty  of  the 
crime  of  piracy.  A  case  had  thus  arisen 
for  the  exercise  of  that  system  of  retalia- 
tion threatened  under  such  circumstances 
by  President  Davis  ;  and  the  opportunity 
was  abundantly  afforded  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  numerous  officers  and  other 
prisoners  captured  at  Bull's  Run,  in  the 
military  prisons  at  Richmond.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  10th  of  November,  "  a 
most  exciting  and  painful  scene,"  as  it  is 
described  by  Mr.  Ely,  whose  diary  we 
have  already  cited,  occurred,  when 
Brigadier-General  Winder  entered  the 
apartment  of  the  United  States  officers, 
adjoining  the  "  Old  Tobacco  Warehouse," 
and,  in  the  presence  of  some  seventy- 
five  of  them,  read  the  following  order 
which  he  had  been  directed  to  execute 
by  the  Secretary  of  War:  "  C.  S.  A. 
War  Department,  Richmond.  Nov.  9, 
1861.  Sir  :  You  are  hereby  instructed 
to  choose,  by  lot,  from  among  the  prison- 
ers of  war,  of  the  highest  rank,  one  who 
is  to  be  confined  in  a  cell  appropriated 
to  convicted  felons,  and  who  is  to  be 
treated  in  all  respects  as  if  such  convict, 
and  to  be  held  for  execution  in  the  same 
manner  as  may  be  adopted  by  the  enemy" 
for  the  execution  of  the  prisoner  of  war, 
Smith,  recently  condemned  to  death  in 
Philadelphia.  You  will  also  select  thir- 
teen other  prisoners  of  war,  the  highest 
in  rank  of  those  captured  by  our  forces, 
to  be  confined  in  the  cells  reserved  for 
prisoners  accused  of  infamous  crimes, 
and  will  treat  them  as  such  so  long  as 
the  enemy  shall  continue  so  to  treat  the 
like  number  of  prisoners  of  war  captured 
by  them  at  sea,  and  now  held  for  trial  in 
New  York  as  pirates.  As  these  meas- 
ures are  intended  to  repress  the  in- 
famous attempt  now  made  by  the  enemy 
61 


to  commit  judicial  murder  on  prisoners 
of  war,  you  will  execute  them  strictly, 
as  the  mode  best  calculated  to  prevent 
the  commission  of  so  heinous  a  crime. 
Your  obedient  servant,  J.  P.  Benjamin, 
Acting-Secretary  of  War." 

Colonel  W.  Raymond  Lee,  of  the  20th 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  who  had  been 
recently  captured  at  the  massacre  at 
Ball's  Bluff,  was  then  handed  six  slips 
of  paper,  bearing  the  names  of  the  six 
United  States  Colonels,  held  as  prisoners 
by  the  Confederates,  which  he  was  re- 
quired to  deposit  in  a  deep  tin  case  pro- 
vided for  the  purpose — the  duty  being 
assigned  to  Mr.  Ely  of  drawing  one  of 
the  lots  forth  to  consign  an  officer  to  a 
felon's  dungeon  and  treatment  of  the 
convicted  pirate  Smith.  The  lot  thus 
drawn  fell  upon  Colonel  Michael  Corco- 
ran, then  held  as  a  prisoner  in  Castle 
Pinckney,  Charleston  Harbor.  Colonel 
Alfred  M.  Wood,  of  Long  Island,  of  the 
14th  New  York  Regiment,  who  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
wounded  at  Bull  Run,  and  who  had  now 
recovered,  was  another  of  the  hostages. 
The  name  of  Captain  J.  B.  Ricketts,  the 
commander  of  the  celebrated  battery  of 
the  1st  Artillery,  who  was  wounded  and 
taken  prisoner  in  the  main  action  in  the 
same  battle,  was  drawn,  but  he  was 
exempted  on  account  of  his  illness.  The 
list  of  thirteen  hostages  for  the  crew  of 
the  Savannah,  finally  stood — Colonels 
Lee,  Wilcox,  Cogswell,  Wood  and 
Woodruff ;  Lieutenant- Colonels  Bow- 
man and  Neff ;  Majors,  Potter,  Revere 
and  Vodges  ;  Captains  Rockwood,  Bow- 
man and  Kefter.  "  The  officers  selected 
from  among  us,"  adds  Mr.  Ely,  "behave 
most  gallantly.  They  will  not  shrink 
from  their  fate,  whatever  it  may  be.  1 
think  they  may  be  retained  awhile  as 


482 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


hostages,  but  cannot  apprehend  any 
danger  as  to  their  ultimate  safety.  Our 
Government  will  never  permit  the .  pri- 
vateersmen  to  be  prosecuted  to  convic- 
tion j  and  even  should  that  be  done,  will 
never  execute  them."  * 

The  argument  on  this  matter  was 
presented  with  acuteness  and  feeling  by 
the  Hon.  Charles  P.  Daly,  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  New  York, 
in  a  letter  written  to  the  Hon.  Ira  Har- 
ris, United  States  Senator  from  the 
State,  on  the  21st  of  December,  1861. 
Recognizing  privateering,  as  it  is  held 
by  the  whole  country,  to  be  "a  legiti- 
mate mode  of  making  war,"  he  asks, 
"  what  is  the  difference  between  the 
Southern  soldier,  who  takes  up  arms 
against  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  on  the  land,  and  the  Southern 
privateersman  who  does  the  same  on 
the  water?"  "Practically,"  he  answers 
the  question,  "there  is  none  ;  and  if 
one  should  be  held  and  exchanged  as  a 
prisoner  of  war,  the  other  is  equally 
entitled  to  the  privilege."  It  was  upon 
this  ground  of  the  practical  inconve- 
nience of  carrying  on  a  great  war  upon 
the  principles  justly  laid  down  for  sup- 
pressing an  insurrection,  that  the  decision 
of  this  matter  ultimately  rested.  As  the 
prisoners  were  not  acting  by  authority 
of  a  recognized  State,  they  technically 
became  pirates,  and  must  be  considered 
as  such,  when  the  question  was  pressed 
by  the  Courts.  It  was  for  the  Govern- 
ment to  interpose,  as  they  afterwards 
did,  and  relieve  judge  and  jury  of  the 
dilemma.  An  urgent  plea  for  the  re- 
laxation or  abandonment  of  the  ground 
originally  taken  by  President  Lincoln 
undoubtedly  existed  in  the  acts  of  re- 
taliation, in  the  imprisonment  of  the 

*  Journal  of  Alfred  Ely,  November  12,  1861,  p.  208. 


Union  officers,  and  the  impending  threats 
of  their  execution  should  the  sentence, 
pronounced  upon  the  privateers,  be  car- 
ried out  ;  but  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that,  without  this  pressure  on 
the  part  of  the  government  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  decree  would  not  have  been 
enforced.  The  policy  of  the  adminis- 
tration at  Washington  was  in  every 
respect  humane  and  conciliatory.  If, 
theoretically,  the  South  was  denied  the 
privileges  of  a  belligerent,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  practice,  under 
that  rule,  secured  her  many  exemp- 
tions and  privileges  which  would  have 
been  denied  to  a  foreign  nation.  The 
South  called  for  the  rights  of  a  belliger- 
ent ;  the  North  held  aloof  from  the  ap- 
plication, refusing  meanwhile  to  inflict 
the  pains  and  penalties  to  which  a 
foreign  belligerent  would  have  been 
liable. 

The  whole  matter  is  well  treated .  by 
Judge  Daly,  with  a  just  appreciation  of 
the  necessities  of  the  case  and  the  consid- 
erate policy  of  President  Lincoln's  ad- 
ministration. "  Neither  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,"  says  he,  "  nor  the 
act  against  piracy  were  framed  in  view 
of  any  such  state  of  things  as  that  which 
now  exists.  The  civil  war  now  prevail- 
ing is,  in  its  magnitude,  beyond  anything 
previously  known  in  history.  The  re- 
volting States  hold  possession  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  territory  of  the  Union, 
embracing  a  great  extent  of  sea-coast, 
and  including  some  of  our  principal  cities 
and  harbors.  They  hold  forcible  posses- 
sion of  it  by  means  of  an  army  estimated 
at  300,000  men,  and  are  practically  ex- 
ercising over  it  all  the  power  and  author- 
ity of  government.  They  claim  to  have 
separated  from  the  United  States,  to 
have  founded  a  government  of  their  own 


JUDGE  DALY'S  ARGUMENT. 


483 


and  are  in  armed  resistance  to  maintain 
it.  To  reduce  them  to  obedience  arid  to 
recover  that  of  which  they  'hold  forcible 
possession,  it  has  been  necessary  for  us 
to  resort  to  military  means  of  more  than 
corresponding  magnitude,  until  the  com- 
batants on  both  sides  have  reached  to 
the  prodigious  number  of  a  million  of 
men.  The  principal  nations  of  Europe, 
recognizing  this  state  of  things,  have 
conceded  to  the  rebellious  States  the 
rights  of  belligerents,  a  course  of  which 
we  have  no  reason  to  complain,  as  we 
did  precisely  the  same  thing  toward  the 
States  of  South  America  in  their  revolt 
against  the  government  of  Spain.  It  is 
natural  that  we  should  have  hesitated  to 
consider  the  Southern  States  in  the  light 
of  belligerents  before  the  rebellion  had 
expanded  to  its  present  proportions,  but 
now  we  cannot,  if  we  would,  shut  our  eyes 
to  the  fact  that  war,  and  war  upon  a 
more  extensive  scale  than  usually  takes 
place  between  contending  nations,  actu- 
ally exists.  It  is  now,  and  it  will  be 
continued  to  be,  carried  on  upon  both 
sides,  by  a  resort  to  all  the  means  and 
appliances  known  to  modern  warfare, 
and  unless  we  are  to  fall  back  into  the 
barbarism  of  the  middle  ages,  we  must 
observe  in  its  conduct  those  human  usages 
in  the  treatment  and  exchange  of  prison- 
ers which  modern  civilization  has  shown 
to  be  equally  the  dictates  of  humanity 
and  of  policy." 

The  practical  difficulties  of  pursuing  a 
contrary  course,  in  face  of  the  retaliation 
system  of  Jefferson  Davis,  was  forcibly 
presented.  "  For  every  seaman  that  we 
have  arrested  as  a  pirate,  they  have  in- 
carcerated a  Northern  soldier,  to  be 
dealt  with  exactly  as  we  do  by  the  priv- 
ateersman.  We  have  convicted  as  pir- 
ates four  of  the  crew  of  the  Jefferson 


Davis,  and  there  are  others  in  New 
York  awaiting  trial.  Are  these  men  tc 
be  executed  ?  If  they  are,  then  by  that 
act  we  deliberately  consign  to  death  a 
number  of  our  own  officers  and  soldiers, 
most  of  whom  owe  their  captivity  and 
present  peril  to  the  heroic  courage  witL 
which  they  stood  by  their  colors  on  a 
day  of  disastrous  flight  and  panic.  If 
such  a  course  is  to  be  pursued,  it  will  not 
be  very  encouraging  for  the  soldier  now 
in  arms  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union, 
to  know  that  what  may  be  asked  of  him 
is,  to  fight  upon  one  side,  with  the  chance 
of  being  hanged  upon  the  other  ;  and  in 
face  of  the  enemy,  with  his  line  broken, 
instead  of  rallying  again  he  may,  in  view 
of  the  possibility  of  a  halter,  consider  it 
prudent  to  retire  before  the  double  dan- 
ger. If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  convict 
these  men  as  criminals  and  pause  there, 
then  the  crime  of  which  we  have  declared 
them  to  be  guilty  is  not  followed  by  its 
necessary  consequence,  the  proper  pun- 
ishment. There  is  no  terror  inspired 
and  no  check  interposed  by  such  a  pro- 
cedure, for  the  plainest  man  in  the  South 
knows  that  the  motive  which  restrains 
us  from  going  further  is  the  fact  that  the 
execution  of  these  men  as  pirates  seals 
the  doom  of  a  corresponding  number  of 
our  own  people  ;  that  the  account  is  ex- 
actly balanced  ;  that,  with  ample  means 
of  retaliation,  they  have  the  power  to 
prevent ;  or,  if  mutual  blood  is  to  be 
shed  in  this  way,  we,  and  not  they,  will 
have  commenced  it.  By  such  a  course 
nothing  is  effected,  except  to  keep  our 
own  officers  and  soldiers  in  the  cells  of 
Southern  prisons,  subject  to  that  mental 
torture  produced  by  the  uncertainty  of 
their  fate,  which,  with  the  majority  of 
men,  is  more  difficult  to  bear  than  the 
certainty  of  death  itself,  and  oblige  them 


484 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


to  endure,  in  the  ill-provided  and 
conducted  prisons  in  which  they  are  con- 
fined, sufferings,  the  sickening  details  of 
which  are  constantly  before  us  in  their 
published  letters  to  their  friends.  '  I 
little  thought,'  writes  the  gallant  Colonel 
Cogswell,  of  the  regular  service,  '  when 
I  faced  the  storm  of  bullets  at  Edwards' 
Ferry,  and  escaped  a  soldier's  death 
upon  the  field,  that  it  was  only  to  be  left 
by  my  country  to  die  upon  the  gallows.' 
And  the  nature  of  their  sufferings  will  be 
understood  when  it  is  told  that  the  noble- 
hearted  and  self-sacrificing  Colonel  Cor- 
coran was  handcuffed  and  placed  in  a 
solitary  cell,  with  a  chain  attached  to  the 
floor,  until  the  mental  excitement  pro- 
duced by  this  ignominious  treatment, 
combining  with  a  susceptible  constitution 
and  the  infectious  nature  of  the  locality, 
brought  on  an  attack  of  typhoid  fever." 
"  Shall  this  state  of  things,"  he  asked, 
"  continue  ?  Let  us  take  counsel  of  our 
common  sense.  These  men  are  treated 
as  criminals  because,  while  we  give  to 
the  Southern  soldier  the  rights  of  war, 
for  numerous  exchanges  of  soldiers  have 
taken  place,  we  convict  the  Southern 
mariner  of  a  crime  punishable  with 
death.  Is  there  any  reason,  even  upon 
the  grounds  of  policy,  for  making  this 
distinction  ?  We  have,  by  the  blockade 
of  the  whole  Southern  coast,  cut  the 
privateersman  off  from  bringing  his  prize 
into  the  ports  of  the  South  Tor  adjudica- 
tion, and  the  ports  of  all  neutral  nations 
being  closed  against  him  for  such  a  pur- 
pose, he  is  deprived  of  the  means  of 
making  lawful  prize,  and  must  eventually 
convert  his  vessel  into  a  ship-of-war,  or 
degenerate  into  a  pirate,  by  unlawful 
acts  which  will  make  him  amenable  to 
the  tiibunal  of  every  civilized  nation. 
The  comparative  injury  that  may  be 


done  to  our  commerce  by  the  few  priva- 
teers which  it  will  now  be  in  the  power 
of  the  rebellious  States  to  maintain  upon 
the  ocean,  is  as  nothing  compared  to  the 
disastrous  and  lasting  consequences  to 
the  whole  nation,  to  its  industry,  its  com- 
merce and  its  future,  that  would  grow 
out  of  making  this  war  one  of  retaliatory 
vengeance.  We  have  the  fruitful  expe- 
rience of  history  to  admonish  us  that  in 
such  acts  are  sown  the  seeds  of  the  dis- 
solution of  nations,  and  especially  of  re- 
publics. By  according  to  the  rebellious 
States  the  rights  of  belligerents,  at  least 
to  the  extent  of  exchanging  prisoners, 
whether  privateersmen,  man-of-war's 
men,  or  soldiers,  we  do  not  concede  to 
them  the  rights  of  sovereignty.  There 
is  a  well-defined  distinction  between  the 
two,  recognized  by  the  United  States 
Court  in  the  case  of  Eose  vs.  Himmley, 
3  Cranch,  241.  One  may  exist  without 
the  other,  and  by  exchanging  prisoners, 
therefore,  we  concede  nothing  and  admit 
nothing,  except  what  everybody  knows, 
that  actual  war  exists,  and  that,  as  a 
Christian  people,  we  mean  to  carry  it  on 
according  to  the  usages  of  civilized  na- 
tions. The  existing  embarrassment  is 
easily  overcome.  All  further  prosecution 
can  be  stopped,  and  in  respect  to  the  pri- 
vateersmen who  have  been  convicted,  the 
President,  acting  upon  the  suggestion  of 
the  Court  that  tried  them,  can,  by  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  pardoning  power,  relieve 
them  from  their  position  as  criminals,  and 
place  them  in  that  of  prisoners  of  war. 

"In  conclusion,"  he  adds,  "we  are 
not  to  forget  that  we  are  carrying  on 
this  war  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union, 
that  every  act  of  aggression  not  essential 
to  military  success  will  but  separate 
more  widely  the  two  sections  from  each 
other,  and  increase  the  difficulty  of  ce- 


TREATMENT   OF   CAPTURED   PRIYATEERSMEN. 


485 


meriting  us  again  in  one  nationality.  We 
are  to  remember  that  the  people  of  the 
South,  whose  infirmity  it  has- been  to  have 
very  extravagant  ideas  of  their  own  supe- 
riority, and  whose  contempt  of  the  people 
of  the  North  has  been  in  proportion  to 
their  want  of  information  respecting  them, 
have  been  hurried  into  their  present  po- 
sition by  the  professional  politicians  and 
large  landed  proprietors,  to  whom  they 
have  hitherto  been  accustomed  to  confide 
the  management  of  their  public  affairs  ; 
that  though  prone  to  commit  outrageous 
acts  when  under  the  influence  of  excite- 
ment, they  are  upon  the  whole  a  kindly 
and  affectionate  people,  and  have,  when 
not  blinded  by  passion,  a  very  keen  per- 
ception of  their  own  interests  ;  that  there 
are  throughout  the  South  thousands  of 
loyal  hearts  paralyzed  by  excitement 
around  them,  who 'still  cling  to  the  flag 
of  their  fathers  and  await  the  delivering 
stroke  of  our  armies.  Belying  on  our 
superior  naval  and  military  strength,  and 
the  settled  determination  of  our  people 
that  this  nation  shall  not  be  dismember- 
ed, we  can,  as  the  Swiss  Cantons  recently 
did  in  a  similar  crisis,  put  down  this  re- 
bellion. That  great  duty  imposes  upon 
us  all  the  exigencies  of  war.  War,  when 
conducted  in  accordance  with  the  strict- 
est usages  of  humanity,  is,  as  all  who 
have  shared  in  the  recent  battles  know, 
a  sufficiently  bloody  business,  and  if  we 
are  to  add  to  its  horrors  by  hanging  up 
all  who  fall  into  our  hands  as  traitors  or 
pirates,  we  leave  the  South  no  alterna- 
tive but  resistance  to  the  last  extremity, 
and  should  we  ultimately  triumph,  we 
would  have  entailed  upon  us,  as  the  con- 
sequence of  such  a  policy,  the  bitter  in- 
heritance of  maintaining  a  Government 
by  force  over  a  people  conquered,  but 
not  subdued." 


In  a  debate  on  this  question  of  the 
treatment  ^f  prisoners,  announced  in  the 
proclamation  of  President  Lincoln  in  the 
British  House  of  Lords  in  the  month  of 
May,  it  was  evidently  the  voice  of*the 
English  Government  that,  in  whatever 
light  the  United  States  might  regard  the 
acts  of  those  claimed  to  be  her  subjects, 
that  Great  Britain,  having  recognized 
the  Confederates  as  belligerents,  could 
not  regard  their  privateers  as  pirates. 
"There  was  no  doubt,"  said  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  "  that  if  an  Englishman,  en- 
gaged in  the  service  of  the  Southern 
States,  he  violated  the  law  of  the  coun- 
try and  rendered  himself  liable  to  pun- 
ishment, and  that  he  had  no  right  to  trust 
to  the  protection  of  his  native  country 
to  shield  him  from  the  consequences  of 
his  act.  But  though  that  individual 
would  be  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  law 
of  his  own  country,  he  could  not  be 
treated  as  a  pirate,  and  those  who  treat- 
ed him  as  a  pirate  would  be  guilty  of 
murder."  Under  the  various  embarrass- 
ments of  the  question,  the  United  States 
Government  desisted  from  its  prosecu- 
tion of  the  captured  privateers  as  pir- 
ates, and  treated  them  simply  as  prison- 
ers of  war. 

The  vessels  fitted  out  by  the  Confed- 
erates as  privateers  were  chiefly  the 
coasting  and  Gulf  steamers  lying  in  the 
Southern  harbors  which  the  blockade 
had  rendered  useless  for  their  usual  pur- 
pose, several  revenue-cutters,  the  prop- 
erty of  the  United  States,  which  had 
been  seized  in  the  ports,  a  number  of 
schooners  and  pilot-boats— a  motley  fleet 
not  exceeding,  perhaps,  fifty  in  all  in  the 
early  months  of  the  war.  At  first  their 
movements  from  New  Orleans,  Charles- 
ton and  other  ports,  were  exceedingly 
annoying  to  the  merchant  service  in  the 


486 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Gulf  of  Mexico  and  adjacent  waters,  but 
the   blockade   soon    deprived,  them   of 
places  of  refuge,  and  the  obstacles  thrown 
in  their  way  by  the  foreign  governments 
in  the  West  India  Islands  proved  a  for- 
midable check  to  their  efficiency.     For- 
merly, before  steam  was  introduced  on  the 
ocean,  the  privateers  had  many  oppor- 
tunities which  the  use  of  the  new  ele- 
ment  of    navigation   has   denied   them. 
They  could  keep  longer  at  sea  without 
fresh  supplies  or  repairs,  but  at  present 
the  necessity  of  constantly  renewing  their 
fuel  requires  depots  of  coal  and  a  frequent 
resort  to  harbor.     No  sailing  privateer 
can  keep  out  of  the  way  of  a  fleet  of 
steamers,  and  no  privateer  steamer  can 
long  keep   afloat  driven  from  one   un- 
friendly harbor  to  another.     With  sev- 
eral important  exceptions,  as  the  Sumter 
and  the  Nashville,  the  Southern  priva- 
teers thus  failed  to  execute  those  threats 
of  destruction  upon  which  so  much  reli- 
ance appears  to  have  been  placed  as  a 
means  of  injury  to  the  Northern  mer- 
chants at  the  beginning  of  the  war.     A 
number   of  prizes,   indeed,  \tere  made, 
and  the  rise  of  marine  insurance  exhibit- 
ed a  proper  respect  for  the  powers  of 
mischief  of  these  adversaries,  but  the  re- 
sult  was   far   less    than  was   expected. 
Some  alarm  was  at  one  time  felt  for  the 
safety  of  the  Aspinwall  steamers  con- 
stantly passing  through  the  Gulf,  carry- 
ing the  millions  of  the  gold  product  of 
California  ;  but  relying  on  their  fleetness 
and  some  extra  means  of  defence  for  re- 
sistance or  escape  should  they  be  attack- 
ed,   they   experienced    no    interference 
from  the  enemy. 

The  story  of  several  of  the  privateer- 
ing vessels  of  the  Confederates  is  of  in- 
terest. Reserving  for  a  special  chapter 
the  remarkable  adventures  of  the  Sum- 


ter, we  may  here  glance  at  some  of  the 
more  noticeable  incidents  in  the  fortunes 
of  her  companions.     Among  the  United 
States  craft  seized  by  the  insurgents  in 
the  Southern  ports,  was  the  revenue-cut- 
ter General  Aikin,  which  was  taken  pos- 
session of  in  Charleston  harbor.     At  the 
outbreak  of  the  rebellion  re-named  the 
Petrel,  and   fitted  out  as  a  privateer, 
under  the  command  of  William  Perry  of 
South   Carolina,    this   dashing    military 
schooner  was,  on  the  1st  of  August,  1861, 
off  the  harbor  of  Charleston  when  her 
officers  descried  what  appeared  to  them 
an  easy  subject  for  capture  in  an  ap- 
proaching  lumbering   merchantman,    to 
which  they  immediately  gave  chase.  This 
was  the  United  States  frigate  St.  Law- 
rence, then  on  a  cruise  along  the  Atlan- 
tic coast  in  quest  of  piratical  craft  of  the 
enemy.     To  disguise  her  real  character, 
her  port-holes  were  closed  and  her  men 
kept  carefully  out  of  sight.     The  com- 
mander of  the  Petrel,  misled  by  the  de- 
ception, bore  down  upon  the  innocent- 
looking  vessel,  which,  apparently  intent 
upon  escape,  was  seen  hoisting  sail  and 
seemingly  making   every   effort  to  get 
away,  while  in  reality  she  was  choosing 
her  own   position  and  gaining  time   to 
make  preparation  below  for  bringing  her 
effective  batteries  into  action.    Presently 
a  couple  of  shots  from  the  Petrel  were 
fired  across  the  bows  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, followed  by  a  discharge  of  cannis- 
ter  striking  the  rigging.     As  the  priva- 
teer thus  came  within  range,  her  crew 
were  seen  at  work  at  the  guns,  while  an 
officer  on  her  deck  was  calling  on  the 
supposed  merchantman  to  heave  to  and 
send  a  boat  alongside.     The  frigate  then 
suddenly  threw  up  her  ports  and  opened 
a  terrific  fire  upon  her  rash  assailant. 
The  destruction  was  instantaneous.     A 


TILLMAN'S  REVENGE. 


487 


shell  struck  the  galley,  entered  the  hold, 
and  exploded,  tearing  the  vessel  fearfully 
and  bringing  her  to  a  sinking  condition. 
Part  of  the  crew  threw  themselves  over- 
board or  sought  refuge  in  the  life-boat, 
holding  up  a  flag  of  surrender.  The 
boats  of  the  St.  Lawrence  were  immedi- 
ately lowered,  and  as  the  Petrel  sank  in 
the  waves,  her  surviving  officers  and 
men  were  rescued  and  brought  on  board 
of  the  frigate.  Four  of  the  privateer's 
crew  thus  perished  with  the  sinking  ves- 
sel, and  thirty-six  were  captured  and 
carried  in  the  United  States  gunboat 
Flag  to  Philadelphia,.  Lieutenant  Har- 
vey, one  of  the  officers  of  the  Petrel, 
a  Southerner  by  birth,  was  formerly  a 
midshipman  of  the  United  States  navy, 
and  had  sailed  under  Captain  Sartori  of 
the  Flag.  Perry,  the  captain  of  the  priv- 
ateer, is  described  as  about  sixty-five 
years  of  age,  a  native  of  North  Carolina, 
and  well  known  as  one  of  the  Charleston 
pilots.  The  crew  were  generally  Irish- 
men by  birth. 

The  fate  of  one  of  the  vessels  cap- 
tured by  the  Confederate  priva^ers  in- 
volved a  tale  of  revenge — one  of  those 
tragedies  of  the  seas,  with  its  bloody  in- 
cidents of  piratical  adventure,  well  calcu- 
lated to  send  a  thrill  of  horror  through 
the  community,  but  which  was  at  the 
time  regarded  simply  as  an  act  of  self- 
defence,  or  of  righteous  retribution — an 
admission  of  those  penalties  of  war  on 
the  ocean  with  which  the  public  was  ac- 
quiring a  strange  familiarity  on  land. 
The  circumstances  were  these.  On  the 
Fourth  of  July  the  schooner  S.  J.  War- 
ing, of  Brookhaven,  Francis  Smith,  mas- 
ter, sailed  from  New  York  for  Monte- 
video, with  an  assorted  cargo,  and  on 
the  third  day  out,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  Sandy  Hook,  was  brought  to 


by  the  rebel  privateer  brig  Jeff.  Davis, 
despoiled  of  such  portions  of  her  freight 
as  were  thought  desirable  by  her  captors, 
deprived  of  her  captain,  the  two  mates, 
and  two  seamen  ;  leaving  the  negro  stew- 
ard, William  Tillman,  two  seamen  and 
Mr.  Bryce  Mackinnon,  a  passenger.  A 
prize  crew  was  added,  consisting  of 
Montague  O'Neil,  a  Charleston  pilot,  in 
command,  one  Stevens  as  mate,  and 
Malcolm  Skiddy  as  second  mate,  and 
two  men.  Thus  manned,  the  schooner's 
course  was  directed  towards  Charleston, 
S.  C.,  with  the  view  of  entering  that 
port.  The  original  members  of  the  crew 
were  employed  in  navigating  the  vessel, 
entertaining  hopes  of  recapture  till  their 
arrival,  after  protracted  voyaging  in  the 
vicinity  of  their  destination.  The  negro 
steward  Tillman,  a  man  of  uncomraon 
resolution,  fearful  of  being  carried  into 
slavery,  then  determined  to  gain  pos- 
session of  the  schooner,  and  take  her 
to  her  owners  in  New  York.  His  pro- 
ceedings for  this  purpose  were  of  the 
most  summary  and  decided  character. 
Having  secured  the  assistance  of  William 
Stedding,  a  G.erman,  one  of  the  original 
seamen — the  other  would  not  listen  to 
his  proposal — he  prepared  to  carry  his 
intention  into  effect.  This  was  simply 
to  catch  the  officers  asleep,  murder  them 
in  their  beds,  and  take  command  of  the 
vessel.  After  watching  two  nights  with- 
out success,  his  comrade  warned  him  of 
the  looked-for  opportunity  about  mid- 
night of  the  sixteenth,  when  he  rose 
from  his  bed,  armed  himself  with  a 
hatchet,  and  stole  to  the  state-room  of 
the  captain,  which  was  open  to  the 
cabin — the  door  having  been  removed 
for  ventilation.  His  blow  was  a  sure 
one,  as  he  struck  the  sleeper  on  the 
head,  fearfully  cleaving  his  skull.  He 


488 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


then  crossed  to  the  second  mate's  room, 
and  inflicted  a  similar  blow,  somewhat 
less  violent  in  its  effect.  The  man  rose 
staggering  from  his  couch  with  an  oath, 
while  his  assailant  rushed  on  deck  and 
confronted  the  mate  who  had  been 
aroused  by  the  outcry  from  his  sleeping 
position  on  the  cabin  roof,  in  front  of  the 
wheel.  Stedding,  the  accomplice,  was 
steering,  with  a  pistol  in  his  hand  ready 
for  use  when  the  negro  drove  his  hatchet 
into  the  mate's  skull,  and  the  two  quickly 
tumbled  him  over  into  the  sea.  Tillman 
then  returned  to  the  cabin  and  com- 
pleted his  relentless  work  with  the  hat- 
chet on  his  two  dying  victims,  while  his 
companion  kept  guard  with  his  pistol. 
They  then  dragged  their  mangled  bodies 
to  the  deck  and  consigned  them  to  the 
deep.  It  was  a  bright  moonlight  night 
of  extraordinary  beauty — one  of  those 
brilliant  nights  which  will  be  remem- 
bered with  the  inarch  of  the  army  of 
the  Potomac  toward  Manassas  —  the 
moon  of  Bull  Run.  The  passenger, 
Mackinnon,  awaked  by  the  sound  of 
the  first  blow,  unable  to  offer  resistance, 
had  he  been  disposed,  quietly  witnessed 
the  scene  in  the  cabin.  The  two  priva- 
teer seamen  yet  remained.  One  of 
them  roused  from  his  sleep  on  deck,  see- 
ing that  the  officers  were  gone,  quietly 
submitted  to  being  put  in  irons,  and  the 
other,  who  was  in  the  forecastle,  as 
readily  agreed  to  assist  in  working  the 
vessel.  The  next  morning  the  former 
was  released,  and  joined  his  comrade  in 
his  task. 

When  Tillman  took  possession  of  the 
schooner  she  was  about  fifty  miles  to  the 
south,  and  a  hundred  to  the  east  of 
Charleston,  making  for  that  harbor.  He 
immediately  changed  her  course  for  the 
North.  None  of  the  party  knew  any- 


thing of  navigation,  but  the  wind  was 
fair,  the  weather  propitious,  and,  trust- 
ing to  keep  along  the  land,  they  steered 
boldly  onward.  The  guidance  and  main 
conduct  of  the  vessel  depended  upon 
Mackinnon,  Stedding  and  the  steward, 
two  of  whom  were  obliged  always  to  be 
on  deck  armed  to  secure  the  fidelity  of 
the  others.  On  the  third  day  they  made 
the  land,  and  sounded  their  way  along 
till  on  the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  twen- 
ty-first— the  day  of  Bull  Run — they 
reached  Sandy  Hook,  and  were  safely 
piloted  to  New  York.  The  vessel  was 
then  taken  in  charge  by  the  harbor 
police,  the  two  Southerners  led  to  prison, 
and  the  rest  of  the  company  detained  aa 
witnesses. 

Great  curiosity  was  at  once  manifest- 
ed to  hear  and  know  everything  relating 
to  the  hero  of  this  adventure,  whose 
courage  and  determination  had  been  so 
sternly  exhibited  in  rescuing  the  prop- 
erty of  his  employers  from  piratical  de- 
predators, and  incidentally  vindicating 
the  authority  of  the  national  flag.  It 
was  ascertained  that  he  was  born  of 
free-colored  parents  about  twenty-seven 
years  ago  in  Milford,  Delaware,  that  he 
had  been  carried  to  Providence,  R.  I., 
when  he  was  fourteen,  and  that  he  had  fol- 
lowed the  sea  for  ten  years,  and  had  been 
for  some  time  in  the  employ  of  Jonas 
Smith  and  Co.,  a  firm  in  Front  Street, 
New  York,  the  owners  of  the  vessel  he 
had  brought  home.  A  diligent  reporter 
of  the  press  further  described  him  as 
"  of  medium  height,  rather  strongly  built, 
crisp  hair,  of  nearly  unmixed  negro 
blood,  and  bearing  in  his  countenance  an 
expression  of  honesty  and  strong  com- 
mon sense,  with  some  touches  of  humor." 
Further,  to  gratify  the  interest  of  the 
public,  his  portrait  was  taken  by  the 


THE  PRIVATEER  JEFF.  DAVIS. 


489 


photographers,  and  might  be  seen  ex- 
hibited in  the  shop  windows  in  Broad- 
way, and  somewhat  less  faithfully  pre- 
sented in  the  rude  wood-cuts  of  the 
"  illustrated  papers"  on  the  sidewalks. 
Negro  Tillman  was  in  fact,  with  a  wide 
circle,  the  lion  of  the  hour  ;  thousands 
had  eyes  to  gaze  upon  him,  and  ears  to 
listen  to  his  story,  the  facts  of  which  he 
narrated  with  the  utmost  coolness  and 
directness,  softening  the  horrors  of  the 
description,  at  the  cue  of  his  visitors, 
with  the  most  exhilarating  patriotic  emo- 
tions. Indeed,  his  audience  was  likely 
to  prove  so  great  that  sad  inroads  would 
have  been  made  upon  his  time,  had  he 
not  hit  upon  an  expedient  tending  to  re- 
lieve him  of  a  portion  "of  his  company, 
and  by  the  same  process  make  the  so- 
ciety of  the  rest  profitable  and  satis- 
factory. By  an  arrangement  with  the 
eminent  showman,  Mr.  Phineas  T.  Bar- 
num,  he  was  enabled  to  hold  his  court 
with  some  degree  of  public  privacy,  on  the 
usual  terms  of  admission  at  the  Museum, 
opposite  the  Park,  where,  the  large  class 
with  whom  seeing  is  believing,  might, 
according  to  the  promise  of  the  adver- 
tisement, hear  him  relate  "  his  expe- 
riences with  the  Southern  chivalry,"  and 
behold,  with  their  own  eyes,  "  the  seces- 
sion flag  which  the  rebels  made  out  of 
the  schooner's  American  flag,  also  a 
rebel  cutlass,  and  the  identical  hatchet 
with  which  he  killed  the  ocean  robbers." 
It  was  the  sight  of  this  outrage  to  the 
stars  and  stripes  on  board  the  vessel,  he 
was  encouraged  to  say,  which,  above  all 
other  motives,  had  moved  him  to  his 
deed  of  violence. 

Tillman  became  also  quite  a  prominent 
personage  by  the  illustration  which  his 
case  afforded  of  maritime  law.     An  in- 
teresting question  immediately  arose  as 
62 


to  his  rights  of  salvage.  The  Board  of 
Underwriters  took  it  into  consideration, 
and  distinguished  counsel  volunteered  to 
defend  his  claims.  It  was  said  that,  as 
one  of  the  hands  of  the  vessel,  he  had 
done  no  more  than  his  duty,  and  was 
hardly  entitled  to  this  legal  privilege  ; 
but  it  was  at  the  same  time  admitted  that 
his  conduct  had  been  so  meritorious 
that  he  was  entitled  to  the  amplest  re- 
muneration generosity  could  dictate. 
When  the  question  was  brought  before 
the  Courts,  it  was  decided  that  Tillman 
was  entitled  to  salvage,  and  a  large  sum 
thus  passed  into  his  hands. 

The  privateer  Jeff.  Davis,  the  captor  of 
the  Waring,  we  may  here  mention,  was, 
several  weeks  after,  on  the  morning  of 
Sunday,  the  19th  of  August,  wrecked  in 
attempting  to  cross  the  bar  at  the  entrance 
to  the  port  of  St.  Augustine.  Her  heavy 
guns  were  thrown  overboard  in  the  fruit- 
less effort  to  relieve  her  and  save  the 
supplies  which  she  had  captured.  The 
crew  however,  escaped,  and  were  re- 
ceived with  triumph  by  the  people  of 
St.  Augustine.  The  ladies  threw  open 
their  houses  with  every  demonstration 
of  joy  in  congratulation  of  the  safety  of 
the  privateersmen,  enhanced  by  the  re- 
lief which  their  arrival  afforded,  from  the 
dread  of  a  visit  from  a  Yankee  cruiser, 
for  which  the  Jeff.  Davis  had  been  at  first 
mistaken,  her  Confederate  flag,  it  was  sup- 
posed, having  been  hoisted  for  purposes 
of  deception.*  The  Charleston  Mercury 
tells  us  how  "  the  town  bells  rung  out  a 
joyous  peal  of  welcome,  and  the  people 
vied  with  each  other  in  their  courtesies 
to  the  shipwrecked  ones,"  adding,  as  an 
obituary  of  the  venturesome  craft :  "  The 
name  of  the  privateer  Jeff.  Davis  had 

*  Statement  of  F.  C.  Dutneux,  one  of  the  crew  of  the 
Jeff.  Davis,  to  the  Richmond  Enquirer. 


490 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


become  a  terror  to  the  Yankees.  The 
number  of  her  prizes  and  the  amount  of 
merchandise  which  she  captured  has  no 
parallel  since  the  days  of  the  Saucy 
Jack."  This  notable  Jeff.  Davis  was 
commanded  by  Captain  Coxetter  of  Flor- 
ida, described  as  "  a  gentleman  of  large 
experience  upon  the  sea,  having  been 
in  the  merchant  service  in  various  ca- 
pacities until  the  Mexican  war,  when 
he  was  master  of  a  transport  vessel  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  became  thor- 
oughly conversant  with  the  ports  of  Mex- 
ico and  the  West  India  Islands,  as  well 
as  the  coast  of  the  United  States.  After 
the  war,  he  took  charge  of  a  steamer 
running  from  Charleston,'  S.  C.,  to  Jack- 
sonville and  Pilatka,  East  Florida,  in 
which  capacity  he  became  extensively 
known  to  the  travelling  public  as  the 
polite  and  popular  captain  of  the  Caro- 
lina, and  afterwards  the  Everglade."  * 
Her  First-Lieutenant,  Portell,  was  at  one 
time  a  midshipman  in  the  United  States 
navy,  and  had  held  a  position  in  the 
Savannah  Custom  -  House.  The  Jeff. 


*   Port  Byron  (N.  Y.)  Gazette,  ed.  by  B.  W.  Thompson, 
a  refugee  from  Florida.     New  York  Tribune,  Sept.  3,  1861. 


Davis  herself  had  a  characteristic  pre- 
vious history.  She  was  formerly  the 
slaver  Echo,  which  had  been  captured 
about  two  years  previously  and  con- 
demned in  Charleston  harbor.  She  was 
a  full -rigged  brig,  having  a  general  re- 
semblance to  a  whaler,  and  mounted  a 
long  18-pound  pivot-gun  amidships,  two 
short  18-pound  guns  in  the  waist,  and 
two  short  12-pounders  on  the  top-gallant 
forecastle.  The  month  before  she  was 
wrecked  she  had  made  a  dashing  and 
highty  successful  cruise  along  the  East- 
ern shore,  running  in  as  near  as  Nan- 
tucket  shoals,  whither  the  sloop-of-war 
Yincennes  was  sent  in  haste  to  look  after 
her.  Her  last  adventure,  previous  to 
her  destruction,  was  the  capture  of  the 
ship  John  Crawford  from  Philadelphia, 
bound  to  Key  West,  with  arms  and  coal 
for  the  United  States  forces.  The  offi- 
cers and  crew,  twenty-two  in  number, 
were  taken  on  board  the  privateer,  and 
the  captured  vessel,  drawing  too  heavily 
to  be  brought  into  any  of  the  |  accessible 
Southern  ports,  was  fired,  and  holes  be- 
ing bored  in  her  sides  and  bottom,  she 
quickly  sank  in  flames. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 


EXTRA    SESSION    OF    THE    NATIONAL    CONGRESS. 


THE  extra  session  of  Congress  closed 
at  Washington  on  the  6th  of  August. 
Its  legislation  was  almost  exclusively 
confined  to  acts  bearing  immediately 
upon  the  prosecution  of  the  war — the 
maintenance  of  the  army  in  the  field  and 
provisions  for  its  enlargement  and  effi- 
ciency, the  increase  of  the  navy,  the 


financial  measures  and  adjustments  re- 
quired for  meeting  the  necessary  ex- 
penses, and  the  determination,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  of  the  policy  to  be  pursued 
toward  the  rebellious  States.  The  most 
ample  resources  of  men,  money  and  ma- 
terial were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Government  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
• 


APPROPRIATIONS   OF   CONGRESS. 


491 


war.  The  President  was  authorized  to 
accept  the  services  of  volunteers  "  for 
the  purpose  of  repelling  invasion,  sup- 
pressing insurrection,  enforcing  the 
laws  and  preserving  and  protecting  the 
public  property,"  to  the  number  of  five 
hundred  thousand,  to  be  called  for  as, 
from  time  to  time,  he  might  think  neces- 
sary, for  a  term  of  service  not  less  than 
six  months  nor  more  than  three  years. 
Nine  regiments  of  infantry,  one  regiment 
of  cavalry,  and  one  regiment  of  artillery 
were  authorized  to  be  added  to  the  reg- 
ular army.  Ten  millions  of  dollars  were 
set  apart  for  the  purchase  of  arms  in  ad- 
dition to  other  appropriations  of  the 
kind.  A  section  in  the  "  act  making  ap- 
propriations for  fortifications  and  other 
purposes,"  provided  the  abolishment  of 
flogging  as  a  punishment  in  the  army,  a 
similar  enlightened  enactment  having 
been  made  some  years  before  for  the  regu- 
lation of  the  navy.  The  pay  of  the  pri- 
vates in  the  regular  army  and  volunteers 
was  fixed  for  three  years  at  thirteen 
dollars  per  month.  A  section  of  the  act 
securing  this  increased  remuneration, 
legalized  all  the  acts,  proclamations  and 
orders  of  the  President  respecting  the 
army  and  navy,  and  the  militia  and  vol- 
unteers after  his  inauguration,  and  before 
the  meeting  of  Congress,  "to  the  same 
intent  and  with  the  same  effect  as  if  they 
had  been  issued  and  done  under  the 
previous  express  authority  and  direction 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States." 
This  met  the  most  important  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  joint  resolution  for  the  ap- 
proval and  confirmation  of  certain  acts 
of  the  President  which  was  discussed  at 
various  times  during  the  session  without 
a  final  vote  being  taken.* 

Liberal  appropriations  were  also  made 

*  Ante,  p,  363. 


for  the  enlargement  and  support  of  the 
navy,  and  the  general  efficiency  of  the 
department.  The  Secretary  was  author- 
ized to  hire,  purchase  or  contract  for 
such  vessels  as  might  be  necessary  for 
the  temporary  increase  of  the  service, 
and  furnish  them  with  the  requisite  mu- 
nitions, and  for  this  purpose  and  "  to 
suppress  piracy,  and  to  render  more 
effective  the  closing  of  the  ports  of  the 
insurgents,"  three  millions  of  dollars 
were  specially  appropriated.  A  million 
and  a  half  of  dollars  were  appropriated 
for  the  construction  of  one  or  more  ar- 
mored or  iron  or  steel-clad  steamships 
or  floating  steam  batteries,  to  be  expend- 
ed by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  on  the 
report  and  approval  of  the  plans  and 
specifications  of  a  board  of  three  skillful 
naval  officers.  Twelve  small  side-wheel 
steamers  of  light  draught  and  great 
speed  were  ordered  to  be  built  with  the 
least  possible  delay,  and  twelve  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  appropriated  for 
the  purpose.  Enlistments  were  to  be 
made  by  the  Secretary  for  the  term  of 
three  years  or  during  the  war,  of  "such 
number  of  able  seamen,  ordinary  seamen 
and  boys  as  he  might  judge  necessary 
and  proper  to  place  the  entire  navy  of 
the  United  States,  and  all  vessels  that 
may  be  added  to  it,  in  a  state  of  the  ut- 
most efficiency  for  active  service."  To 
assist  the  Secretary  in  the  labors  of  the 
department,  the  President  was  directed 
to  appoint  an  Assistant  Secretarj^  of  the 
Navy.  This  office  was  conferred  upon 
Lieutenant  Gr.  Y.  Fox,  a  gentleman  of 
great  practical  experience,  not  only  by 
his  early  duties  as  an  officer  in  the 
United  States  navy  and  the  mercantile 
service  of  the  Atlantic  and  G-ulf  steam- 
ers, but  by  his  general  efficiency  as  a 
man  of  business.  Since  his  employment 


492 


WAR  FOE  THE  UNION. 


by  the  Government  in  the  attempted  re- 
lief of  Fort  Suniter,  he  had  held  the  post 
of  Chief  Clerk  in  the  Navy  Department. 
His  promotion  was  hailed  with  pleasure 
as  a  promise  of  increased  vigor  in  the 
service. 

To  meet  the  financial  requirements  of 
the  war,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in 
general  accordance  with  his  recommenda- 
tions,* was  authorized  to  borrow  the  sum 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dol- 
lars, for  which  bonds  arid  treasury  notes 
were  to  be  issued,  as  might  be  expedient. 
The  bonds  were  to  be  irredeemable  for 
twenty  years,  and  were  to  bear  interest 
not  exceeding  seven  per  cent.  ;  the  trea- 
sury notes  of  a  denomination  not  below 
fifty  dollars  were  to  be  payable  three 
years  after  date,  with  annual  interest  at 
the  rate  of  7r3o  per  cent.,  while  to  facili- 
tate the  disbursements  of  the  Government 
and  the  payment  of  revenues,  lower  de- 
nominations of  treasury  notes,  not  below 
five  dollars,  to  the  extent  of  fifty  millions 
of  dollars,  were  authorized  to  be  used 
for  these  purposes.  The  exclusive  use 
of  the  Sub-Treasury  was  modified  by 
allowing  the  Government  to  deposit  its 
funds  with  solvent  banks,  a  measure 
which,  taken  in  connection  with  the  issue 
of  the  bills  receivable  for  specie,  greatly 
relieved  the  financial  pressure  of  the  day. 
For  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  this 
debt,  and  for  the  supply  of  other  public 
needs,  new  duties  were  imposed  on  va- 
rious articles  of  luxury  and  necessity, 
including  tea  and  coffee,  which  had  been 
hitherto  exempt.  On  the  former  a  duty 
of  fifteen  cents  was  imposed  ;  on  the  lat- 
ter of  four  cents.  Another  section  of 
the  same  Act  of  August  5,  laid  a  direct 
tax  of  twenty  millions  of  dollars  on  all 
real  estate  of  the  country,  to  be  appor- 

»  Ante,  p.  362. 


tioned  among  the  several  States,  loyal 
and  insurgent.  Property,  belonging  to 
any  individuals  residing  thereon,  to  the 
amount  of  five  hundred  dollars,  was  to 
be  exempted  from  taxation.  A  tax  was 
also  provided  to  be  levied  on  the  excess 
of  all  annual  incomes  above  eight  hun- 
dred dollars.  The  latter  was  to  be  cal- 
culated on  the  incomes  of  the  year  1861. 
The  power  of  appointment  of  officers  to 
carry  out  this  system  of  taxation  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  but 
was  not  to  be  exercised  by  him  till  the 
ensuing  February.  When  the  day  came, 
a  new  and  more  comprehensive  bill,  su- 
perseding the  present  one,  was  found  to 
be  necessary  by  Congress  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  the  times.  Mr.  Chase's 
suggestion  of  excise  duties  and  other 
taxes  on  special  articles  of  personal 
property,  legacies,  etc.,  was  not  adopted 
in  the  act  of  1861. 

Within  a  month  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  Congress,  when  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  issue  of  the  national  loan 
were  completed,  Mr.  Chase  sent  forth 
an  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  in  behalf  of  the  subscription. 
He  called  for  purchasers  at  par  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  Treas- 
ury notes  bearing  7i3o  per  cent,  in- 
terest, according  to  the  plan  already 
described.  Subscriptions  promptly  flow- 
ed in  from  individuals,  and  large  amounts 
were  taken  by  the  banking  institutions. 
As  the  benefits  of  the  loan  became 
known,  the  first  and  second  issues  of 
fifty  millions  each  were  generally  ab- 
sorbed for  investment.  The  Secretary's 
circular  or  appeal  is  of  interest  beyond 
the  immediate  occasion  which  called  it 
forth,  for  the  calculations  which  it  pre- 
sented of  the  resources  of  the  country, 
and  the  probable  cost  and  duration  of 


MR.    CHASE'S   CIRCULAR. 


493 


the  rebellion.  "The  real  and  personal 
values  in  the  United  States,"  he  repre- 
sented, "  reach  the  vast  aggregate  of 
sixteen  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  and 
in  the  States  now  loyal  to  the  Union  this 
aggregate  is  eleven  thousand  millions. 
The  yearly  surplus  earnings  of  the  loyal 
people  are  estimated  by  intelligent  per- 
sons conversant  with  such  investigations, 
at  more  than  four  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  ;  while  the  well-considered  judg- 
ments of  military  men  of  the  highest 
rank  and  repute,  warrant  a  confident 
expectation  that  the  war,  prosecuted  with 
energy,  courage  and  skill,  maybe  brought 
to  a  termination  before  the  close  of  the 
next  spring  ;  in  which  event,  the  cost, 
beyond  the  revenue,  will  hardly  exceed 
the  amount  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty 
millions'  loan,  authorized  by  Congress. 
With  due  economy  in  all  branches  of 
the  public  service,  the  total  expendi- 
tures for  all  objects,  military,  naval  and 
civil,  in  this  year  of  war,  need  not  ex- 
ceed the  ordinary  expenditures  of  Great 
Britain  or  France  in  years  of  peace. 

"  And  is  it,"  he  adds,  "  unreasonable 
to  hope  that  the  auspicious  result  of 
peace  may  be  hastened  by  the  reflec- 
tions of  the  citizens  of  the  States  in  in- 
surrection ?  That  they  will  review  their 
action  ;  weigh  their  own  welfare  ;  con- 
sider the  disposition  of  the  people  of  the 
whole  country  to  recognize  all  their  con- 
stitutional rights,  and  to  allow  them  their 
full  share  in  the  benefits  of  the  common 
Government,  and  renew  that  allegiance 
to  the  Union  which,  in  an  evil  hour, 
they  have  been  tempted  to  throw  off? 
Will  they  not  reflect  that  the  war,  into 
which  the  Government  of  the-  Union  has 
been  constrained,  is  not  a  war  for  their 
subjugation,  but  a  war  for  national  exist- 
ence, and  that  an  auspicious  result  to  the 


Union  will  benefit  as  largely  the  States 
in  insurrection  as  the  States  which  have 
remained  loyal  ?  However  this  may  be, 
the  duty  of  the  National  Government,  as 
the  constitutionally  constituted  agent  of 
the  people,  admits  of  no  question.  The 
war,  made  necessary  by  insurrection  and 
reluctantly  accepted  by  the  Govern- 
ment, must  be  prosecuted  with  all  pos- 
sible vigor  until  the  restoration  of  the 
just  authority  of  the  Union  shall  ensure 
permanent  peace.  The  same  good  Pro- 
vidence which  conducted  our  fathers 
through  the  difficulties  and  dangers 
which  beset  the  formation  of  the  Union, 
has  graciously  strengthened  our  hands 
for  the  work  of  its  preservation.  The 
crops  of  the  year  are  ample.  Granaries 
and  barns  are  everywhere  full.  The 
capitalists  of  the  country  come  cheer- 
fully forward  to  sustain  the  credit  of  the 
Government.  Already  also,  even  in  ad- 
vance of  this  appeal,  men  of  all  occupa- 
tions seek  to  share  the  honors  and  the 
advantages  of  the  loan.  Never,  except 
because  of  the  temporary  depression, 
caused  by  the  rebellion  and  the  derange- 
ment of  business  occasioned  by  it,  were 
the  people  of  the  United  States  in  a 
better  condition  to  sustain  a  great  con- 
test than  now." 

The  passage  of  a  bill  confiscating  the 
property  of  persons  actively  engaged  in 
the  rebellion,  was  thought  to  be  demand- 
ed by  the  country,  and  was  evidently 
predetermined  in  the  policy  of  the  ma- 
jority. Mr.  Trumbull,  Chairman  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee,  on  the  15th  of 
July,  introduced  the  bill  into  the  Senate, 
which,  with  an  amendment  from  the 
House,  became  the  law  of  the  land.  As 
finally  passed  and  approved  on  the  last 
day  of  the  session,  it  was  as  follows  : 
"  An  Act  to  Confiscate  Property  used  for 


494 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


other  insurrectionary  purposes.  Be  it 
enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  United  States  of 
America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That 
if,  during  the  present  or  any  future  in- 
surrection against  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  after  the  President 
of  the  United  States  shall  have  declared, 
by  proclamation,  that  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  are  opposed,  and  the  exe- 
cution thereof  obstructed,  by  combina- 
tions too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by 
the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceed- 
ings, or  by  the  power  vested  in  the  mar- 
shal by  law,  any  person  or  persons,  his, 
her,  or  their  agent,  attorney  or  em- 
ployee, shall  purchase  or  acquire,  sell  or 
give,  any  property  of  whatsoever  kind 
or  description,  with  intent  to  use  or  em- 
ploy the  same,  or  suffer  the  same  to  be 
used  or  employed,  in  aiding,  abetting,  or 
promoting  such  insurrection  or  resistance 
to  the  laws,  or  any  person  or  persons 
engaged  therein  ;  or  if  any  person  or 
persons,  being  the  owner  or  owners  of 
any  such  property,  shall  knowingly  use 
or  employ,  or  consent  to  the  use  or  em- 
ployment of  the  same  as  aforesaid,  all 
such  property  is'  hereby  declared  to  be 
lawful  subject  of  prize  and  capture 
wherever  found  ;  and  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  cause  the  same  to  be  seized, 
confiscated  and  condemned. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That 
such  prizes  and  capture  shall  be  con- 
demned in  the  district  or  circuit  court  of 
the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  of 
the  amount,  or  in  admiralty,  in  any  dis- 
trict in  which  the  same  may  be  seized, 
or  in  which  they  may  be  taken,  all  pro- 
ceedings first  instituted. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted, 
That  the  Attorney-General,  or  any  dis- 


trict attorney  of  the  United  States,  in 
which  said  property  may  at  the  time  be, 
may  institute  the  proceedings  of  con- 
demnation, and  in  such  case  they  shall 
be  wholly  for  the  benefit  of  the  United 
States  ;  or  any  person  may  file  an  infor- 
mation with  such  an  attorney,  in  which 
case  the  proceedings  shall  be  for  the  use 
of  such  informer  and  the  United  States 
in  equal  parts. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That 
whenever  hereafter,  during  the  present 
insurrection  against  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  any  person  claimed 
to  be  held  to  labor  or  service  under  the 
law  of  any  State,  shall  be  required  or 
permitted  by  the  person  to  whom  such 
labor  or  service  is  claimed  to  be  due,  or 
by  the  lawful  agent  of  such  person,  to 
take  up  arms  against  the  United  States  ; 
or  shall  be  required  or  permitted  by  the 
person  to  whom  such  labor  or  service  is 
claimed  to  be  due,  or  his  lawful  agent, 
to  work  or  to  be  employed  in  or  upon 
any  fort,  navy  yard,  dock,  armory,  ship 
entrenchment,  or  in  any  military  or  na- 
val service,  whatsoever,  against  the  Gov- 
ernment and  lawful  authority  of  the 
United  States,  then,  and  in  every  such 
case,  the  person  to  whom  such  labor  or 
service  is  claimed  to  be  due,  shall  forfeit 
his  claim  to  such  labor,  any  law  of  the 
State  or  of  the  United  States  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding.  And  whenever 
thereafter  the  person  claiming  such  labor 
or  service,  shall  seek  to  enforce  his  claim, 
it  shall  be  a  full  and  sufficient  answer  to 
such  claim  that  the  person  whose  service 
or  labor  is  claimed  had  been  employed 
in  hostile  service  against  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  contrary  tc 
the  provisions  of  this  act." 

The  vote  on  the  final  passage  of  the 
bill  stood  in  the  Senate  24  to  11  ;  in  the 


A   CONFISCATION   ACT. 


House  of  Representatives  60  to  48. 
There  was  comparatively  little  discussion 
of  the  question  in  either  branch  of  Con- 
gress. Mr.  Breckinridge,  in  the  Senate, 
on  the  introduction  of  the  amendment 
liberating  the  slaves  employed  in  the 
rebellion,  contented  himself  with  pro- 
nouncing it  "very  objectionable,"  and 
calling  for  the  yeas  and  nays.  "  In  my 
opinion,"  said  he,  "  the  amendment  will 
bfi  one  of  a  series  which  will  amount, 
before  we  are  done  with  it — if,  unhappi- 
ly, we  have  no  settlement  or  adjustment 
soon— to  a  general  confiscation  of  all 
property  and  a  loosing  of  all  bonds." 
Six  votes  only  were  recorded  against 
the  amendment — those  of  Breckinridge, 
Johnson  of  Missouri,  Kennedy  and 
Pearce  of  Maryland,  Trusten  Polk  of 
Missouri,  and  Powell  of  Kentucky.*  In 
the  minority  vote  on  the  final  passage, 
Kennedy  was  absent,  and  there  were 
added  to  the  names  just  given  those  of 
Josse  D.  Bright  of  Illinois,  Carlile  of 
Western  Virginia,  Edgar  Cowan  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Latham  from  California,  Rice 
from  Minnesota,  and  Saulsbury  from 
Delaware.  Of  the  forty-eight  who  voted 
against  the  bill  in  the  House,  ten  were 
from  Kentucky,  seven  from  Ohio,  six 
from  Indiana,  five  from  Pennsylvania, 
five  from  Maryland,  and  five  from  New 
York.  The  most  prominent  of  these  op- 
ponents of  the  measure  who  spoke  in 
the  debate  were  Crittenden  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  Diven,  a  Republican  member 
from  New  York.  The  latter  objected  to 
the  measure  as  adding  unnecessarily  to 
the  rigors  of  war  without  increasing  the 
success  of  the  army — in  fact,  it  would 
stimulate  the  resistance  of  the  enemy. 
The  laws  of  war  provided  for  the  seizure 
of  all  military  property,  and  to  that  the 

*  Senate  Proceedings,  July  22,  1861. 


penalties  of  this  nature  should  be  con- 
fined As  for  the  negroes  taken  in  arms 
against  the  country,  he  would  have  them 
treated  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  would 
make  it  a  condition  of  their  release  that 
their  masters  should  lose  all  right  to 
them.  Mr.  Crittenden  saw  in  the  bill  an 
assumption  in  Congress  of  powers  over 
slavery  in  the  States  opposed  to  the 
principles  of  the  Constitution.  That  in- 
strument, he  said,  prohibited  the  forfeit- 
ure of  property  of  any  description  what- 
ever, beyond  the  lifetime  of  the  offender. 
The  bill,  on  the  contrary,  made  the  for- 
feiture absolute.  "  If  you  can,"  said  he, 
"  on  conditions,  in  time  of  war,  abrogate 
and  abolish  slavery,  it  may  well  be  ask- 
ed whether  you  cannot  do  it  in  time  of 
peace,  on  similar  conditions  of  supposed 
future  crime  ?  Are  we  in  a  condition 
now,  gentlemen,  to  hazard  this  momen- 
tous, irritating,  agitating,  revolutionary 
question  ?  Is  it  politic  to  wage  such  a 
war  as  that?  I  know  that  it  is  forced 
upon  you.  Your  capital  is  now  threat- 
ened, and  is  within  hearing  of  the  en- 
emy's cannon.  You  are  bound  to  defend 
yourselves,  and  to  defend  yourselves  like 
men.  Shall  we  send  forward  to  the 
field  a  whole  catalogue  of  penal  laws  to 
fight  this  battle  with  ?  Arms  more  im- 
potent were  never  resorted  to.  They 
are  beneath  the  dignity  of  our  great 
cause.  They  are  outside  of  the  policy 
which  ought  to  control  this  Government, 
and  lead  us  on  to  success  in  the  war 
that  we  are  now  fighting.  If  you  hold 
up  before  your  enemies  this  cloud  of 
penal  laws,  they  will  say  :  '  War  is  bet- 
ter than  peace.  War  is  comparative 
repose.'  They  will  say  when  they  are 
subdued,  or  if  they  choose  now  to  sub- 
mit, '  What  next  ?  Have  we  peace,  or 
is  this  new  army  of  penal  laws  then  to 


496 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


come  into  action  ?  Are  these  penal  laws 
to  inflict  upon  us  a  long  agony  of  prose- 
cution and  forfeiture  ?'  No,  gentlemen  ; 
it  is  not  by  such  means  that  we  are  to 
achieve  the  great  object  of  establishing 
our  Union  and  reuniting  the  country. 
Sir,  these  laws  will  have  no  efficacy  in 
war.  Their  only  effect  will  be  to  stimu- 
late your  adversaries  to  still  more  des- 
perate measures.  That  will  be  the  effect 
of  this  army  of  penal  laws.  The  experi- 
ment has  been  tried  by  other  countries. 
England  tried  it  upon  Ireland,  and  she 
reaped  the  reward  of  it  in  hundreds  of 
years  of  intestine  war.  And  that  is  its 
natural  product.  These  penal  laws  will 
prove  to  be  the  seed-ground  from  which 
will  spring  up  new  rebellions.  Gentle- 
men, for  the  sake  of  our  country,  I  ask 
you  not  to  enter  upon  such  an  experi- 
ment. Your  laws  already  declare  what 
is  treason  ;  they  define  what  shall  be  the 
penalties  of  that  crime.  They  are  suffi- 
cient, and  I  hope  there  will  be  no  fur- 
ther action,  such  as  this  bill  contemplates. 
You  know,  as  well  as  I  do,  the  peculiar 
sensitiveness  which  exists  upon  the  pe- 
culiar species  of  property  to  which  this 
bill  especially  applies.  I  state  now,  as 
I  have  stated  more  than  once  in  the 
other  end  of  the  Capitol,  that  I  do  not 
appear  here  to  plead  the  cause  of  the 
slaveholder.  I  am  here  to  plead  for  my 
country  ;  I  am  here  to  speak  for  my 
country  ;  and  with  an  honest,  sincere 
heart,  with  all  the  earnestness  of  my  na- 
ture, do  I  implore  you  to  forego  the  pass- 
age of  this  bill,  and  to  dismiss  it  from 
your  deliberations.  The  eyes  of  the 
world  are  upon  you.  You  are  in  the 
presence  of  events  that  will  be  of  deeper 
interest  in  history  than  any  that  have 
occurred  in  a  hundred  years  ;  of  as  great 
importance,  it  seems  to  me,  as  can  occur 


to  the  human  race.  Then  let  us  not  be 
here  employing  our  time  and  ingenuity 
in  finding  out  penal  laws  that  can  only 
have  their  effect  after  the  war  is  over. 
When  that  war  shall  be  over,  I  want  tp 
see  it  succeeded  by  the  blessings  of 
peace  ;  I  want  to  see  manifested  that 
spirit  of  forbearance  and  forgiveness 
which  alone  can  bring  us  peace.  If  we 
are  to  provide,  and  provide  beforehand, 
for  a  code  of  penal  laws,  which  is  to  visit 
the  citizens  of  the  rebellions  States  when 
they  shall  have  laid  down  their  arms,  in 
their  property,  in  their  persons,  and  in 
every  way,  we  shall  have  no  peace." 

Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, a  Eepublican  member,  closed  the 
debate.  He  urged  the  propriety  of  the 
measure  as  an  exercise  of  the  rights  of 
war.  In  answer  to  a  question  from 
Mallory  of  Kentucky,  an  opponent  of 
the  bill,  who  pronounced  it  an  unconsti- 
tutional act,  he  said  "  that  it  was  consti- 
tutional and  according  to  the  law  of  na- 
tions in  time  of  war.  You  have  no  right 
to  do  it  in  time  .of  peace,  but  in  time  of 
war  you  have  the  right  to  confiscate  the 
property  of  every  rebel."  In  reference 
to  the  question  of  the  treatment  of  the 
negroes  taken  from  the  enemy,  "  by 
what  principle  of  the  law  of  nations,  .by 
what  principle  of  philanthropy,"  he  ask- 
ed, "  can  you  return  them  to  the  bond- 
age from  which  you  have  delivered  them, 
and  rivet  again  the  chains  you  have  once 
broken  ?  I,  for  one,  shall  never  shrink 
from  saying,  when  these  slaves  are  once 
conquered  by  us,  'Go  and  be  free.'  God 
forbid  that  I  should  ever  agree  that  they 
should  be  returned  again  to  their  mas- 
ters. I  do  not  say  that  this  war  is  made 
for  that  purpose.  Ask  those  who  made 
the  war  what  is  its  object.  Do  not  ask 
us.  Our  object  is  to  subdue  the  rebels." 


CONSERVATIVE   RESOLUTION   OF   CONGRESS. 


497 


Replying  to  tho  suggestions  which  had. 
been  made  of  the  effect  the  confiscation 
bill  might  have  in  strengthening  the  pur- 
poses of  the  enemy,  he  concluded  :  "But 
it  is  said  that  if  we  hold  out  this  thing 
they  will  never  submit — that  we  cannot 
conquer  them  —  that  they  will  suffer 
themselves  to  be  slaughtered,  and  their 
whole  country  to  be  laid  waste.  Sir, 
war  is  a  grievous  thing  at  best,  and  civil 
war  more  than  any  other  ;  but  if  they 
hold  this  language,  and  the  means  which 
they  have  suggested  must  be  resorted  to, 
if  their  whole  country  must  be  laid 
waste  and  made  a  desert  in  order  to 
save  this  Union  from  destruction,  so  let 
it  be.  I  would  rather,  sir,  reduce  them 
to  a  condition  where  their  whole  country 
is  to  be  repeopled  by  a  band  of  freemen 
than  to  see  them  perpetrate  the  destruc- 
tion of  this  people  through  our  agency. 
I  do  not  say  that  it  is  time  to  resort  to 
such  means,  and  I  do  not  know  when  the 
time  will  come  ;  but  I  never  fear  to  ex- 
press my  sentiments.  It  is  not  a  ques- 
tion with  me  of  policy,  but  a  question  of 
principle.  If  this  war  is  continued  long, 
and  is  bloody,  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
free  people  of  the  North  will  stand  by 
and  see  their  sons  and  brothers  and 
neighbors  slaughtered  by  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  by  rebels,  with  arms  in 
their  hands,  and  forbear  to  call  upon 
their  enemies  to  be  our  friends,  and  to 
help  us  in  subduing  them  ;  I,  for  one,  if 
it  continues  long,  and  has  the  conse- 
quences mentioned,  shall  be  ready  to  go 
for  it,  let  it  horrify  the  gentleman  from 
New  York,  [Mr.  Diven]  or  anybody 
else.  That  is  my  doctrine,  and  that  will 
be  the  doctrine  of  the  whole  free  people 
of  the  North  before  two  years  roll  round, 
if  this  war  continues.  As  to  the  end  of 
the  war,  until  the  rebels  are  subdued,  no 
63 


man  in  the  North  thinks  of  it.  If  the 
Government  are  equal  to  the  people,  and 
I  believe  they  are,  there  will  be  no  bar- 
gaining, there  will  be  no  negotiation, 
there  will  be  no  truces  with  the  rebels, 
except  to  bury  the  dead,  until  every 
man  shall  have  laid  down  his  arms,  dis- 
banded his  organization,  submitted  him- 
self to  the  Government,  and  sued  for 
mercy.  And,  sir,  if  those  who  have  the 
control  of  the  Government  are  not  fit  for 
this  task  and  have  not  the  nerve  and 
mind  for  it.  the  people  will  take  care 
that  there  are  others  who  are — although, 
sir,  I  have  not  a  bit  of  fear  of  the  present 
Administration  or  of  the  present  Execu- 
tive. I  have  spoken  more  freely,  per- 
haps, than  gentlemen  within  my  hearing 
might  think  politic,  but  I  have  spoken 
just  what  I  felt.  I  have  spoken  what  I 
believe  will  be  the  result  ;  and  I  warn 
Southern  gentlemen  that  if  this  war  is  to 
continue,  there  will  be  a  time  when  my 
friend  from  New  York  will  see  it  de- 
clared by  this  free  nation  that  every 
bondman  in  the  South — belonging  to  a 
rebel,  recollect ;  I  confine  it  to  them— 
shall  be  called  upon  to  aid  us  in  war 
against  their  masters,  and  to  restore  this 
Union."* 

Whatever  considerations  and  sugges- 
tions, however,  might  be  thrown  out  in 
debate,  as  to  the  possible  incidents  of  the 
struggle,  the  sense  of  Congress,  as  to  the 
means  and  objects  of  the  war,  was  clear 
and  explicit,  and  was  in  accordance  with 
the  policy  of  the  Administration.  The 
contest  was  to  be  carried  on  for  the  pre- 
servation of  the  Government,  and  not  in 
a  revolutionary  spirit.  This  was  suf- 
ficiently shown  by  the  decided  vote,  117 
to  2,  on  the  passage  of  Mr.  Critteuden's 
Resolution  in  the  House  of  Representa- 


*  Debates  in  the  House  of  Represoututives,  Aug.  2, 1861. 


498 


WAR  FOR   THE   UNION. 


tives  :  "Resolved,  That  the  present  de- 
plorable civil  war  has  been  forced  upon 
the  country  by  the  disunionists  of  the 
Southern  States,  now  in  revolt  against 
the  constitutional  Government,  and  in 
arms  around  the  capital  ;  that  in  this 
national  emergency,  Congress,  banishing 
all  feelings  of  mere  passion  or  resent- 
ment, will  recollect  only  its  duty  to  the 
whole  country  ;  that  this  war  is  not 
waged  upon  our  part  in  any  spirit  of 
oppression,  or  for  any  purpose  of  con- 
quest or  subjugation,  or  purpose  of 
overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the 
.  rights  or  established  institutions  of  those 
States,  but  to  defend  and  maintain  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  and  to 
^reserve  the  Union  with  all  the  dignity, 
equality  and  rights  of  the  several  States 
unimpaired  ;  and  that  as  soon  as  these 
objects  are  accomplished  the  war  ought 
to  cease." 

An  important  measure  of  this  session, 
called  forth  by  the  new  situation  of 
affairs,  was  the  passage  of  an  Act  re- 
quiring an  oath  of  allegiance,  and  to 
support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  to  be  administered  to  certain  per- 
sons in  the  civil  service  of  the  United 
States.  It  was  specially  intended  to 
purge  the  Government  departments  of 
disloyal  agents.  Every  officer,  or  clerk, 
or  employe  was  required,  on  penalty  of 
dismission  for  refusal,  to  swear  that  he 
"will  support,  protect  and  defend  the 
Constitution  and  Government  of  the 
United  States  against  all  enemies,  wheth- 
er domestic  or  foreign,  and  bear  true 
faith,  allegiance  and  loyalty  to  the  same, 
any  ordinance,  resolution  or  law  of  any 
State,  convention  or  legislature  to  .the 
contrary  notwithstanding  ;  and  further, 
that  I  do  this  with  a  full  determination, 
pledge  and  purpose,  without  any  mental 


reservation  or  evasion  whatsoever,  and 
further,  that  I  will  well  and  faithfully 
perform  all  the  duties  which  may  be  re- 
quired of  me  by  law."  The  terms  of 
this  special  oath,  and  the  fact  that  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  be  presented  by 
Congress  sufficiently  indicate  the  diffi- 
culties and  perils  with  which  the  Ad- 
ministration of  the  Government  was 
beset  at  the  national  capital. 

The  temper  of  the  new  Congress  was 
shown  in  the  more  determined  action 
resolved  upon  in  reference  to  the  missing 
Senators  of  the  seceding  States,  in  com- 
parison with  the  simple  recognition  of 
withdrawal,  by  declaring  the  seats  va- 
cant, with  which  the  previous  Congress 
had  been  contented.  It  was  thought 
that  the  new  cases  of  the  kind  which  had 
arisen  should  be  branded  by  expulsion. 
Accordingly  on  the  motion  of  Daniel 
Clark  of  New  Hampshire,  the  Senate, 
on  the  1 1th  July,  formally  expelled  the 
absentee  members  :  Mason  and  Hunter 
of  Virginia,  Clingman  and  Bragg  of 
North  Carolina,  Chesnut  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Nicholson  of  Tennessee,  Sebas- 
tian and  Mitchel  of  Arkansas,  Hemphill 
and  Wigfall  of  Texas,  it  being  "ap- 
parent to  the  Senate  that  said  Senators 
are  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  for  the  des- 
truction of  the  Union  and  Government, 
or,  with  full  knowledge  of  such  con- 
spiracy, have  failed  to  advise  the  Gov- 
ernment of  its  progress,  or  aid  in  its 
suppression."  Bayard  of  Delaware,  ob- 
jected to  the  censure  in  this  resolution, 
sheltering  the  Senators  under  the  action 
of  their  States,  which  they  followed  in 
retiring.  "  The  action  was  avowed, 
open  ;  it  was  an  appeal  to  the  people 
of  their  respective  States  ;  the  people  of 
their  States,  by  majorities,  recognized 
that  course,  and  the  States  assumed  the 


ADMISSION    OF   THE  VIRGINIA   SENATORS. 


499 


responsibility,  as  political  governments, 
of  going  out  of  this  Union.  I  am  not 
willing  to  pass  judgment  of  expulsion 
upon  the  individuals  founded  upon  that." 
Latham  of  California,  took  a  similar 
view  of  this  matter,  and  moved  that  the 
word  "expelled"  be  omitted  from  the 
resolution.  "  Expulsion,"  said  he,  "  im- 
plies turpitude.  It  is  a  reflection  upon 
the  personal  character  of  the  individual ; 
it  is  a  stain.  Now  I  know  myself  that 
some  Senators — two  in  particular  — 
named  in  that  resolution,  did  not  in- 
dorse the  right  of  secession.  They  dis- 
approved of  it ;  they  never  sanctioned 
it ;  and  they  did  not  think  they  could 
occupy  a  seat  on  this  floor  after  their 
State  had  seceded."  McDougall,  the 
fellow-Senator  of  the  last,  speaker  from 
California,  differed  from  the  views  of 
his  colleague.  "  The  expulsion,"  said 
he,  "  is  for  personal  cause.  It  is,  that 
they  have  espoused  the  controversy 
made  against  the  Republic.  There  may 
be  no  turpitude  in  the  act.  Treason  was 
always  a  gentlemanly  crime,  and  in 
ancient  times  a  man  who  committed  it 
was  entitled  to  the  axe  instead  of  the 
halter.  However,  it  is  no  more  the  less 
a  crime,  and  the  greatest ;  and  espousing 
a  cause  against  the  Republic,  if  it  be  not 
treason,  is  akin  to  that  crime.  I  am 
prepared  to  vote  for  the  resolution  of 
expulsion."  The  resolution  was  then 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  32  to  10.  John- 
son of  Tennessee  voting  with  the  mi- 
nority. 

The  admission  of  the  new  senators, 
Messrs.  Willey  and  Carlile,  from  West- 
ern Virginia,  on  the  13th  of  July,  was 
preceded  by  an  animated  debate,  in 
which  the  question  of  the  regularity  of 
the  proceeding  was  discussed  by  Bayard 
and  Saulsbury  of  Delaware,  Johnson  of 


Tennessee,  Trumbull  of  Illinois,  Collamer 
of  Vermont,  Powell  of  Kentucky,  and 
Hale  of  New  Hampshire.  Bayard  ob- 
jected to  acting  on  the  credentials,  as 
involving  the  recognition  of  an  irregu- 
lar State  government  in  Virginia,  and 
moved  that  they  be  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Judiciary.  Saulsbury 
raised  a  question  of  consistency.  The 
credentials  declared  the  election  of  the 
new  senators  to  be  made  on  the  9th  of 
July,  to  fill  vacancies,  and  the  Senate,  on 
the  llth,  had  expelled  the  old  members, 
therefore  the  vacancies,  as  stated,  did 
not  exist.  Johnson  of  Tennessee  advo- 
cated the  prompt  admission  of  the  new 
members.  Saulsbury  again  insisted  on 
the  irregularity.  Trumbull  said  "  he 
was  not  for  sticking  in  the  bark  about 
this  matter.  Let  us  take  the  condition 
of  things  as  it  is.  Here  is  the  State  of 
Virginia  in  Rebellion.  If  you  are  going 
outside  to  inquire  after  the  fact,  you  will 
ascertain  that  a  portion  of  the  people  of 
that  State  have  risen  in  arms  against  the 
Government ;  another  portion  of  the 
people  of  that  State  are  lc}ral  to  the 
Union  ;  and  the  loyal  men  of  Virginia 
have  elected  a  legislature  and  seek  re- 
presentation in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States.  They  are  entitled  to 
representation  here,  and  the  enemies  of 
the  country  are  not." 

Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  while  vindi- 
cating the  admission  of  the  senators,  was 
roused  to  an  emphatic  declaration  of  his 
views  of  the  position  of  the  country.  "  I 
hope,"  said  he,  "  that  the  Senate  will  not 
hesitate.  Sir,  this  is  no  question  of  form, 
no  question  of  ceremony  ;  it  is  a  question 
of  life  or  death  with  this  Republic  and 
with  this  Government.  The  men  that 
are  in  arms  against  you,  are  in  arms 
against  your  very  existence.  The  idea 


500 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


of  your  national  life  a  day  after  you  yield 
to  their  position  is  absurd  and  inconsist- 
ent. Sir,  this  Government  had  borne 
and  forborne  until  your  forbearance  was 
construed  into  pusilanimity  ;  and  during 
the  last  session  of  Congress  the  most  in- 
sulting language  that  ever  fell  from  hu- 
man lips  was  uttered  in  reference  to  this 
very  general  Government ;  and  the  gen- 
tlemen for  whom  so  much  regard  is  now 
felt  and  expressed,  sat  by,  counseled  and 
advised  with  the  man  who  told  us  that 
we  had  been  smitten  a  staggering  blow 
in  the  face  that  we  dared  not  resent. 
Yes,  sir,  that  is  exactly  the  way  this 
Government  has  been  treated  ;  and  it 
has  come  to  the  very  last  point,  where  it 
must  either  vindicate  its  existence  by  all 
the  force  that  it  commands,  or  it  must  go 
out  in  national  disgrace  forever.  This  is 
the  day  ;  this  is  the  hour  ;  this  is  the 
time  ;  this  is  the  experiment.  Sir,  it  is 
the  culmination  of  the  great  contest  that 
has  been  going  on  through  all  time  be- 
tween despotism  on  the  one  side,  and 
constitutional  government  and  liberty  on 
the  other.  That  is  the  issue  ;  and  we  are 
fighting  the  battle  of  all  past  ages  and 
all  coming  generations.  They  all  culmi- 
nate in  the  experiment  that  we  are  mak- 
ing to-day.  Sir,  this  war  has  been 
forced  upon  the  country.  Things  went 
on  until  the  last  question  that  was  left  to 
it  was  to  submit  ignominiously,  or,  with 
all  the  energy  that  it  could  command, 
send  its  thrilling  voice  out  to  the  millions 
that  were  subject  to  its  control,  and  that 
— in  their  folly,  I  had  almost  said — be- 
lieved they  had  a  Government  to  defend 
them.  And,  sir,  they  have  rallied  as 
never  a  people  rallied  before  ;  and  I  tell 
you,  Senators,  if  you  hesitate  to  meet  the 
issue,  to  meet  it  in  all  its  aspects,  in  all 
its  contingencies,  here  on  this  floor,  on 


the  field  of  battle,  and  everywhere,  you 
are  unworthy  of  the  day  and  the  hour  in 
which  God  Almighty  has  permitted  you 
to  enact  the  part  that  He  has  assigned 
you  in  the  great  chapter  of  human  des- 
tiny. I  am  glad  I  was  born  about  the 
time  I  was,  so  that  my  lines  fall  here  to- 
day. I  am  glad  that  my  destiny  is  link- 
ed in  the  great  contest  that  has  been 
coming,  and  coming,  and  coming  with 
every  successive  generation,  and  every 
successive  experiment  that  the  world 
has  ever  made  in  all  the  past.  I  feel 
to-day  that  the  blood  which  has  been 
shed  on  every  battle-field  is  at  issue  in 
the  contest  that  we  are  now  carrying  on. 
I  feel  that  the  blood  of  every  patriot 
who  has  poured  out  his  life  on  the  scaf- 
fold, the  worth  of  it  and  the  effect  of  it 
are  all  in  issue  ;  and  I  feel,  sir,  if  we  are 
faithful  to  the  hour,  Faithful  to  the  crisis, 
faithful  to  the  duty,  God  will  pour  out  on 
this  nation  the  blessings  that  have  been 
evoked  by  the  prayers  of  the  pious  in  all 
times  past.  It  is  no  holiday  contest  in 
which  we  are  engaged.  It  is  not  the  time 
to  hunt  up  justices  of  the  peace  records 
to  find  precedents  of  form  as  to  how  we 
shall  go  along.  We  must  accept  the 
contest  as  it  has  come,  anomalous  in  its 
character,  destitute  of  any  precedents  in 
the  past,  but,  I  trust  in  God,  destined 
to  shed  infinite  light  on  the  future. 
And,  sir,  at  such  a  time,  at  such  a  day, 
and  in  such  a  contest,  the  only  question 
I  ask  of  any  man  is,  'Is  your  heart 
right ;  if  it  be,  give  me  your  hand  ;  join 
with  us  in  this  great  struggle  ;'  and  if 
there  are  loyal  men  in  Virginia  that  are 
determined  to  stand  by  the  cause  of  civil 
libertj7  in  this  hour  of  her  peril,  let  them 
rally ;  let  them  form  a  constitutional 
government  as  they  best  may  ;  and  tat 
this  Federal  Government  pour  them  out 


POLICY   OF   THE    GOVERNMENT. 


501 


men  and  money,  if  necessary,  to  sustain 
them  in  their  contest." 

When  the  vote  was  taken,  five  only — 
Messrs.  Bayard,  Bright,  Polk,  Powell 
and  Sanlsbury — were  in  favor  of  refer- 
ring the  credentials  ;  so  the  Senators 
were  admitted  to  take  the  oath  of  office. 
The  ground  taken  by  Congress  and  the 
Government  in  this  Virginia  question  in 
reference  to  the  position  of  the  Western 
portion  of  the  State,  which  there  was  a 
strong  disposition  at  one  time  to  separ- 
ate from  the  rest  as  a  new  and  distinct 
commonwealth,  was  well  set  forth  in  a 
letter  addressed  on  the  12th  of  the  fol- 
lowing month  by  the  Attorney-General 
of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Bates,  to  Mr. 
A.  F.  Ritchie,  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Convention,  then  sitting  at  Wheeling. 
"I  have  thought,"  wrote  this  high  offi- 
cer of  the  Government,  "a  great  deal 
upon  the  question  of  dividing  the  State 
of  Virginia  into  two  States  ;  and  since  I 
came  here  as  a  member  of  the  Govern- 
ment, I  have  conversed  with  a  good 
many,  and  corresponded  with  some,  of 
the  good  men  of  Western  Virginia,  in 
regard  to  that  matter.  In  all  this  inter- 
course, my  constant  and  earnest  effort 
has  been  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of 
those  gentlemen  the  vast  importance — 
not  to  say  necessity — in  the  terrible  cri- 
sis of  our  national  affairs,  to  abstain  from 
the  introduction  of  any  new  elements  of 
revolution,  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible, 
all  new  and  original  theories  of  Govern- 
ment ;  but.  on  the  contrary,  in  all  the 
insurgent  commonwealths  to  adhere,  as 
closely  as  circumstances  will  allow,  to 
the  old  constitutional  standard  of  prin- 
ciple, and  to  the  traditional  habits  and 
thoughts  of  the  people.  And  I  still 
think  that  course  is  dictated  by  the 
plainest  teachings  of  prudence.  The 


formation  of  a  new  State  out  of  West- 
ern Virginia  is  an  original,  independent 
act  of  revolution.  I  do  not  deny  the 
power  of  revolution  (I  do  not  call  it 
right — for  it  is  never  prescribed,  it  ex- 
ists in  force  only,  and  has  and  can  have 
no  law  but  the  will  of  the  revolutionists.) 
Any  attempt  to  carry  it  out  involves  a 
plain  breach  of  both  the  Constitutions— 
of  Virginia  and  the  nation.  And  hence, 
it  is  plain  you  cannot  take  that  course 
without  weakening,  if  not  destroying, 
your  claims  upon  the  sympathy  and 
support  of  the  General  Government  ; 
and  without  disconcerting  the  plan  al- 
ready adopted  both  by  Virginia  and  the 
General  Government,  for  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  revolted  States,  and  the  res- 
toration of  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 
That  plan  I  understand  to  be  this : 
When  a  State,  by  its  perverted  function- 
aries, has  declared  itself  out  of  the  Union, 
we  avail  ourselves  of  the  sound  and  loyal 
elements  of  the  State — all  who  owned 
allegiance  to,  and  claimed  protection  of, 
the  Constitution,  to  form  a  State  Govern- 
ment, as  nearly  as  may  be,  upon  the 
former  model,  and  claiming  to  be  the 
very  State  which  has  been,  in  part,  over- 
thrown by  the  successful  rebellion.  In 
this  way  we  establish  a  constitutional 
nucleus  around  which  all  the  shattered 
elements  of  the  commonwealth  may  meet 
and  combine,  and  thus  restore  the  old 
State  in  its  original  integrity.  This  I 
verily  thought,  was  the  plan  ad  oped  at 
Wheeling,  and  recognized  and  acted 
upon  by  the  General  Government  here. 
Your  convention  annulled  the  revolu- 
tionary proceedings  at  Richmond,  both 
in  the  Convention  and  General  Assem- 
bly, and  your  new  Governor  formally 
demanded  of  the  President  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  constitutional  guarantee  in 


502 


WAR  FOR   THE   UNION. 


favor  of  Virginia — Virginia,  as  known 
to  our  fathers  and  to  us.  The  President 
admitted  the  obligation,  and  promised 
his  best  efforts  to  fulfil  it ;  and  the 
Senate  admitted  your  Senators,  not  as 
representing  a  new  and  nameless  State, 
now  for  the  first  time  heard  of  in  our 
history,  but  as  representing  'the  good 
old  commonwealth.' " 

A  joint  resolution  of  the  two  Houses 
recommending  a  fast  day,  and  following 
nearly  the  exact  words  of  a  resolution 
passed  during  the  was  of  1812,  was  in- 
troduced into  the  Senate  by  Harlan  of 
Iowa,  and  was  adopted  unanimously.  It 
ran  thus  : — "  It  being  a  duty  peculiarly 


incumbent  in  a  time  of  public  calamity 
and  rebellion,  humbly  and  devoutly  to  ac- 
knowledge our  dependence  on  Almighty 
God,  and  to  implore  his  aid  and  protec- 
tion :  Therefore  Resolved,  That  a  joint 
committee  of  both  Houses  wait  upon  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  re- 
quest that  he  recommend  a  day  of  public 
humiliation,  prayer  and  fasting  to  be  ob- 
served by  the  people  of  the  United 
States  with  religious  solemnity,  and  the 
offering  of  fervent  supplications  to  Al- 
mighty God  for  the  safety  and  welfare 
of  these  States,  His  blessings  on  their 
arms,  and  a  speedy  restoration  of 
peace." 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 


THE    BATTLE     OF     CARTHAGE,    Mo.,    JULY    5,    1861. 


GENERAL  LYON  having,  as  we  have 
seen  in  a  previous  chapter,  summarily 
put  the  disloyal  Governor  of  Missouri 
and  his  forces  to  flight  at  Booneville, 
prepared  to  follow  them  in  their  retreat 
to  the  Southern  portion  of  the  State, 
where,  supporting  themselves  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  inhabitants,  they  were  add- 
ing to  their  numbers,  and  gathering  fresh 
nutriment  in  the  cause  of  the  rebellion. 
General  Price,  with  other  insurgent 
leaders,  it  was  understood  was  in  arms 
in  the  southwest,  and  there  were  rumors 
of  the  presence  in  the  same  quarter 
of  the  redoubtable  Texas  ranger,  Ben 
McCulloch,  who  had  lately  left  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  Potomac,  and  been  seen  in 
Arkansas.  To  meet  these  and  whatever 
other  enemies  there  might  be  abroad, 
General  Lyon  set  out  from  Booneville  at 


the  beginning  of  July,  making  his  way 
through  the  western  counties  in  the 
direction  of  Springfield. 

He  had  hardly  departed,  however, 
before  the  enemy  whom  he  sought  were 
successfully  encountered  in  a  remote 
part  of  the  State  by  a  young  officer  of 
foreign  birth,  whose  skill,  displayed  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  gained  him  the 
highest  honors  of  the  campaign.  This 
was  Colonel  Franz  Sigel,  who,  born  at 
Baden  in  1821,  had  been  educated  at  the 
military  school  of  Carlsruhe,  held  high 
rank  in  the  Prussian  army,  and  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  revolution  in  1848, 
joined  the  liberals  and  became  a  leader 
of  their  revolutionary  array.  Having 
achieved  considerable  military  distinction 
in  this  command,  on  the  pacification  of 
the  country  he  came  to  America,  where 


COLONEL    SIGEL. 


503 


he  diligently  applied  himself  to  the  stud}7" 
of  the  language.  Marrying  the  daughter 
of  his  preceptor,  Mr.  Dulon,  he  made  his 
home  in  St.  Louis,  where,  at  the  opening 
of  the  war,  he  was  engaged  as  Professor 
in  a  College,  among  other  courses,  giving 
instruction  in  tactics.  Quickly  respond- 
ing to  the  call  of  his  adopted  country,  he 
stood  by  the  side  of  Colonel  Blair  and 
Colonel  Bornstein,  at  the  head  of  one  of 
the  first  regiments  of  volunteers  raised 
in  Missouri.  He  was  now  to  have  an 
opportunity  to  exhibit  his  military  genius 
on  a  new  theatre  in  America.  The  scene 
of  his  operations  was  in  the  southwestern 
corner  of  Missouri,  where  a  communica- 
tion was  kept  open  by  the  insurgent  state 
troops  with  Arkansas,  and  where  the 
rebel  generals  often  rallied  during  the 
war,  till  the  more  southerly  regions  were 
cleared  of  the  insurgents,  who  were  ever 
ready  to  carry  the  war  beyond  their  own 
borders  into  the  territory  of  Missouri. 
On  the  arrival  of  Colonel  Sigel  with  his 
command,  on  the  23d  of  June,  at  Spring- 
field, he  was  informed  that  the  rebels, 
under  Governor  Jackson,  were  making 
their  way  from  the  Osage  river  south- 
wardly through  the  western  counties,  a 
movement  which  he  at  once  resolved  to 
intercept  by  putting  his  force  across  their 
track.  He  accordingly  moved  in  a  south- 
westerly direction  to  Sarcoxie,  where,  on 
his  arrival  on  the  28th,  he  learned  that  a 
body  of  troops,  under  General  Price, 
some  eight  or  nine  hundred  in  number, 
were  encamped  below  him  to  the  south, 
a  few  miles  from  Neosho,  the  capital  of 
Newton  county,  while  other  portions  of 
the  State  troops  of  Jackson's  and  Rains' 
commands  were,  as  he  expected,  advanc- 
ing from  above.  As  Price  was  the  near- 
est at  hand,  General  Sigel  resolved  first 
to  march  against  him,  and  then  turning 


north,  to  attack  Jackson  and  Rains,  and 
open  a  line  of  communication  with  Gen- 
eral Lyon,  who,  it  was  incorrectly  re- 
ported, had  had  an  engagement  with  the 
enemy  in  that  direction.  Scarcely,  how- 
ever, had  Colonel  Sigel  left  Sarcoxie 
when  he  received  news  that  the  camp  of 
Price  had  been  broken  up,  and  his  troops 
retreated  to  the  extremity  of  the  State. 
Colonel  Sigel  then  advanced,  welcomed 
by  the  inhabitants  on  the  way,  who  had 
suffered  grievously  from  the  pillaging  of 
the  insurgents,  and  occupied  Neosho, 
where  he  was  received  without  opposi- 
tion. Declining  further  pursuit  of  Price's 
troops  as  impracticable,  he  then  turned 
his  whole  attention  to  the  enemy  at  the 
north.  Disposing  a  detachment  of  his 
little  force  to  watch  their  movements  on 
the  road,  he  summoned  to  him  a  battalion 
of  Colonel  Salomon's  Missouri  regiment, 
then  approaching  Sarcoxie,  and  with  this 
addition  to  his  troops,  leaving  a  company 
of  the  3d  regiment  as  a  guard  to  protect 
the  friends  of  the  Union  at  Neosho,  he 
advanced  to  meet  the  enemy.  The  con- 
flict which  ensued,  known  as  the  battle 
of  Carthage,  is  thus  related  in  the  official 
report  which  Colonel  Sigel  prepared  of 
the  expedition.  "  On  the  evening  of  the 
4th  of  July,"  he  writes,  "  our  troops, 
after  a  march  of  twenty  miles,  encamped 
southeast  of  Carthage,  close  by  Spring 
river.  I  was  by  this  time  pretty  certain 
that  Jackson,  with  four  thousand  men, 
was  about  nine  miles  distant  from  us,  as 
his  scouts  were  seen  in  large  numbers 
coming  over  the  great  plateau  as  far  as 
the  country  north  of  Carthage,  and  con- 
ducted their  explorations  almost  under 
our  very  eyes.  The  troops  under  my 
command  who  participated  in  the  engage- 
ment on  the  5th  of  July,  were  as  follows : 
Nine  companies  of  the  3d  regiment — in 


504 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


all,  five  hundred  and  fifty  men  ;  seven 
companies  of  the  5th  regiment,  number- 
ing four  hundred  men  ;  two  batteries  of 
artillery,  each  consisting  of  four  field- 
pieces.  With  these  troops  I  slowly  ad- 
vanced upon  the  enemy.  Our  skirmish- 
ers chased  before  them  numerous  bands 
of  mounted  riflemen,  whose  object  it  was 
to  observe  our  march.  Our  baggage 
train  followed  us,  about  three  miles  in 
the  rear.  After  having  passed  Dry  Fork 
Creek,  six  miles  beyond  Carthage,  and 
advanced  another  three  miles,  we  found 
the  enemy  drawn  up  in  battle  array,  on 
an  elevation  which  rises  by  gradual  as- 
cents from  the  creek,  and  is  about  one 
and  a  half  miles  distant.  The  front  of 
the  enemy  consisted  of  three  regiments, 
deployed  into  line,  and  stationed  with 
proper  intervals  of  space.  The  two  regi- 
ments forming  the  wings  consisted  of  cav- 
alr3r.  The  centre  was  composed  of  in- 
fantry, cavalry,  and  two  field- pieces. 
Several  other  pieces  were  posted  on  the 
right  and  left  wings.  The  whole  number 
of  troops  which  thus  came  to  our  view 
may  be  computed  at  two  thousand  five 
hundred,  not  including  a  powerful  re- 
serve which  was  kept  in  the  rear. 

"My  rear  guard  being  already  en- 
gaged, I  sent  two  cannon,  together  with 
two  companies  of  the  3d  regiment,  for  its 
support.  Another  cannon  and  a  com- 
pany of  the  3d  regiment  I  ordered  to  a 
position  behind  the  creek,  so  as  to  afford 
protection  to  our  baggage  and  the  troops 
in  the  rear  against  the  movements  of  the 
cavalry.  The  remainder  of  our  troops  I 
formed  in  the  following  manner  :  On  the 
left  the  second  battalion  of  the  3d  regi- 
ment, under  command  of  Major  Bischoff, 
in  solid  column  with  four  cannon.  In 
the  centre  the  5th  regiment  in  two  sep- 
arate battalions,  under  Colonel  Salomon 


and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Wolff.  On  the 
right,  three  cannon  under  command  of 
Captain  Essig,  supported  by  the  first 
battalion  3d  regiment,  under  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Hassendeubel.  Having  made 
these  dispositions,  and  advanced  a  few 
hundred  paces,  I  commanded  Major 
Backof  to  open  fire  upon  the  enemy  with 
all  the  seven  field-pieces.  The  fire  was 
promptly  answered.  I  soon  perceived 
that  the  two  mounted  regiments  of  the 
rebel  army  made  preparations  to  circum- 
vent our  two  wings.  They  made  a  flank- 
ing movement,  and,  describing  a  wide 
semicircle,  caused  a  large  interval  of 
space  to  be  left  between  them  and  the 
centre.  I  forthwith  ordered  the  whole 
fire  of  our  artillery  to  be  directed  against 
the  right  centre  of  the  enemy,  which  had 
the  effect  in  a  short  time  of  considerably 
weakening  the  fire  of  the  rebels  at  this 
point.  I  now  formed  a  chain  of  skir- 
mishers between  our  cannon,  ordered  two 
of  Captain  Essig's  pieces  from  the  right 
to  the  left  wing,  and  gave  my  officers  and 
men  to  understand  that  it  was  my  inten- 
tion to  gain  the  height  by  advancing  with 
my  left  wing,  and  taking  position  on  the 
right  flank  of  the  centre  of  the  enemy. 
"  At  this  critical  moment  Captain  Wil- 
kins,  commander  of  one  of  our  two  bat- 
teries, declared  that  he  could  not  ad- 
vance for  want  of  ammunition.  No  time 
was  to  be  lost,  as  part  of  our  troops  were 
already  engaged  with  the  hostile  cavalry 
at  the  extreme  right  and  left,  and  as  it 
seemed  to  me  of  very  doubtful  expedien- 
cy to  advance  with  the  remainder  with- 
out due  support  of  artillery.  The  moral 
effect  which  the  hostile  cavalry  made  in 
our  rear  could  not  be  denied,  although 
the  real  danger  was  not  great.  The 
threatening  loss  of  our  entire  baggage 
was  another  consideration  not  to  be  over- 


SIGEL'S    OFFICIAL   REPORT. 


505 


looked.  I  therefore,  with  great  reluc- 
tance, ordered  part  of  the  detachment  at 
Dry  Fork  Creek  back,  while  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Hassendeubel,  with  the  first  bat- 
talion of  the  3d  regiment  and  a  battalion 
of  the  5th  regiment,  under  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Wolff,  followed  by  four  cannon 
of  Wilkin's  battery,  proceeded  to  the 
baggage  train  in  order  to  protect  it 
against  the  meditated  attack.  The  en- 
emy slowly  followed  us  to  Dry  Fork. 
Captain  Essig's  battery  had  taken  posi- 
tion behind  the  ford,  assisted  by  Captain 
Stcphany's  company  (5th  regiment)  on 
the  left,  and  two  companies  of  the  3d 
regiment,  Captains  Golmer  and  Denzler, 
on  the  right,  while  at  the  same  time  two 
companies  of  the  5th  (Captain  Stark  and 
Meissner)  stood  as  a  reserve  behind  the 
wings.  At  this  point  it  was  where  the 
aforesaid  companies  and  battery  made 
successful  resistance  to  the  entire  force 
of  the  enemy  for  two  hours,  and  caused 
him  the  heaviest  losses.  By  that  time 
two  rebel  flags  had  been  shot  out  of  sight, 
each  act  being  accompanied  by  the  tri- 
umphant shouts  of  the  United  States  vol- 
unteers. In  the  meantime  the  two 
cavalry  regiments  had  completely  sur- 
rounded us  and  formed  a  line  against  our 
rear.  They  had  posted  themselves  close 
by  a  little  creek  called  Buck  Branch, 
over  which  we  had  to  pass.  In  order  to 
meet  them,  I  abandoned  my  position  at 
Dry  Fork,  and  ordered  two  pieces  to  the 
right,  and  two  to  the  left  of  our  reserve 
and  baggage,  supported  by  the  detach- 
ments of  Colonel  Salomon  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Wolff,  in  solid  column.  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Wolff,  seconding  my  move- 
ment with  his  accustomed  ability,  formed 
three  companies  of  the  first  battalion,  3d 
regiment,  into  line,  and  made  them  take 
up  marching  line  against  the  cavalry  in 
64 


front  of  the  baggage.  Behind  these 
troops  and  the  baggage,  Lieutenant 
Shrickel,  with  a  portion  of  the  first  bat- 
tery of  artillery  and  two  companies,  took 
a  precautionary  position  in  view  of  that 
part  of  the  enemy  coming  in  the  direction 
of  Dry  Fork.  After  the  firing  of  one 
round  by  our  whole  line,  our  infantry 
charged  upon  the  enemy  at  double  quick, 
and  routed  him  completely.  His  flight 
was  accompanied  by  the  deafening  shouts 
of  our  little  army. 

"The  troops  and  baggage  train  now 
crossed  the  creek  undisturbed,  and  as- 
cended the  heights  which  command  Car- 
thage from  the  north,  this  side  of  Spring 
river.  Here  the  enemy  again  took  posi- 
tion. His  centre  slowly  advanced  upon 
us,  while  his  cavalry  came  upon  us  with 
great  rapidity,  in  order  to  circumvent 
our  two  wings  and  gain  the  Springfield 
road.  Deeming  it  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance to  keep  open  my  communication 
with  Mount  Vernon  and  Springfield,  I 
ordered  Lieutenant-Colonel  Wolff,  with 
two  pieces  of  artillery  (Lieutenant  Schaeff- 
er  of  the  second  battery)  to  pass  through 
Carthage  and  occup}-  the  eastern  heights 
on  the  Sarcoxie  road.  Captain  Cramer, 
with  two  companies  (Indest  and  Tois) 
was  ordered  to  follow  him,  in  order  to 
protect  the  western  part  of  the  city 
against  a  hostile  movement  in  this  direc- 
tion. Our  rear  took  possession  of  the 
city,  in  order  to  give  the  rest  of  the 
troops  time  for  rest,  as  they  had  marched 
twenty- two  miles  on  the  4th,  and  eighteen 
miles  more  during  the  day,  exposed  to  a 
burning  sun,  and  almost  without  any- 
thing to  eat  or  drink.  The  enemy,  in 
the  meantime,  derived  great  advantage 
from  his  cavalry,  being  able  to  cross 
Spring  river  at  various  places,  scatter  on 
all  sides  through  the  woods,  and  harass 


506 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


our  troops  almost  unintermittingly.  I 
therefore  ordered  a  retreat  toward  Sar- 
coxie,  under  cover  of  both  artillery  and 
infantry.  We  first  took  position  on 
the  heights  beyond  Carthage,  and  then 
again  at  the  entrance  of  the  Sarcoxie 
road  into  the  woods,  about  two  and  a 
half  miles  southeast  of  Carthage.  From 
the  latter  place  our  troops  advanced  un- 
molested as  far  as  Sarcoxie. 

"  Our  whole  loss  in  this  engagement 
amounts  to  thirteen  dead  and  thirty-one 
wounded,  among  whom  is  Captain  Strodt- 
man,  company  E,  3d  regiment,  and 
Lieutenant  Bischoff  of  company  B,  same 
regiment,  The  first  battery  lost  nine 
horses  ;  the  third  one  (Major  Bischoff' s) 
and  one  baggage  wagon  had  to  be  left 
behind  in  Carthage,  for  want  of  horses  to 
pull  it  away.  According  to  reliable  ac- 
counts, the  loss  of  the  enemy  cannot  have 
been  less  than  from  three  hundred  and 
fifty  to  four  hundred  men.  One  of  their 
field-pieces  was  dismounted  and  another 
exploded.  With  the  deepest  regret,  I 
have  to  announce  to  you  the  surprise 
and  capture  by  the  rebels  of  Captain 
Conrad  and  his  company  of  ninety-four 
men  in  Neosho.  Officers  and  men  were 
afterwards  liberated,  after  taking  an  oath 
that  they  would  not  again  take  up  arms 
against  the  Confederate  States.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  affords  me  intense  pleasure 
to  be  able  to  say,  injustice  to  the  officers 
and  men  under  my  command,  that  they 
fought  with  the  greatest  skill  and  brav- 
ery. Although  threatened  more  than 
once  on  the  flank  and  in  the  rear  by 
powerful  detachments  of  cavalry,  and  at- 
tacked in  front  by  an  overwhelmingly 
disproportionate  force,  they  conducted 
themselves  like  veterans  and  defended 
one  position  after  another  without  a  man 
swerving  from  his  place,  I  would  also 


specially  acknowledge  the  services  of  the 
5th  regiment,  under  its  brave  command- 
ers and  adjutants,  with  heartfelt  grati- 
tude. They  proved  themselves  to  be 
true  friends  and  reliable  comrades  on  the 
battle-field.  The  excellent  artillery  un- 
der Major  Backof,  who,  like  my  adju- 
tants, Albert  and  Heinrich,  was  untir- 
ing from  morning  till  night  in  his  efforts 
to  execute  and  second  my  commands, 
also  deserves  honorable  mention." 

To  this  authoritative  account  of  the 
engagement,  we  may  add  an  interesting 
description  of  the  action  by  an  eminent 
citizen  of  Missouri,  Mr.  John  M.  Rich- 
ardson, formerly  Secretary  of  State,  who 
was  an  eye  witness  and  careful  observer 
of  the  action.  His  letter  to  the  Editor 
of  the  Missouri  Democrat,  dated  Mount 
Yernon,  July  7,  bears  ample  testimony 
to  the  military  ability  of  Colonel  Sigel, 
and  the  merits  of  the  troops  engaged,  and 
supplies  various  particulars  necessary  to 
a  proper  understanding  of  the  move- 
ment. "We  have  had  stirring  times," 
he  writes,  "  in  this  part  of  the  State. 
Claiborne  Jackson  has  been  for  some  time 
concentrating  his  forces  in  Vernon  coun- 
ty, preparatory  for  forcing  the  infamous 
military  bill  on  the  people.  Colonel 
Sigel's  scouts  kept  him  well  advised  of 
Jackson's  movements  and  conduct.  Clai- 
borne has  been  engaged  in  robbing 
wagons  laden  with  goods  of  South-west 
merchants,  taking  all  the  good  horses  he 
or  his  men  could  find,  and,  of  late,  as  his 
forces  have  increased,  in  forcing  loyal 
men  to  take  the  oath  required  by  the 
military  bill,  and  be  enrolled  in  the 
'State  Guard.'  Sterling  Price,  having 
a  considerable  force  near  the  Arkansas 
line,  Colonel  Sigel,  on  the  morning  of 
the  4th  of  July,  broke  up  his  camp  at 
Neosho,  and  marched  his  command  to 


MR.   RICHARDSON'S   NARRATIVE. 


507 


Carthage.  I  have  no  information  from 
Colonel  Sigel  on  the  subject,  but  being  a 
looker-on  in  his  camp,  suppose  his 
reason  for  marching  on  Carthage  to  be 
as  follows:  1st,  To  remain  at  Neosho 
would  enable  his  enemies  to  concentrate 
at  an  early  day  a  large  force  close  on 
the  north  and  on  the  south  of  his  camp, 
thereby  placing  him  in  a  position  to  light 
both  forces  whenever  he  might  feel  dis- 
posed to  attack  either  party.  To  avoid 
this  he  removed  his  command  to  Car- 
thage, near  Jackson's  camp.  That  is,  I 
think,  the  military  reason.  In  addition, 
loyal  men  had  appealed  to  him  for  pro- 
tection from  Jackson's  forces.  This  war 
requires  a  commander  of  military  genius 
and  capacity,  and  in  addition,  it  requires 
the  clear  head  of  a  statesman.  In  a 
political  point  of  view  the  course  of 
Colonel  Sigel  is  endorsed  by  every  loyal 
man  in  this  section  of  the  State.  He 
had  the  sagacity  to  see  this  section  of  the 
country  in  its  true  condition.  A  decided 
majority  for  the  Union,  but  that  majority 
liable  to  be  crushed  out  by  the  terrorism 
of  Jackson's  forces.  He  appears  to  un- 
derstand full  well  the  character  of  the 
people  he  is  among.  He  knows  them  to 
be  loyal,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  he  is 
perfectly  aware  that  if  they  take  the 
oath  under  this  military  bill,  the  fate  of 
the  Union  is  decided  so  far  as  the  people 
of  South-west  Missouri  is  concerned.  I 
give  this  as  the  political  reason  (and  the 
most  important  in  my  estimation),  why 
the  army  has  marched  to  Carthage. 

' '  The  command  reached  the  latter  place 
on  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  July,  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  5th,  it  marched  in 
good  condition,  and  in  fine  spirits,  in  the 
direction  of  Lamar,  the  county  seat  of 
Barton  county.  Nine  miles  north  of 
Carthage,  on  the  North  Fork,  our  little 


army  came  in  sight  of  Jackson's  forces. 
They  were  commanded  by  Rains  and 
Parsons,  and  were  drawn  up  for  action, 
on  a  very  favorable  and  elevated  point 
of  prairie,  with  the  ground  gradually 
sloping  for  nine  hundred  yards  toward 
the  United  States  forces.  Jackson,  hav- 
ing been  joined  by  Rains,  had  quite  a 
large  force,  principally  mounted  men, 
with  a  small  force  of  infantry  and  sev- 
eral pieces  of  artillery.  The  forces  of 
Jackson  are  variously  estimated  at  four 
to  seven  thousand  men.  Colonel  Sigel's 
forces  were  composed  of  portions  of  the 
3d  and  5th  regiments  Missouri  Volun- 
teers, and  a  fine  battalion  of  artillery. 
His  infantry  in  action  amounted  to  from 
seven  to  eight  hundred  men.  He  had 
eight  cannon.  The  United  States  forces 
were  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle,  as  fol- 
lows :  The  infantiy  in  the  centre,  four 
pieces  of  artillery  on  the  left,  one  piece 
on  the  right,  and  one  company  of  in- 
fantry and  one  piece  of  artillery  in  the 
rear,  to  protect  the  provision  train. 
When  the  action  commenced  the  armies 
were  distant  from  each  other  about  eight 
hundred  yards.  In  company  with  S.  B. 
Laforce  of  Jasper  county,  I  took  my 
position  on  horseback,  fifty  yards  in  the 
rear  of  Colonel  Sigel's  infantry,  from 
which  point  I  could  observe  the  manoeu- 
vering  of  both  parties.  Colonel  Sigel 
was  calm  and  thoughtful  in  all  his  acts, 
and  the  result  of  the  conflict  ought,  and 
doubtless  will,  add  greatly  to  his  reputa- 
tion as  a  military  man.  The  officers  all 
conducted  themselves  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  command  the  admiration  and  ap- 
proval of  the  few  spectators  present. 
Among  them  I  can  mention  Captain  Al- 
bert, the  Adjutant  of  the  brigade,  and 
Mr.  Heinrich,  the  Adjutant  of  the  3d 
Regiment.  These  gentlemen  were  very 


508 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


active  in  carrying  the  orders  of  their 
commanding  officer,  paying  no  heed 
whatever  to  the  cannon  balls  that  were 
flying  around  them.  But  greater  praise 
is  due  to  the  private  soldiers  for  their 
conduct  on  that  occasion.  They  were 
calm  and  collected  during  the  cannon- 
ading, showing  they  would  do  their  duty 
to  their  adopted  country  or  die.  My 
position  was  such  as  to  enable  me  to  see 
.that  the  shower  of  cannon  balls  that 
flew  over  their  heads  had  no  effect — did 
not  dampen  their  courage  nor  cool  their 
ardor.  Such  men  can  fight.  In  addi- 
tion, I  should  make  favorable  mention 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hassendeubel,  of 
the  3d  Eegiment,  and  Major  Bischoff 
and  Captain  Essig,  of  the  artillery,  Col- 
onel Salomon  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Wolff.  These  men  deserve  the  approba- 
tion of  their  countrymen  for  their  con- 
duct on  the  field. 

' '  The  first  gun  was  fired  by  the  United 
States  troops  at  eleven  minutes  past  10 
o'clock,  and  a  brisk  cannonading  was 
kept  up  for  half  an  hour,  during  which 
time  the  colors  of  Jackson's  troops  were 
knocked  down  twice.  The  enemy  being 
nearly  all  mounted,  and  numbering  cer- 
tainly not  less  than  3,000  men,  made  an 
effort  to  cut  off  the  provision  train  of 
Colonel  Sigel's  command.  The  latter 
ordered  his  train  closer  up,  and  fell  back 
with  his  command  to  the  south  side  of 
the  Dry  Fork.  The  enemy  had  already 
crossed,  and  a  large  force  of  rebels  were 
already  between  our  troops  and  the  pro- 
vision train,  and  we  were  completely 
surrounded.  Our  army  soon  dispersed 
the.  rebels,  and  regained  possession  of  the 
provision  train.  The  rebel  forces  follow- 
ing up,  in  attempting  to  cross  the  Dry 
Fork  found  our  troops  occupying  a 
strong  position,  and  a  sharp  conflict 


ensued,  the  artillery  on  both  sides  being 
brought  into  requisition.  The  rebels  at 
this  point  were  repulsed  with  consider- 
able loss.  Our  little  army  then  retired 
toward  Carthage.  The  rebels  disputed 
the  crossing  of  Buck  Branch,  where 
another  short  but  spirited  conflict  en- 
sued. At  that  point  they  lost  consider- 
able ;  our  forces  did  not  lose  a  man. 
The  Federal  troops  then  marched  to 
Carthage.  At  that  place  the  rebels 
made  a  dash  in  great  strength.  The 
Federals  retired  in  good  order,  driving 
the  rebels  before  them  at  every  point. 
Here  there  was  another  warm  contest, 
between  our  infantry  and  artillery  on 
one  side,  and  the  rebels,  with  their  ar- 
tillery, on  the  other.  From  Carthage 
our  troops  retreated  to  Sarcoxie,  having 
a  severe  contest  at  a  point  of  timber 
three  miles  south-east  of  Carthage.  A  t 
this  last  point  the  rebel  forces  sustained 
great  loss.  From  this  last  point  our 
troops  marched  to  Sarcoxie,  and  thence 
to  Mount  Yernon,  without  seeing  an 
enemy.  The  rebels  have,  it  is  credibly 
reported,  four  thousand  troops  at  Neosho 
and  at  Cassville.  These  troops  came 
into  Arkansas.  All  these  forces,  when 
united  with  Jackson's,  will  make  a  very 
formidable  army,  and  if  the  Government 
desires  to  prevent  the  Union  sentiment 
from  being  crushed  out  in  this  part  of 
the  State,  it  must  act  promptly  and  with 
energy.  Had  Colonel  Sigel  been  well 
supplied  with  ammunition  he  could  have 
maintained  his  ground  at  any  point,  or 
had  he  had  four  hundred  mounted  men, 
he  could  have  routed  Jackson's  forces 
and  made  the  most  of  them  prisoners. 
As  it  was  (though  victorious  at  every 
point),  it  was  thought  best  to  retire  to 
this  place,  so  that  communication  with 
Springfield  and  St.  Louis  should  not  be 


LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR   REYNOLDS'   MANIFESTO. 


509 


cut  off.  There  were  about  fifty  citizens 
spectators  of  the  fight,  and  all  applauded 
the  energy  and  tact  of  Colonel  Sigel  in 
conducting  his  retreat,  and  in  posting  his 
men  at  every  point  where  he  could  reach 
his  mounted  enemy.  His  conduct  satis- 
fies the  Union  men  here  that  he  can  be 
relied  upon  as  a  military  commander." 

As  an  indication  of  the  animus  of  the 
leaders  of  the  insurgents  at  this  time,  we 
may  present  a  passage  of  a  treasonable 
manifesto  addressed  "To  the  People  of 
Missouri,  issued  on  the  8th  of  July  at 
Nashville,  by  the  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  Missouri,  Thomas  0.  Reynolds,  who 
like  the  rest  of  the  rebel  administration, 
had  left  the  seat  of  government  in  an- 
ticipation of  the  approach  of  General 
Lyon,  and  who,  it  appears  from  his  own 
statement,  had  since,  diligently  occupied 
his  time  in  fomenting  the  revolt.  As 
early  as  the  middle  of  January  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Reynolds  had  been  in- 
strumental in  securing  a  hearing  before 
both  Houses  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Missouri,  of  a  Mr.  Russell,  an  agent  of 
Mississippi,  who  boldly  presented  him- 
self a  fortnight  after  the  formal  secession 
of  that  sovereign  State,  to  address  loyal 
Missouri,  by  the  most  glowing  appeals  to 
her  pride  and  interest,  her  destiny  as 
the  Empire  State  of  the  South,  control- 
ling the  trade  of  the  West  from  the 
territory  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
in  one  direction,  to  Santa  Fe  in  another  • 
promising  all  this  and  more  if  the  State 
would  join  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
Having  thus  paved  the  way  for  revolt 
at  home,  Lieutenant-Goveruor  Reynolds, 
in  due  time,  engaged  as  a  propagandist 
of  his  principles  abroad.  Going  beyond 
Governor  Jackson,  in  May,  in  his  de- 
mand for  "open,  immediate  and  vigorous 
war,"  he  was  now,  in  July,  seeking  to 


assist  the  subjugation  of  the  State  to  the 
rebellion,  by  stirring  up  enemies  to  her 
peace  from  without.  Leaving  Jefferson 
City  the  20th  of  May,  the  day  before 
Governor  Jackson's  truce  with  General 
Harney  was  signed,  having  no  confi- 
dence, he  tells  us,  in  that  armistice,  he 
arrived  in  three  days  at  Fort  Smith,  in 
Arkansas,  where  he  had  the  satisfaction 
of  an  interview  with  General  McCulloch, 
who  had  just  made  his  appearance  in 
that  quarter.  "Since  then,"  said  he, 
"  in  Arkansas,  Tennessee  and  Virginia 
my  efforts  have  been  directed  unceas- 
ingly, to  the  best  of  my  limited  ability, 
to  the  promotion  of  our  interests,  indis- 
solubly  connected  with  the  vindication  of 
our  liberties  and  our  speedy  union  with 
the  Confederate  States.  Rest  assured 
of  the  profound  sympathy  with  which 
the  people  of  the  Southern  Confederacy 
regard  our  condition  ;  though  engaged  in 
a  war  against  a  powerful  foe,  they  would 
not  hesitate  still  further  to  tax  their 
energies  and  resources,  at  a  proper  time, 
and  on  a  proper  occasion,  in  aid  of  Mis- 
souri. The  avowed  and  decided  policy 
of  the  Confederate  States  is  to  add  her 
to  their  numbers  as  soon  as  her  sovereign 
people  desire  the  union.  That  desire 
being  unquestionable  to  any  one  ac- 
quainted with  their  real  sentiments,  her 
union  with  her  Southern  sisters  is  merely 
a  question  of  time,  and  the  opportunity 
which  the  course  of  events  will  sooner 
or  later  certainly  afford."  "I  rejoice 
to  learn,  from  various  sources,"  he  adds, 
mingling  instruction  in  the  art  of  war 
and  appeals  to  heaven  with  his  incite- 
ments, "  even  amid  the  present  gloom, 
you  remain  confident  of  final  success. 
We  are  draining  to  the  very  dregs  the 
bitter  cup  of  Federal  usurpation  ;  but 
the  medicine  was  needed  to  cure  the 


510 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


diseases  of  our  body  politic.  The  mili- 
tary advantages  lately  obtained  by  our 
oppressors  are  not  surprising,  for  our 
perilous  uprising  at  the  call  of  our  Gov- 
ernor was  made  without  the  previous 
concert  with  your  natural  allies,  which 
was  almost  indispensable  for  success. 
But  the  fortune  of  war  is  prone  to 
change  ;  be  ready  to  take  advantage  of 
it.  Do  nothing  weak ;  nothing  rash. 
Whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  oc- 
curs, rally  to  the  standard  of  your  Gov- 
ernor, or  those  cooperating  with  him  ; 
but  partial  uprisings,  in  defenceless  posi- 
tions, or  without  due  concert  of  action, 
are  worse  than  useless.  Watch  the 
opportunity  to  strike  with  effect.  Mean- 
while let  each  one  of  you  quickly  pre- 
pare ;  nearly  all  of  you  doubtless  are 
aware  that  your  ordinary  rifles  and  shot 
guns  with  Minie  balls  are  equal  to  the 
weapons  of  your  foes,  and  in  your  prac- 
tised hands  will  rarely  fail  of  their 
marks.  Be  not  impatient  of  delay. 
Success  in  war  depends  greatly  on  a 
proper  combination  of  preparation,  pre- 
caution and  daring  ;  on  blows  surely 
given  at  the  right  time  and  place.  You 
have  this  inestimable  advantage  ;  if  the 
hopes  given  you,  by  me  now  and  by 
others,  of  effective  aid,  should  incite  the 
enemy  to  increase  his  forces  in  Missouri, 
he  but  weakens  himself  elsewhere  and 
hastens  in  Virginia  his  own  defeat, 
which  is  your  victory  ;  if  he  remains  in- 
active, he  but  shortens  the  time  of  your 
captivity.  Be  of  good  cheer  ;  be  but 
true  to  yourselves,  invoking  the  aid  of 
the  Almighty,  who  has  so  visibly  favored 
the  Southern  cause,  and  sooner  or  later 
the  deliverance  will  surely  come." 

While  such  was  the  desperate  resolu- 
tion of  the  insurgents  to  inflict  the  dead- 
liest evils  upon  the  country,  and  while 


they  were  committing  the  most  odious 
acts  of  tyranny  in  the  suppressing  of  free- 
dom of  speech,  breaking  up  postal  com- 
munications, destroying  railroads  and 
bridges,  and  performing  other  cruel  acts 
of  devastation,  it  is  instructive  to  con- 
trast the  spirit  in  which  the  national  offi- 
cers in  Missouri  entered  upon  the  work 
forced  upon  them,  of  maintaining  the  rea- 
sonable authority  of  the  Government. 
We  have  seen  the  conciliatory  terms  of 
the  Proclamation  issued  by  General 
Lyon.  The  language  of  the  officers 
under  his  command,  who  preceded  him  on 
the  march  in  Missouri  to  the  southward, 
was  the  same.  Two  proclamations  were 
issued  on  the  4th  of  July-^one  by  Major 
Sturgis,  another  by  General  Sweeny. 
Both  promised  to  loyal  citizens  the  am- 
plest protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
rights  and  liberties,  and  sought  to  relieve 
them  from  the  usual  oppressions  and 
even  inconveniences  of  war.  In  answer- 
to  representations  artfully  made  by  the 
insurgents,  that  the  object  of  the  move- 
ment of  the  army  was  "  to  steal  and  set 
free  the  slaves,  and  thereby  encourage  a 
servile  insurrection,"  and  commit  various 
injuries  on  persons  and  property,  he 
said:  "The  Government  and  troops 
thus  villified  you  are  called  upon  to  judge 
for  yourselves.  Upon  our  march  thus 
far,  we  have  religiously  observed  the 
laws  of  your  State,  and  protected  you  in 
the  full  enjoyment  thereof.  In  no  in- 
stance has  property  been  seized  for  the 
use  of  the  troops.  Everything  required 
has  been  fairly  purchased,  and  its  full 
equivalent  paid  for  in  gold.  We  have 
been  ever  diligent  in  guarding  the  sol- 
diers from  committing  the  least  impro- 
priety, and  wherever  detected,  have 
punished  them  with  extreme  severity."* 


*  Proclamation  of  Major  S.  D.  Sturgis,  Camp  Washing- 
ton, near  Clinton,  Mo.,  July  4,  1861. 


THE   MISSOURI    CONVENTION. 


511 


Equally  emphatic  was  the  declaration  of 
General  Sweeny,  in  command  of  an  ad- 
vance portion  of  the  southwest  expedi- 
tion at  Springfield.  "  The  troops  under 
my  command,"  said  he,  "are  stationed 
in  your  midst  by  the  proper  authority  of 
our  Government.  They  are  amongst 
you  not  as  enemies,  but  as  friends  and 
protectors  of  all  loyal  citizens.  Should 
an  insurrection  of  your  slaves  take  place, 
it  would  be  my  duty  to  suppress  it,  and 
I  should  use  the  force  at  my  command 
for  that  purpose.  It  is  my  duty  to  pro- 
tect all  loyal  citizens  in  the  enjoyment 
and  possession  of  all  their  property, 
slaves  included."  General  Sweeny,  who 
issued  this  proclamation,  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, but  who  had  lived  in  America  from 
nis  childhood,  had  acquired  distinction  in 
the  Mexican  war  as  an  officer  of  a  New 
York  regiment  of  volunteers.  He  had 
lost  an  arm  at  Churubusco,  subsequently 
served  in  the  west,  and  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  rebellion  held  the  rank  of  Captain 
in  the  2d  Regular  Infantry.  He  was 
then  made  Colonel,  and  afterwards  Brig- 
adier-General of  Volunteers. 

On  the  first  of  August  the  popular 
Convention  of  Missouri,  which  had  been 
elected  at  the  call  of  the  late  Legislature, 
were  reassembled  at  Jefferson  City,  Mis- 
souri, and  in  consequence  of  the  recent 
proceedings  in  the  State  holding  the  office 
of  Governor  vacant,  elected  a  distin- 
guished citizen,  who  was  one  of  its  mem- 
bers, Hamilton  R.  Gamble,  Provisional 
Governor  in  place  of  the  disloyal  Gover- 
nor Jackson.  No  one  apparently  regret- 
ted the  necessity  of  this  step  more  than 
Governor  Gamble  himself,  but  some  civil 
government  was  required,  and  the  Con- 
vention thus  undertook  to  supply  the 
need.  A  passage  from  the  new  Gover- 
nor's address,  which  he  delivered  to  the 


Convention  on  taking  the  oath  of  office, 
will  show  his  lively  sense  of  the  danger 
and  responsibility  of  the  work  before 
him.  "  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention," 
said  he,  "what  is  it  that  we  are  now 
threatened  with  ?  We  apprehend  that 
we  may  soon  be  in  that  condition  of  an- 
archy in  which  a  man,  when  he  goes  to 
bed  with  his  family  at  night,  does  not 
know  whether  he  shall  ever  rise  again, 
or  whether  his  house  shall  remain  intact 
until  morning.  This  is  the  kind  of  dan- 
ger, not  merety  a  war  between  different 
divisions  of  the  State,  but  a  war  between 
neighbors,  so  that  when  a  man  meets 
those  with  whom  he  has  associated  from 
childhood,  he  begins  to  feel  that  they  are 
his  enemies.  We  must  avoid  that.  It 
is  terrible.  The  scenes  of  the  French 
Revolution  may  be  enacted  in  every 
quarter  of  our  State,  if  we  do  not  suc- 
ceed in  avoiding  that  kind  of  war.  We 
can  do  it  if  we  are  in  earnest,  and  en- 
deavor with  all  our  power.  So  far  as  I 
am  concerned,  I  assure  you  that  it  shall 
be  the  very  highest  object— the  sole  aim 
of  every  official  act  of  mine — to  make 
sure  that  the  people  of  the  State  of  Mis- 
souri can  worship  their  God  together, 
each  feeling  that  the  man  who  sits  in  the 
same  pew  with  him,  because  he  differs 
with  him  on  political  questions,  is  not  his 
enemy — that  they  may  attend  the  same 
communion  and  go  to  the  same  heaven. 
I  wish  for  every  citizen  of  the  State  of 
Missouri  that,  when  he  meets  his  fellow- 
man,  confidence  in  him  may  be  restored, 
and  confidence  in  the  whole  society  re- 
stored, and  that  there  shall  be  conversa- 
tions upon  other  subjects  than  those  of 
blood  and  slaughter  ;  that  there  shall  be 
something  better  than  this  endeavor  to 
encourage  hostility  between  persons  who 
entertain  different  political  opinions,  and 


512 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


something  more  and  better  than  a  desire 
to  produce  injury  to  those  who  may  dif- 
fer from  them." 

To  aid  the  national  Government  in 
warding  off  the  enemies  of  the  State  com- 
ing from  abroad ;  to  preserve,  as  far  as 
possible,  peace  within  its  borders,  was 
the  task.  A  special  Proclamation  of 
Governor  Gamble  on  the  3d  of  August, 
further  showed  his  desire  to  discharge 
the  duty  in  a  conciliatory  spirit.  Again 
was  the  policy  of  the  Government  dis- 
tinctly announced  as  one  of  non-interfer- 
ence with  the  peculiar  institution  of  the 
State.  In  choosing  him  as  Governor, 
the  Convention,  he  said,  had  given  an 
assurance  sufficient  to  satisfy  all  "that 
no  countenance  will  be  afforded  to  any 
scheme  or  to  any  conduct  calculated  in 
any  degree  to  interfere  with  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  existing  in  the  State.  To 
the  very  utmost  extent  of  Executive 
power  that  institution  will  be  protected." 
He  warned  the  citizens  against  obedience 
to  the  requisitions  of  Governor  Jackson 
and  the  "  Military  act"  of  the  late  Legis- 
lature, which  the  Convention  had  annull- 
ed, and  urged  a  new  organization  of  the 
militia  for  the  defence  of  the  State.  Of 
the  foreign  enemies  who  were  its  assail- 
ants he  said:  "The  State  has  been 
invaded  by  troops  from  the  State  of 
Arkansas,  and  a  large  force,  under  Gen- 
eral Pillow  of  Tennessee,  has  landed 
upon  the  soil  of  Missouri,  notwithstand- 
ing the  Congress  of  the  Confederate 
States,  in  their  act  declaring  war  against 
the  United  States,  expressly  excepted 
Missouri  as  a  State  against  which  the 
war  was  not  to  be  waged.  General  Pil- 
low has  issued  a  proclamation,  addressed 
to  the  people  of  Missouri,  in  which  he 
declares  that  his  army  comes  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Governor  of  this  State,  and 


says  they  will  help  us  to  expel  from  our 
borders  the  population  hostile  to  our 
rights  and  institutions,  treating  all  such 
as  enemies  if  found  under  arms.  It  re- 
mains to  be  seen  whether  General  Pillow 
and  other  officers  of  the  Confederate 
States  will  continue  their  endeavor  to 
make  Missouri  the  theatre  of  war,  upon 
the  invitation  of  Governor  Jackson  or  of 
any  other  person,  when  such  invasion  is 
contrary  to  the  act  of  the  Confederate 
States,  and  when  the  invitation  given  by 
the  Governor  is  withdrawn  by  the  peo- 
ple. We  have  sought  to  avoid  the  rav- 
aging our  State  in  this  war,  and  if  the 
military  officers  of  the  Confederate  States 
seek  to  turn  the  war  upon  us,  upon  the 
mere  pretext  that  they  are  invited  by  a 
State  officer  to  do  so,  when  they  know 
that  no  State  officer  has  authority  to  give 
such  invitation,  then- upon  them  be  the 
consequences,  for  the  sovereignty  of  Mis- 
souri must  be  protected." 

The  Proclamation  of  General  Pillow 
alluded  to,  was  dated  New  Madrid,  in 
the  southeastern  portion  of  the  State,  on 
the  Mississippi.  It  was  addressed  to  the 
People  of  Missouri,  and  read  thus  :— 
"  The  forces  under  my  command  are 
your  neighbors,  and  we  come  at  the  in- 
stance and  request  of  the  Governor  of 
your  State  as  allies  to  protect  you  against 
tyranny  and  oppression.  As  Tennessee- 
ans,  we  have  deeply  sympathized  with 
you.  When  you  were  called  to  arms 
and  manifested  a  determination  to  resist 
the  usurper  who  has  trampled  under  his 
feet  the  Constitution  of  the  Government, 
and  destroyed  all  the  guards  so  carefully 
prepared  for  the  protection  of  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people  by  our  fathers,  and 
when  you  called  for  help,  Tennessee 
sends  her  army,  composed  of  her  cher- 
ished sons,  to  your  aid.  We  will  help 


AN   ERA   OF   PROCLAMATIONS. 


513 


you  expel  from  your  borders  the  popula- 
tion hostile  to  your  rights  and  institu- 
tions, treating  all  such  as  enemies  if 
found  under  arms.  We  will  protect 
your  people  from  wrong  at  the  hands  of 
our  army,  and  while  we  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  no  violence  will  be 
done  to  the  rights  of  your  true-hearted 
and  loyal  people,  the  General  command- 
ing begs  to  be  informed  if  any  case  of 
wrong  should  occur.  To  the  gallant 
army  under  his  command,  who  hold  in 
their  keeping  the  honor  of  Tennessee, 
though  composed  of  Tennesseeans.  Mis- 
sissippians  and  Kentuckians,  he  appeals 
as  a  father  to  his  children,  to  violate  the 
rights  of  no  peaceable  citizen,  but  to 
guard  the  honor  of  Tennessee  as  you 
would  that  of  an  affectionate  mother, 
cherishing  you  as  her  sons.  The  field 
for  active  service  is  before  you.  Our 
stay  here  will  be  short.  Our  mission  is 
to  place  our  down-trodden  sister  on  her 
feet,  and  to  enable  her  to  breathe  after 
the  heavy  tread  of  the  tyrant's  foot. 
Then,  by  her  own  brave  sons,  she  will 
maintain  her  rights  and  protect  her  own 
fair  women  from  the  foe,  whose  forces 
march  under  banners  inscribed  with 
1  Beauty  and  Booty '  as  the  reward  of 
victory.  In  victory  the  brave  are  al- 
ways merciful,  and  no  quarters  will  be 


65 


shown  to  troops  marching  under  such  a 
banner.  In  this  view,  and  for  these 
purposes,  we  call  upon  the  people  of 
Missouri  to  come  to  our  standard,  join 
our  forces,  and  aid  in  their  own  libera- 
tion. If  you  would  be  freemen,  you 
must  fight  for  your  rights.  Bring  such 
arms  as  you  have.  We  will  furnish  am- 
munition, and  lead  you  on  to  victory. 
That  the  just  Ruler  of  nations  is  with  us 
is  manifested  in  the  glorious  victory  with 
which  our  arms  were  crowned  in  the 
bloody  field  of  Manassas." 

It  was  the  era  of  Proclamations  in 
Missouri.  From  this  same  place,  New 
Madrid,  Lieutenant-Governor  Reynolds, 
the  last  day  of  July,  issued  his  Proclam- 
ation to  the  People  of  Missouri,  authoriz- 
ing the  proceedings  of  General  Pillow, 
whom  he  had  brought  from  Tennessee  ; 
and  a  few  days  after,  Governor  Jackson 
himself  issued  another,  also  of  consider- 
able length  and  of  greater  importance, 
arraigning  the  acts  of  President  Lincoln, 
and  "  provisionally"  declaring  the  polit- 
ical connection  between  the  United 
States  of  America  and  the  people  and 
Government  of  Missouri  dissolved.  This 
was  in  accordance  with  an  arrangement  of 
Governor  Jackson  with  the  government 
at  Richmond  for  the  introduction  of  Mis- 
souri as  a  member  of  the  Confederacy. 


•i'j  a 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 


GENERAL  LYON'S  MISSOURI  CAMPAIGN.    BATTLE  OF  WILSON'S  CREEK,  AUG.  10,  1861. 


WE  left  General  Lyon  setting  out 
from  Booneville  at  the  beginning  of  July. 
He  was  firmly  convinced  of  the  necessity 
of  action,  and  determined,  in  spite  of 
every  disadvantage  of  means  and  re- 
sources, to  make  that  action  prompt  and 
effective.  We  may  pause  here  a  moment 
to  notice  a  letter  written  by  him  a  few 
days  before,  to  a  near  relative  who  had 
requested  some  information  on  previous 
incidents  of  his  life,  doubtless  with  a 
view  to  their  publication,  for  there  were 
at  this  time  few  persons  of  whom  the 
public  more  desired  to  hear  than  of  Gen- 
eral Lyon.  It  was  a  complimentary  call 
which  most  persons  thus  situated  would 
have  found  some  means  of  complying 
with.  But  General  Lyon  was  far  too 
deeply  engrossed  with  the  concerns  of 
his  country  to  look  at  such  a  time  into 
his  past  life  for  materials  for  eulog}r.  His 
reply  exhibits  the  disinterestedness  of  the 
man,  his  superiority  to  any  personal 
vanity  or  sense  of  importance,  and  his 
overwhelming  conviction — a  conviction 
which  he,  more  than  most  leaders  of  the 
North,  at  that  time  felt — of  the  momen- 
tous nature  of  the  conflict  upon  which  the 
country  had  entered.  He  thus  wrote 
from  Boonevile,  June  28th,  1861:  "  Dear 
Cousin, — I  have  your  two  notes  asking 
for  points  of  my  military  service.  I 
have  not  answered,  because  I  have  no 
time,  and  do  not  think  the  subject  of  the 
least  importance.  This  great  and  wicked 
rebellion  absorbs  my  whole  being  to  the 
exclusion  of  any  considerations  of  fame 
jr  self- advancement.  In  this  issue,  if  I 


have  or  shall  have  a  conspicuous  part,  I 
would  share  it  and  the  honors  of  it  equal- 
ly with  every  one  who  contributes  to 
sustain  the  great  cause  of  our  country, 
which  I  have  so  much  at  heart.  I  have 
not  received  your  notice  of  me  in  the 
Journal  of  Commerce.  Most  of  the  no- 
tices by  the  press  are  more  or  less  erro- 
neous. But  alas !  the  past  is  nothing — 
painfully,  indeed,  unfruitful  of  benefits  to 
our  race.  It  is  with  the  present  we  are 
dealing,  and  let  us  all  devote  ourselves 
to  it  with  a  view  to  secure  the  future. 
And  let  that  future  be  blank  and  forever 
oblivious  rather  than  our  cause  fail  be- 
fore the  unscrupulous  villainy  now  at  war 
upon  it.  Of  the  ultimate  results  I  have 
no  doubts,  though  unfavorable  incidents 
may  arise  under  frauds  and  misrepresen- 
tations and  a  heretofore  demoralized 
sentiment  at  the  North,  so  unfortunately 
auspicious  to  our  enemies.  I  am  now 
deeply  involved  and  concerned  in  the 
issues  before  me.  My  exertions  and 
will  shall  not  be  wanting,  though  they 
may  not  go  far  to  effect  the  result.  What 
is  now  before  me  in  this  region  I  hardly 
know.  The  Governor  and  party  have 
gone  South,  and  may  make  another 
stand  ;  though  it  is  probable  they  intend 
to  rendezvous  in  Arkansas  and  return 
with  reinforcements.  I  have  been  un- 
avoidably delayed  by  getting  up  a  train, 
but  shall  pursue,  though  I  do  not  expect 
to  catch  the  fugitives." 

Having  diligently  collected  a  train  by 
the  purchase  of  wagons  and  animals  from 
the  farmers  of  the  country — he  was  not 


GENERAL   LYON'S   ADVANCE. 


515 


the  man  to  wait  for  the  Government 
manufacture  of  the  regulation  article — 
General  Lyon,  on  the  3d  of  July,  1861, 
left  Booneville  in  quest  of  the  enemy. 
He  had  with  him  at  starting  2,700  men, 
Iowa  and  Missouri  volunteers,  a  com- 
pany of  regulars,  and  Captain  Totten's 
battery  of  four  pieces,  of  artillery. 
Though  the  force  was  small,  it  was  im- 
posing and  affective,  for  the  men  of 
which  it  was  composed  knew  their  duty, 
and  were  prepared  to  discharge  it.  A 
body  of  pioneers,  armed  with  Sharp's 
rifles  and  carrying  axes  and  shovels,  fol- 
lowed the  regulars,  who  were  placed  in 
advance  as  skirmishers.  Then  came  the 
artillery,  succeeded  by  the  infantry  and 
a  long  train  of  supplies.  General  Lyon 
rode  mounted  on  an  iron-grey  horse,  ac- 
companied by  a  select  body-guard  of  ten 
stout  German  butchers  from  St.  Louis, 
mounted  on  powerful  horses  and  armed 
with  revolvers  and  cavalry  swords.' 
Thus  provided  and  equipped,  the  little 
army,  hardly  more  than  a  simple  brig- 
ade, made  its  way  southward  through 
the  heat  and  dust  of  the  sultry  season. 
On  the  7th,  having  secured  the  passage 
of  Grand  river,  a  branch  of  the  Osage  run- 
ning through  Henry  county,  he  was  joined 
at  that  ferry  by  3,000  troops  from  Kan- 
sas, commanded  by  Major  Sturgis,  and  the 
whole  force  was  passed  over  the  stream 
that  night  and  early  on  the  following 
morning  by  a  single  small  scow.  With 
similar  expedition  and  success  the  army 
next  day  reached  the  Osage,  striking  the 
river  in  the  heart  of  a  dense  forest  ten 
or  twelve  miles  west  of  Oceola.  Here 
considerable  excitement  was  produced 
in  the  camp  by  the  news  of  Colonel 
SigeFs  engagment  at  Carthage,  which, 
in  consequence  of  his  retreat,  was  repre- 
sented as  a  defeat.  It  was  resolved  turn- 


ing  from  the  extreme  western  part  of 
the  State  to  hasten  to  Springfield.  On 
the  llth  the  army,  starting  at  sunrise, 
regardless  of  the  heat,  accomplished  a 
march  of  twenty-seven  miles  by  3  o'clock. 
"  At  sundown,"  continues  Dr.  Wood- 
ward, the  latest  biographer  of  General 
Lyon,  in  his  narrative  of  the  expedition, 
"the  line  of  march  was  again  formed. 
The  road  soon  struck  a  heavy  forest, 
where  the  dense  foliage  of  the  overhang- 
ing limbs  shut  out  the  glimmer  of  the 
stars,  leaving  the  men  to  grope  their 
way  through  almost  total  darkness.  The 
road  was  little  travelled,  and  extremely 
rough.  Steep  hills,  deep  gorges,  swift 
streams,  miry  sloughs,  gullies  washed  out 
by  the  rains,  rocks  scattered  about 
everywhere^  stumps  and  fallen  timber 
were  among  the  obstacles  which  had  to 
be  encountered  in  the  darkness.  Many 
were  the  bruised  limbs  and  broken  vehi- 
cles. For  thirty-six  hours  most  of  the 
men  had  hardly  closed  their  eyes,  and 
now  unsupportable  drowsiness  overpow- 
ered them.  If  the  line  came  to  a 
momentary  halt,  scores  fell  asleep  in 
their  tracks.  Arousing  as  the  column 
moved  on  ;  the  men  struggled  bravely 
agamst  fatigue  til  3  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, when  General  Lyon  ordered  a  halt. 
Scarcely  was  the  order  issued  before 
nine- tenths  of  the  army  were  buried  in 
slumber.  Few  waited  to  unroll  their 
blankets  or  seek  a  shelter  spot  for  a 
couch.  Wherever  they  stood,  they 
dropped  upon  the  ground — officers  and 
men  indiscriminately — with  the  earth  for 
a  bed  and  the  sky  for  a  covering." 
Within  twenty-four  hours  the  toil-worn 
forces  marched  nearly  fifty  miles  over  a 
rugged,  disadvantageous  country,  in  the 
heat  of  midsummer,  to  carry  aid  to  a  por- 
tion of  the  army  supposed  to  be  in  dan- 


516 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


ger.  Their  exertions  were  rewarded  the 
next  morning  by  hearing  that  Sigel's  com- 
mand was  safe,  and,  thus  encouraged,  they 
marched  leisurely  to  Springfield,  which 
they  reached  on  the  13th,  accomplish- 
ing the  distance  of  nearly  two  hundred 
miles,  from  Booneville,  in  eleven  days. 

The  retreat  of  Sigel  through  the  ene- 
my's forces  at  Carthage,  was  a  fierj1"  in- 
dication of  the  storm  of  war  gathering  in 
the  South-west,  which,  sweeping  onward, 
was  destined  to  overpower — though  not 
without  a  desperate  struggle — the  in- 
ferior bands  of  loyal  men  gathered  round 
General  Lyon  at  Springfield— numbers 
daily  diminished  by  the  expiration  of 
the  time  of  enlistment  of  the  volunteers, 
of  which  his  force  was  mostly  composed. 
The  preparations  making  by  the  rebels 
were  the  most  formidable  of  their  many 
attempts  in  this  quarter  during  the  war. 
Their  army,  collected  from  various 
quarters,  at  Cassville,  to  the  south-west 
of  Springfield,  near  the  Arkansas  line  of 
Missouri,  included  a  large  body  of  Mis- 
sourians,  under  General  Price,  a  force  of 
Arkansas  troops  led  by  General  Pearce, 
a  regiment  of  Texan  rangers  under  Col- 
onel Greer,  a  Louisiana  regiment  under 
Colonel  Hebert,  and  a  regiment  of  mount- 
ed riflemen  under  Colonel  Churchill,  with 
other  commands  comprehending  the  best 
military  talent  of  the  South-west.  Few 
names  of  those  who  were  distinguished 
at  that  time  in  the  rebel  service  of  the 
South-western  region  were  missing  from 
the  muster  of  forces  which,  advancing  un- 
der the  command  of  General  McCulloch, 
were  encamped  on  the  6th  of  August  at 
Wilson's  Creek,  a  position  ten  miles 
south-west  of  Springfield.  The  object  was 
the  investment  and  capture  of  the  Union 
forces  of  General  Lyon  at  that  town. 

The   rebel  commander,  Ben  McCul- 


loch was  a  person  of  some  mark  in 
military  frontier  life.  A  native  of  Euth- 
erford  county,  Tennessee,  the  son  of  an 
aid  of  General  Jackson's  warrior-friend, 
General  Coffee,  he  had  early  addicted 
himself  to  the  hunter's  life  of  the  wilder- 
ness. In  his  younger  days  he  acquired 
some  reputation  as  an  adept  in  bear 
hunting.  When  the  tide  of  emigration 
began  to  set  beyond  the  Mississippi,  he 
made  some  ineffectual  attempts  to  join 
parties  of  traders  and  trappers  to  Santa 
Fe  and  the  Rocky  mountains.  He  then 
settled  in  Gonzales  county,  Texas,  join- 
ed General  Houston  at  the  first  outbreak 
with  the  Mexicans,  and  was  present,  in 
command  of  a  gun,  at  the  battle  of  San 
Jacinto.  When  the  province  was  an- 
nexed to  the  United  States,  and  the  war 
became  national,  he  raised  a  company  of 
Texans,  and  joined 'General  Taylor  on 
the  Rio  Grande,  accompanying  him  to 
Monterey  and  Buena  Vista,  rendering 
good  service  as  a  scout.  He  was  thence 
transferred  to  the  column  of  General 
Scott,  and  entered  Mexico  with  the 
triumphant  army.  After  the  war  he  re- 
turned to  his  home,  and  received  his 
reward  in  the  appointment  by  President 
Pierce,  of  United  States  Marshal  in 
Texas.  He  subsequently  enjoyed  another 
appointment  from  President  Buchanan, 
who,  oddly  enough,  sent  him  with  the 
army,  when  difficulties  arose  in  the  re- 
gion, as  Peace  Commissioner  to  Utah. 
At  the  first  overt  acts  of  the  Rebellion 
he  was  hovering  about  Washington,  and 
his  name  was  frequently  mentioned  in 
connection  with  rumors  of  attacks  upon 
the  city.  He  then  disappeared  from 
that  quarter  to  become  a  more  certain 
source  of  terror,  and  fulfil  his  destiny  as 
the  leader  of  the  insurgents  of  Arkansas 
and  South-western  Missouri. 


BATTLE   AT   DUG   SPRINGS. 


517 


It  was  General  Lyon's  intention  to 
meet  the  detached  bodies  of  the  enemy 
on  their  route  before  they  were  concen- 
trated in  their  new  position,  and  setting 
out  from  Springfield  with  this  purpose 
on  the  1st  of  August,  he  had  advanced 
nineteen  miles  in  a  south-westerly  direc- 
tion, when,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  2d, 
after  a  forced  march  of  unusual  severity, 
under  a  burning  sun,  he  encountered  a 
portion  of  the  rebel  forces  under  com- 
mand of  General  Rains,  in  a  sharp  action 
at  Dug  Springs.  The  engagement  is  thus 
described  by  an  eye-witness  :  "In  or- 
der," says  the  writer,  the  correspondent 
of  a  New  York  journal  with  the  army, 
"  to  understand  the  position  of  the  par- 
ties, imagine  an  oblong  basin  of  five 
miles  in  length,  surrounded  by  hills, 
from  which  spurs  projected  into  the  main 
hollow,  covered  with  occasional  thickets 
and  oak  openings.  The  winding  of  the 
road  round  the  spurs  had  the  effect  of 
concealing  the  strength  of  each  party 
from  the  other,  so  that  from  the  top  of 
each  successive  ridge  could  be  seen  the 
rear  of  the  enemy's  forces.  At  about 
five  o'clock  a  brisk  interchange  of  shots 
was  commenced  by  our  skirmishers, 
Captain  Steele's  regular  infantry  taking 
the  lead  on  the  left,  supported  lay  a  com- 
pany of  cavalry,  the  rest  of  the  column 
being  back  some  distance.  Presently 
we  could  see  a  column  of  infantry  ap- 
proaching from  the  woods  with  the  de- 
sign of  cutting  off  our  infantry.  Captain 
Stanley  immediately  drew  up  his  men, 
and  as  soon  as  within  range,  they  open- 
ed fire  from  their  Sharp's  carbines,  when 
several  volleys  were  exchanged.  The 
number  of  the  enemy's  infantry  was 
seemingly  about  five  hundred ;  our 
cavalry  not  quite  a  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  infantry  kept  up  the  firing  for  some 


minutes,  when  some  enthusiastic  lieuten- 
ant giving  the  order  to  '  charge,'  some 
twenty-five  of  the  gallant  regulars  rushed 
forward  upon  the  enemy's  lines,  and, 
dashing  aside  the  threatening  bayonets 
of  the  sturdy  rebels,  hewed  down  the 
ranks  with  terrible  slaughter.  ..  .  .  The 
ground  was  left  in  our  possession,  being 
strewn  with  muskets,  shot-guns,  pistols, 
etc.  Our  men  seized  some  fifteen  mus- 
kets and  the  same  number  of  horses  and 
mules  and  rode  off,  when  a  large  force  of 
the  enemy's  cavalry  was  seen  approach- 
ing from  the  woods,  numbering  some 
three  hundred  or  more.  At  the  instant 
when  they  had  formed  in  an  angle,  Cap- 
tain Totten,  who  had  mounted  a  six  and 
twelve-pounder  upon  an  overlooking  hill, 
sent  a  shell  right  over  them  ;  in  another 
minute  the  second  —  a  twelve-pound 
shell,  a  very  marvel  of  gunner}^  practice 
—which  landed  right  at  their  feet,  ex- 
ploding, and  scattering  the  whole  body 
in  the  most  admired  disorder.  The 
third,  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  were  sent 
into  their  midst.  The  horsemen  could 
not  control  their  horses,  and  in  a  minute 
not  an  enemy  was  to  be  seen  anywhere." 
The  entire  Union  loss  in  this  affair 
has  been  stated  at  8  killed,  30  wounded  ; 
that  of  the  enemy  40  killed,  44  wound- 
ed.* Although,  says  the  correspondent 
just  quoted,  "  the  entire  action  cannot  be 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  great  battle, 
for  the  whole  affair  lasted  less  than  half 
an  hour,  it  was  in  reality  a  great 
triumph.  Our  advanced  cavalry  was 
alone  engaged  on  our  part,  and  they  suc- 
cessfully fought  and  drove  off  a  force  ten 
times  their  number.  It  moreover  re- 
vealed the  fighting  animus  of  the  enemy  ; 
it  revealed  the  state  of  their  armament, 
and  afforded  a  brilliant  example  for  our 

*  Tribune  Almanac  for  1862,  p.  45. 


518 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


expectant  troops.  All  supposed  when 
the  crack  of  the  cannon  and  whistling  of 
shell  were  heard  in  such  quick  succes- 
sion, that  the  battle  was  begun,  and  that 
a  trial  of  arms  was  to  ensue  ere  night- 
fall. Our  men  were  under  arms,  cannon 
in  position,  until  the  news  of  the  in- 
glorious retreat  of  the  vaunting  rebels 
dispelled  the  prospect.  The  camps  were 
then  pitched,  and  the  necessary  pre- 
cautions taken  against  attack.  No  des- 
cription can  do  justice  to  the  labors  of 
the  day.  When  the  morning  dawned 
the  men  were  put  in  motion.  The  heat 
was  insufferable,  the  incessant  running 
about  among  the  brush  for  miles  on  both 
sides  of  the  main  road  created  the  most 
suffocating  thirst.  The  tongue  became 
swollen,  the  sweat  was  blinding,  and  the 
dust  profuse.  Even  the  hardiest  men 
were  glad  to  tind  shelter  for  a  moment 
in  some  canebrake.  The  few  wells  or 
springs  in  the  vicinity  had  given  out. 
Water  was  not  to  be  had  ;  toward  even- 
ing two  dollars  and  a  half  being  offered 
for  a  canteen  of  warm  ditch  water. 
Many  were  victims  of  sunstroke  and  ex- 
haustion, and  never  were  a  set  of  men 
more  grateful  than  when  the  burning  sun 
cast  his  declining  shadow  over  the  west- 
ern hills."  * 

The  march  was  continued  some  miles 
further  to  Curran,  with  various  skirmish- 
ing by  the  wa}r,  in  which  General  Lyon's 
forces  kept  the  advantage,  but  the  for- 
ward movement  was  not  a  successful 
one.  The  troops  with  inadequate  sup- 
plies, were  toiling  with  great  inconveni- 
ence under  the  blazing  sun  of  midsum- 
mer, through  a  country  stripped  of  the 
means  of  subsistence,  with  no  little 
hazard  to  their  communications  from 
the  swarming  bands  of  the  enemy.  In 


Correspondence  of  the  New  York  World,  Aug.  12, 1861. 


this  state  of  affairs  a  council  of  officers 
was  held,  it  was  determined  to  retire, 
and  the  force  was  brought  back  to 
Springfield  and  its  immediate  neighbor- 
hood. 

It  appears  to  have  been  General 
Lyon's  intention  to  attempt  a  night  at- 
tack on  the  enemy's  forces,  on  the  7th, 
and  a  portion  of  his  command,  under 
Major  S.  D.  Sturgis  of  the  regular  cav- 
alry, was  kept  advanced  on  the  road  for 
the  purpose.  Every  preparation,  in  fact, 
was  made  for  the  movement  ;  but  it  was 
abandoned  in  consequence,  it  is  said,  of 
the  loss  of  an  hour  or  two  by  General 
Lyon,  who,  delayed  by  various  business 
at  his  headquarters,  found  on  proceeding 
to  the  camp,  that  it  was  3  o'clock  in  the 
morning — too  late  an  hour  to  take  the 
enemy  by  surprise.  These  attempted 
movements  of  General  Lyon  show  the 
impatience  of  the  man  for  action  in  the 
midst  of  the  unfavorable  circumstances 
by  which  he  was  surrounded.  He  needed 
reinforcements  and  supplies,  but  called 
for  them  in  vain.  "I  fear,"  he  wrote  on 
the  31st  of  July,  "  the  enemy  may  be- 
come emboldened  by  our  want  of  activ- 
ity. I  have  constant  rumors  of  a  very 
large  force  below,  and  of  threats  to  attack 
us  with  overwhelming  numbers.  I  should 
have  a  much  larger  force  than  I  have, 
and  be  much  better  supplied." 

The  troops  were  now  called  into 
Springfield  ;  a  council  of  war  was  held, 
and  it  was  seriously  debated  among  the 
officers  whether  the  town  should  not  be 
abandoned  and  a  retreat  ordered.  The 
motive  of  this  discussion  was  the  superior 
force  of  the  enemy,  which  greatly  out- 
numbered the  Unionists.  General  Mc- 
Oulloch,  in  his  report  of  the  action  which 
ensued  at  Wilson's  Creek  speaks  of  his 
effective  force  of  5,300  infantry,  15 


A   COUNCIL   OF  WAR. 


510 


pieces  of  artillery,  and  6,000  horsemen, 
armed  with  flint-lock  muskets,  rifles  and 
shot-guns.  General  Price  gives  the  num- 
ber of  the  Missouri  State  forces  5,221, 
officers  and  men.  Major  Sturgis  men- 
tions the  force  of  General  Lyon's  division 
in  the  field  at  3,700,  to  which  are  to  be 
added  some  1,200  with  Sigel,  making 
the  actual  combatants  on  the  Union  side 
at  about  5,000.  Major  Sturgis  sets  down 
the  enemy's  force,  in  the  aggregate,  at 
23,000.  The  troops  of  General  Lyon 
were,  many  of  them,  freshly-raised,  inex- 
perienced recruits,  who  had  been  hastily 
summoned  to  take  the  place  of  the  three 
mouths'  volunteers  who  had  left  the  camp 
upon  the  expiration  of  their  short  term 
of  enlistment. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  might 
have  seemed  the  part  of  prudence  and 
discretion  to  retire.  There  were  some 
peculiarities  in  the  case,  however,  which, 
to  so  ardent  patriots  as  the  commander 
and  his  officers,  determined  a  contrary 
course.  If  they  retreated,  the  moral 
advantage  would  be  still  greater  than  the 
material,  to  the  foe.  The  Union  cause 
would  be  broken  in  a  large  part  of  the 
State  ;  its  defenders  would  lose  heart 
and  submit  to  their  resolute  assailants  ; 
an  important  region,  including  the  mili- 
tary resource  of  the  lead  mines,  would 
be  gained  at  once,  and  the  northern  and 
central  portions  of  the  State  would  be 
open  to  attack.  Nor  could  the  numer- 
ous trains  of  the  Union  forces  be  led 
away  in  safety  with  a  greatly  superior 
and  unchecked  army  vigorously  engaged 
in  the  pursuit.  A  sacrifice,  in  fact,  to 
the  minds  of  these  patriots,  appeared  ne- 
cessary for  a  great  cause  ;  and  when  an 
offering  on  the  altar  of  his  country  was 
required,  General  Lyon  willingly  pre- 
sented himself.  Nor  was  the  battle 


without  a  prospect  of  success.  There 
were  officers  in  the  Union  ranks  of  signal 
ability,  who,  on  previous  occasions,  had 
led  their  men  to  victory  over  superior 
forces.  Good  generalship  and  resolute 
bravery  might  at  this  time  also  gain  the 
day.  In  the  council  of  war  held  by  Gen- 
eral Lyon,  it  is  said  that  his  officers 
generally  were  in  favor  of  a  retreat  from 
Springfield.  General  Sweeny,  however, 
warmly  advocated  making  a  stand  in 
face  of  the  enemy,  meeting  them  boldly, 
and  withdrawing  only  on  compulsion. 
In  the  action  which  ensued  at  Wilson's 
Creek,  he  was  attached  to  the  staff  of 
General  Lyon,  and  was  especially  dis- 
tinguished for  his  courageous  services  in 
the  field. 

On  Friday,  the  9th,  it  was  determined 
in  both  camps  to  make  an  advance  within 
twenty-four  hours.  Orders  were  issued 
the  afternoon  of  that  day  to  the  rebel 
forces  to  march  in  four  separate  columns 
at  9  o'clock  that  night,  so  as  to  sur- 
round Spriugfield  and  begin  a  simulta- 
neous attack  at  daybreak.  "  The  Dark- 
ness of  the  night  and  a  threatened  storm, 
however,"  continues  General  Price  in 
his  report,  "  caused  General  McOulloch, 
just  as  the  army  was  about  to  march,  to 
countermand  this  order,  and  to  direct 
that  the  troops  should  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  to  move  whenever  ordered. 
The  men  were  thus  kept  under  arms  till 
toward  daybreak.  The  morning  of  Sat- 
urday, the  10th  of  August,  found  them 
still  encamped  at  Wilson's  Creek,  fa- 
tigued by  a  night's  watching  and  want 
of  rest."  * 

General  Lyon,  meanwhile,  on  that 
Friday  afternoon,  was  making  his  dispo- 
sitions for  an  attack  on  the  enemy  the 
following  morning.  The  command  was 

*  Gen.  Price  to  Gov.  Jackson,  Springfield,  Aug.  12, 1861. 


520 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


arranged  to  move  in  two  columns.  The 
first,  under  General  Lyon,  consisted  of 
three  brigades,  led  respectively  by  Major 
S.  D.  Sturgis,  a  gallant  officer  of  the 
regular  army  of  much  experience,  who 
had  joined  the  Union  forces  from  Fort 
Leavenworth  ;  Lieutenant-Colonel  An- 
drews of  the  1st  Missouri  Volunteers, 
and  Colonel  Deitzler  of  a  Kansas  regi- 
ment. Major  Sturgis'  brigade  included 
a  batta-lion  of  regular  infantry  under 
Captain  Plummer,  Captain  Totten's  light 
battery  of  six  pieces,  Major  Osterhaus' 
battalion  of  Missouri  Yolunteers,  Cap- 
tain Wood's  mounted  company  of  Kan- 
sas Yolunteers,  and  Lieutenant  Canfield's 
company  of  regular  cavalry.  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Andrews'  brigade  embraced 
Captain  Steele's  battalion  of  regulars  ; 
Lieutenant  Dubois'  light  batterjr  of  four 
pieces,  one  of  them  a  12-pounder  gun  ; 
and  the  1st  Missouri  Yolunteers.  The 
third  brigade  was  made  up  of  the  1st  and 
2d  Kansas  and  1st  Iowa  Yolunteers,  the 
former  under  Colonels  Deitzler  and 
Mitchell,  with  two  hundred  mounted 
Missouri  Home  Guards.  Colonel  Sigel's 
column  or  division  consisted  of  the  3d 
and  5th  regiments  Missouri  Yolunteers, 
a  company  of  cavalry  under  Captain 
Carr,  another  of  2d  Dragoons,  under 
Lieutenant  Farrand,  a  company  of  re- 
cruits under  Lieutenant  Lothrop,  4th 
artillery,  and  a  light  battery  of  six 
pieces.  The  attack  was  to  be  made 
at  daylight  by  General  Lyon,  on  the 
enemy's  left,  and  by  Colonel  Sigel  on 
his  right.  The  reports  of  these  two 
movements  by  Major  Sturgis,  the  second 
in  command  to  General  Lyon,  and  his 
successor  on  the  field,  and  by  Colonel 
Sigel,  furnish  the  authentic  narrative  of 
the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek. 

"  The  main  column,  under   General 


Lyon,"  says  Major  Sturgis,  "  marched 
from  Springfield  at  5  o'clock  p.  M.,  on  the 
9th,  making  a  detour  to  the  right — at 
1  o'clock  in  the  morning  arriving  in  view 
of  the  enemy's  guard-fires.  Here  the 
column  halted  and  lay  on  their  arms 
until  the  dawn  of  day,  when  it  again 
moved  forward,  Captain  Gilbert's  com- 
pany, which  had  formed  the  advance 
during  the  night,  still  remained  in  ad- 
vance, and  the  column  moved  in  the 
same  order  in  which  it  had  halted.  A 
south-easterly  direction  was  now  taken, 
with  a  view  to  strike  the  extreme  north- 
ern point  of  the  enemy's  camp.  At  day- 
light a  line  of  battle  was  formed,  closely 
followed  by  Totten's  battery,  supported 
by  a  strong  reserve.  In  this  order  we 
advanced,  with  skirmishers  in  front,  until 
the  first  out-post  of  the  rebels  was  en- 
countered and  drive"n  in,  when  the  col- 
umn was  halted  and  the  following  dispo- 
sitions made,  viz  :  Captain  Plummer's 
battalion,  with  the  Home  Guard  on  his 
left,  was  to  cross  Wilson's  Creek  and 
move  toward  the  front,  keeping  pace 
with  the  advance  on  the  left  opposite 
bank,  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  our 
left  flank  against  any  attempt  of  the  en- 
emy to  turn  it.  After  crossing  a  ravine, 
and  ascending  a  high  ridge,  we  came  in 
full  view  of  a  considerable  force  of  the 
enemy's  skirmishers.  Major  Osterhaus' 
battalion  was  at  once  deployed  to  the 
right,  and  two  companies  of  the  1st  Mis- 
souri Yolunteers,  under  Captains  Yates 
and  Cavender,  were  deployed  to  the  left, 
all  as  skirmishers.  The  firing  now  be- 
came very  severe,  and  it  was  evident  we 
were  approaching  the  enemy's  strong- 
hold, where  they  intended  giving  battle. 
A  few  shells  from  Totten's  battery  assist- 
ed our  skirmishers  in  clearing  the  ground 
in  front.  The  1st  Missouri  and  1st 


MAJOR  STURGIS'   COLUMN. 


521 


Kansas  moved  at  once  to  the  front,  sup- 
ported by  Totten's  battery  and  the  1st 
Iowa  regiment ;  Dubois'  battery,  Steele's 
battalion  and  the  2d  Kansas  were  held  in 
reserve.  The  1st  Missouri  now  took  its 
position  in  the  front,  upon  the  crest  of  a 
small  elevated  plateau.  The  1st  Kansas 
was  posted  on  the  left  of  the  1st  Missou- 
ri, and  separated  from  it  some  sixty 
yards  on  account  of  a  ravine.  The  1st 
Iowa  took  its  position  on  the  left  of  the 
1st  Kansas,  while  Totten's  battery  was 
placed  opposite  the  interval  between  the 
1st  Kansas  and  1st  Missouri.  Major 
Osterhaus'  battalion  occupied  the  ex- 
treme right,  with  his  right  resting  on  a 
ravine  which  turned  abruptly  to  our 
right  arid  rear.  Dubois'  battery,  sup- 
ported by  Steele's  battalion,  was  placed 
some  eighty  yards  to  the  left  and  rear  of 
Totten's  guns,  so  as  to  bear  upon  a  pow- 
erful battery  of  the  enemy,  posted  to  our 
left  and  front,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
Wilson's  Creek  to  sweep  the  entire  pla- 
teau upon  which  our  troops  were  formed. 
"  The  enemy  now  rallied  in  large  force 
near  the  foot  of  the  slope,  and  under  con- 
siderable cover,  opposite  our  left  wing, 
and  along  the  slope  in  front  and  on  our 
right  toward  the  crest  of  the  main  ridge 
running  parallel  to  the  creek.  During 
this  time  Captain  Plummer,  with  his  four 
companies  of  infantry,  had  moved  down 
a  ridge  about  500  yards  to  our  left,  and 
separated  from  us  by  a  deep  ravine,  and 
reached  its  abrupt  terminus,  where  he 
found  his  further  progress  arrested  by  a 
large  force  of  infantry  occupying  a  corn- 
field in  the  valley  in  his  front.  At  this 
moment  an  artillery  fire  was  opened  from 
a  high  point  about  two  miles  distant,  and 
nearly  in  our  front,  from  which  Colonel 
Sigel  was  to  have  commenced  his  attack. 
This  fire  was  answered  from  the  opposite 
66 


side  of  the  valley,  and  at  a  greater  dis- 
tance from  us  ;  the  line  of  fire  of  the  two 
batteries  being  nearly  perpendicular  to 
our  own.  After  about  ten  or  twelve 
shots  on  either  side,  the  firing  ceased, 
and  we  neither  heard  nor  saw  anything 
more  of  General  Sigel's  brigade  until 
about  82  o'clock,  when  a  brisk  cannon- 
ading was  heard  for  a  few  minutes,  about 
a  mile  to  the  right  of  that  heard  before, 
and  from  two  to  three  miles  distant. 
Our  whole  line  now  advanced  with  much 
energy  upon  the  enemy's  position.  The 
firing,  which  had  been  spirited  for  the 
last  half  hour,  now  increased  to  a  contin- 
uous roar.  During  this  time  Captain 
Totten's  battery  came  into  action  by  sec- 
tion and  by  piece,  as  the  nature  of  the 
ground  would  permit  (it  being  wooded, 
with  much  undergrowth),  and  played 
upon  the  enemy's  lines  with  great  effect. 
After  a  fierce  engagement,  lasting  per- 
haps half  an  hour,  and  in  which  our 
troops  retired  two  or  three  times  in  more 
or  less  disorder,  but  never  more  than  a 
few  yards,  again  to  rally  and  press  for- 
ward with  increased  vigor,  the  enemy 
gave  way  in  the  utmost  confusion,  and 
left  us  in  possession  of  the  position. 
Meanwhile,  Captain  Plummer  was  order- 
ed to  move  forward  on  our  left,  but 
meeting  with  overpowering  resistance 
from  the  large  mass  of  infantry  in  the 
corn-field  in  his  front  and  in  the  woods 
beyond,  was  compelled  to  fall  back  ;  but 
at  this  moment  Lieutenant  Dubois'  bat- 
tery, which  had  taken  position  on  our 
left  flank,  supported  by  Captain  Steele's 
battalion,  opened  upon  the  enemy  in  the 
corn-field  a  fire  of  shells  with  such  mark- 
ed effect,  as  to  drive  him,  in  the  utmost 
disorder  and  with  great  slaughter,  from 
the  field. 

"  There  was  now  a  momentary  cessa- 


522 


WAR   FOR  THE   UNION. 


tion  of  fire  along  nearly  the  whole  line, 
except  the  extreme  right,  where  the  1st 
Missouri  was  still  engaged  with  a  supe- 
rior force  of  the  enemy,  attempting  to 
turn  our  right.  The  General  having 
been  informed  of  this  movement,  sent  the 
2d  Kansas  to  the  support  of  the  1st  Mis- 
souri. It  came  up  in  time  to  prevent 
the  Missourians  from  being  destroyed  by 
the  overwhelming  force  against  which 
they  were  unflinchingly  holding  their  po- 
sition. The  battalion  of  regular  infantry 
under  Captain  Steele,  which  had  been 
detailed  to  the  support  of  Lieutenant 
Dubois'  battery,  was  during  the  time 
brought  forward  to  the  support  of  Cap- 
tain Totten's  battery.  Scarcely  had 
these  dispositions  been  made,  when  the 
enemy  again  appeared  in  very  large 
force  along  our  entire  front,  and  moving 
toward  each  flank.  The  engagement  at 
once  became  general,  and  almost  incon- 
ceivably fierce  along  the  entire  line  ;  the 
enemy  appearing  in  front  often  in  three 
or  four  ranks,  lying  down,  kneeling,  and 
standing,  the  lines  often  approaching  to 
within  thirty  or  forty  yards  of  each 
other,  as  the  enemy  would  charge  upon 
Captain  Totten's  battery  and  be  driven 
back.  Early  in  the  engagement  the  1st 
Iowa  came  to  the  support  of  the  1st 
Kansas  and  1st  Missouri,  both  of  which 
had  stood  like  veteran  troops,  exposed 
to  a  galling  fire  of  the  enemy.  Every 
available  battalion  was  now  brought  into 
action,  and  the  battle  raged  with  unabat- 
ed fury  for  more  than  an  hour,  the 
scales  seeming  all  the  time  nearly  equally 
balanced,  our  troops  sometimes  gaining 
a  little  ground,  and  again  giving  way  a 
few  yards  to  rally  again.  Early  in  this 
engagement,  while  General  Lyon  was 
leading  his  horse  along  the  line  on  the  left 
of  Captain  Totten's  battery,  and  endeav- 


oring to  rally  our  troops,  which  were  at 
this  time  in  considerable  disorder,  his 
horse  was  killed,  and  he  received  a 
wound  in  the  leg  and  one  in  the  head. 
He  walked  slowly  a  few  paces  to  the  rear 
and  said,  '  I  fear  the  day  is  lost.'  I  then 
dismounted  one  of  my  orderlies  and  ten- 
dered the  horse  to  the  General,  who  at 
first  declined,  saying  it  was  not  neces- 
sary. The  horse,  however,  was  left  with 
him,  and  I  moved  off  to  rally  a  portion 
of  the  Iowa  regiment,  which  was  begin- 
ning to  break  in  considerable  numbers. 
In  the  meantime  the  General  mounted, 
and  swinging  his  hat  in  the  air,  called  to 
the  troops  nearest  him  to  follow.  The 
2d  Kansas  gallantly  rallied  around  him, 
headed  by  the  brave  Colonel  Mitchell. 
In  a  few  moments  the  Colonel  fell,  se- 
verely wounded  ;  about  the  same  time  a 
fatal  ball  was  lodged  in  the  General's 
breast,  and  he  was  carried  from  the  field 
a  corpse.  Thus  gloriously  fell  as  brave 
a  soldier  as  ever  drew  a  sword — a  man 
whose  honesty  of  purpose  was  proverbial 
— a  noble  patriot,  and  one  who  held  his 
life  as  nothing  when  his  country  demand- 
ed it  of  him. 

"  Of  this  dire  calamity  I  was  not  in- 
formed until  perhaps  half  an  hour  after 
its  occurrence.  In  the  meantime  our 
disorderly  line  on  the  left  was  again  ral- 
lied, and  pressed  the  enemy  with  great 
vigor  and  coolness,  particularly  the  1st 
Iowa  regiment,  which  fought  like  veter- 
ans. This  hot  encounter  lasted  perhaps 
half  an  hour.  After  the  death  of  Gen- 
eral Lyon,  when  the  enemy  fled  and  left 
the  field  clear,  so  far  as  we  could  see,  an 
almost  total  silence  reigned  for  a  space 
of  twenty  minutes.  Major  Scofield  now 
informed  me  of  the  death  of  General 
Lyon,  and  reported  for  orders.  The  re- 
sponsibility which  now  rested  upon  me 


PROGRESS   OF   THE    CONFLICT. 


523 


was  duly  felt  and  appreciated.  Our 
brave  little  army  was  scattered  aiid 
broken  ;  over  20,000  men  were  still  in 
our  front,  and  our  men  had  had  no  water 
since  5  o'clock  the  evening  before,  and 
could  hope  for  none  short  of  Springfield, 
twelve  miles  distant ;  if  we  should  go 
forward,  our  own  success  would  prove 
our  certain  defeat  in  the  end  ;  if  we  re- 
treated, disaster  stared  us  in  the  face  ; 
our  ammunition  was  well  nigh  exhausted, 
and  should  the  enemy  make  this  discov- 
ery through  a  slackening  of  our  fire,  total 
annihilation  was  all  we  could  expect. 
The  great  question  in  my  mind  was, 
1  Where  is  Sigel  ? '  If  I  could  still  hope 
for  a  vigorous  attack  by  him,  on  the  en- 
emy's right  flank  or  rear,  then  we  could 
go  forward  with  some  hope  of  success. 
If  he  had  retreated,  there  was  nothing 
left  for  us  also.  In  this  perplexing  con- 
dition of  affairs,  I  summoned  the  princi- 
pal officers  for  consultation.  The  great 
question  with  most  of  them  was,  '  Is  re- 
treat possible  ? '  The  consultation  was 
brought  to  a  close  by  the  advance  of  a 
heavy  column  of  infantry  from  the  hill, 
where  Sigel's  guns  had  been  heard  be- 
fore. Thinking  they  were  Sigel's  men,  a 
line  was  formed  for  an  advance,  with  the 
hope  of  forming  a  junction  with  him. 
These  troops  wore  a  dress  much  resem- 
bling that  of  Sigel's  brigade,  and  carried 
the  American  flag.  They  were  there- 
fore permitted  to  move  down  the  hill 
within  easy  range  of  Dubois'  battery, 
until  they  had  reached  the  covered  posi- 
tion at  the  foot  of  the  ridge  on  which  we 
were  posted,  and  from  which  we  had 
been  fiercely  assailed  before,  when  sud- 
denly a  battery  was  planted  on  the  hill 
in  our  front,  and  began  to  pour  on  us 
shrapnel  and  canister — a  species  of  shot 
not  before  tired  by  the  enemy.  At  this 


moment  the  enemy  showed  his  true  col- 
ors, and  at  once  commenced  along  our 
entire  lines  the  fiercest  and  most  bloody 
engagement  of  the  day.  Lieutenant  Du- 
bois' battery  on  our  left,  gallantly  sup- 
ported by  Major  Osterhaus'  battalion 
and  the  rallied  fragments  of  the  Missouri 
1st,  soon  silenced  the  enemy's  battery  on 
the  hill,  and  repulsed  the  right  wing  of 
his  infantry.  Captain  Totten's  battery 
in  the  centre,  supported  by  the  lowas 
and  regulars,  was  the  main  point  of  at- 
tack. The  enemy  could  frequently  be 
seen  within  twenty  feet  of  Totten's  guns, 
and  the  smoke  of  the  opposing  lines  was 
often  so  confounded  as  to  seem  but  one. 
Now,  for  the  first  time  during  the  day, 
our  entire  line  maintained  its  position 
with  perfect  firmness.  Not  that  the 
slightest  disposition  to  give  way  was 
manifested  at  any  point,  and  while  Cap- 
tain Steele's  battalion,  which  was  some 
yards  in  front  of  the  line,  together  with 
the  troops  on  the  right  and  left,  were  in 
imminent  danger  of  being  overwhelmed 
by  superior  numbers,  the  contending 
lines  being  almost  muzzle  to  muzzle, 
Captain  Granger  rushed  to  the  rear  and 
brought  up  the  supports  of  Dubois'  bat- 
tery, consisting  of  two  or  three  companies 
of  the  1st  Missouri,  three  companies  of 
the  1st  Kansas,  and  two  companies  of 
the  1st  Iowa,  in  quick  time,  and  fell  upon 
the  enemy's  right  flank,  and  poured  into 
it  a  murderous  volley,  killing  or  wound- 
ing nearly  every  man  within  sixty  or 
seventy  jrards.  From  this  moment  a 
perfect  route  took  place  throughout  the 
rebel  front,  while  ours  on  the  right  flank 
continued  to  pour  a  galling  fire  into  their 
disorganized  masses. 

"  It  was  then  evident  that  Totten's  bat- 
tery and  Steele's  little  battalion  were 
safe.  Among  the  officers  conspicuous  in 


524 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


leading  this  assault  were  Adjutant  Hez- 
cock,  Captains  Burke,  Miller,  Haunter, 
Maurice,  and  Richardson,  and  Lieuten- 
ant Howard,  all  of  the  1st  Missouri. 
There  were  others  of  the  1st  Kansas  and 
1st  Iowa  who  participated,  and  whose 
names  I  do  not  remember.  The  enemy 
then  fled  from  the  field.  A  few  moments 
before  the  close  of  the  engagement,  the 
2d  Kansas,  which  had  firmly  maintained 
its  position,  on  the  extreme  right,  from 
the  time  it  Was  first  sent  there,  found  its 
ammunition  exhausted,  and  1  directed  it 
to  withdraw  slowly  and  in  good  order 
from  the  field,  which  it  did,  bringing  off 
its  wounded,  which  left  our  right  flank 
exposed,  and  the  enemy  renewed  the  at- 
tack at  that  point,  after  it  had  ceased 
along  the  whole  line  ;  but  it  was  gal- 
lantly met  by  Captain  Steele's  battalion 
of  regulars,  who  had  just  driven  the 
enemy  from  the  right  of  the  centre,  and, 
after  a  sharp  engagement,  drove  him 
precipitately  from  the  field.  Thus  closed 
—at  about  half- past  eleven  o'clock — an 
almost  uninterrupted  conflict  of  six 
hours.  The  order  to  retreat  was  given 
soon  after  the  enemy  gave  way  from  our 
front  and  centre.  Lieutenant  Dubois' 
having  been  previously  sent  to  occupy 
with  its  supports  the  hill  in  our  rear. 
Captain  Totten's  battery,  as  soon  as  his 
disabled  horses  could  be  replaced,  retired 
slowly  with  the  main  body  of  the  in- 
fantry, while  Captain  Steele,  was  meeting 
the  demonstrations  upon  our  right  flank. 
This  having  been  repulsed,  and  no  enemy 
being  in  sight,  the  whole  column  moved 
slowly  to  the  high  open  prairie,  about 
two  miles  from  the  battle-ground  ;  mean- 
while our  ambulances  passed  to  and  fro, 
carrying  off  our  wounded.  After  making 
a  short  halt  on  the  prairie,  we  continued 
our  march-  to  Springfield.  It  should  be 


here  remembered,  that  just  after  the 
order  to  retire  was  given,  and  while  it 
was  undecided  whether  the  retreat  should 
be  continued,  or  whether  we  should  oc- 
cupy the  more  favorable  position  of  our 
rear,  and  await  tidings  of  Colonel  Sigel, 
one  of  his  non-commissioned  officers  ar- 
rived, and  reported  that  the  Colonel's 
brigade  had  been  totally  routed,  and  all 
his  artillery  captured,  Colonel  Sigel  him- 
self having  been  either  killed  or  made 
prisoner.  Most  of  our  men  having  fired 
away  all  their  ammunition,  and  all  that 
could  be  obtained  from  the  boxes  of  the 
killed  and  wounded.  Nothing,  there- 
fore, was  left  to  do  but  to  return  to 
Springfield,  where  two  hundred  and  fifty 
Home  Guards,  with  two  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery, had  been  left  to  take  care  of  the 
train.  On  reaching  the  Little  York 
Road,  we  met  Lieutenant  Farrand,  with 
his  company  of  dragoons,  and  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  Colonel  Sigel's  com- 
mand, with  one  piece  of  artillery.  At 
five  o'clock  we  reached  Springfield." 

From  this  account  of  the  main  action, 
we  turn  to  the  narrative  of  Colonel 
Sigel  of  the  part  borne  by  his  command 
at  the  opposite  or  southern  end  of  the 
valley.  "  On  Friday,  the  9th  day  of 
August,"  says  he,  "  General  Lyon  in- 
formed me,  that  it  was  his  intention  to 
attack  the  enemy  in  his  camp  at  Wil- 
son's Creek,  on  the  morning  of  the  10th  ; 
that  the  attack  should  be  made  from  two 
sides,  and  that  I  should  take  command 
of  the  left.  The  troops  assigned  to  me 
consisted  of  the  Second  Brigade,  Mis- 
souri volunteers — 900  men — infantr}r  of 
the  3d  and  5th  regiments,  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Albert 
and  Colonel  Salomon,  and  six  pieces  of 
artillery,  under  Lieutenants  Schaeffer 
and  Scheutzenbach  j  besides  two  com- 


GENERAL   McCULLOCH'S   REPORT. 


527 


tween  those  batteries  during  the  engage- 
ment. Hebert's  regiment  of  Louisiana 
Volunteers,  and  Mclntosh's  regiment  of 
Arkansas  Mounted  Riflemen,  were  or- 
dered to  the  front,  and  after  passing  the 
battery  (Totten's),  turned  to  the  left  and 
soon  engaged  the  enemy  with  the  regi- 
ments deployed.  Colonel  Mclntosh 
dismounted  his  regiment,  and  the  two 
marched  up  abreast  of  a  fence  around  a 
large  corn-field,  where  they  met  the  left 
of  the  enemy  alread}'  posted.  A  terrible 
conflict  of  small  arms  took  place  here. 
The  opposing  force  was  a  body  of  regu- 
lar United  States  Infantry,  commanded 
by  Captains  Plummer  and  Gillbert.  Not- 
withstanding the  galling  fire  poured  on 
these  two  regiments,  they  leaped  over 
the  fence,  and,  gallantly  led  by  their 
colonels,  drove  the  enemy  before  them, 
back  upon  the  main  body.  During  this 
time  the  Missourians  under  General 
Price  were  nobly  attempting  to  sustain 
themselves  in  the  centre,  and  were  hotly 
engaged  on  the  sides  of  the  height  upon 
which  the  enemy  were  posted.  Far  on 
the  right,  Sigel  had  opened  his  battery 
upon  Churchill's  and  Greer's  regiments, 
and  had  gradually  made  his  way  to  the 
Springfield  road,  upon  each  side  of  which 
the  army  was  encamped,  and  in  a  prom- 
inent position  he  established  his  battery. 
I  at  once  took  two  companies  of  the 
Louisiana  regiment,  who  were  nearest 
me,  and  marched  them  rapidly  from  the 
front  and  right  to  the  rear,  with  order  to 
Colonel  Mclntosh  to  bring  up  the  rest. 
When  we  arrived  near  the  enemy's  bat- 
tery, we  found  that  Reid's  battery  had 
opened  upon  it,  and  it  was  already  in 
confusion.  Advantage  was  taken  of  it, 
and  soon  the  Louisianians  were  gallantly 
charging  upon  the  guns,  and  swept  the 
cannoneers  away.  Five  guns  were  here 


taken,  and  Sigcl's  command  completely 
routed,  were  in  rapid  retreat,  with  a  sin- 
gle gun,  followed  by  some  companies  of 
the  Texan  regiment  and  a  portion  of  Col- 
onel Major's  Missouri  cavalry.  In  the 
pursuit  many  of  the  enemy  were  killed 
and  taken  prisoners,  and  their' last  gun 
captured. 

"  Having  cleared  our  right  and  rear, 
it  was  necessary  to  turn  all  our  attention 
to  the  centre,  under  General  L}rou,  who 
was  pressing  upon  the  Missourians,  hav- 
ing driven  them  back.  To  this  point 
Mclntosh's  regiment,  under  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Embry,  and  Churchill's  regiment 
on  foot,  Gratiot's  regiment,  and  McRae's 
battalion  were  sent  to  their  aid.  The 
terrible  firing  of  musketry  was  now  kept 
up  along  the  whole  side  and  top  of  the 
hill,  upon  which  the  enemy  was  posted. 
Masses  of  infantry  fell  back  and  again 
rushed  forward.  The  summit  of  the  hill 
was  covered  with  the  dead  and  wound- 
ed— both  sides  were  fighting  with  des- 
peration for  the  day,  Carroll's  and 
Greer's  regiments,  led  gallantly  by  Cap- 
tain Bradfute,  charged  the  battery,  but 
the  whole  strength  of  the  enemy  was  im- 
mediately in  rear,  and  a  deadly  fire  was 
opened  upon  them.  At  this  critical  mo- 
ment, when  the  fortune  of  the  day  seem- 
ed to  be  at  the  turning  point,  two  regi- 
ments of  General  Pearce's  brigade  were 
ordered  to  march  from  their  position 
(as  reserves)  to  support  the  centre.  The 
order  was  obeyed  with  alacrity,  and 
General  Pearce  gallantly  rushed  with 
his  brigade  to  the  rescue.  Reid's  bat- 
tery was  also  ordered  to  move  forward, 
and  the  Louisiana  regiment  was  again 
called  into  action  on  the  left  of  it.  The 
battle  then  became  general,  and  prob- 
ably no  two  opposing  forces  ever  fought 
with  greater  desperation  ;  inch  by  inch 


528 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


the  enemy  gave  way,  and  were  driven 
from  their  position  :  Totten's  battery  fell 
back  ;  Missourians;  Arkansians,  Louis- 
ianians  and  Texans  pushed  forward.  The 
incessant  roll  of  musketry  was  deafen- 
ing, and  the  balls  fell  as  thick  as  hail- 
stones ;  tint  still  our  gallant  Southerners 
pushed  onward,  and  with  one  wild  yell 
broke  upon  the  enemy,  pushing  them 
back  and  strewing  the  ground  with  their 
dead.  Nothing  could  withstand  the  im- 
petuosity of  our  final  charge  ;  the  enemy 
fled,  and  could  not  again  be  rallied,  and 
they  were  seen,  at  12  M.,  last  retreating 
among  the  hills  in  the  distance.  Thus 
ended  the  battle.  It  lasted  six  hours 
and  a  half." 

The  loss  in  this  battle  was  very  heavy 
in  proportion  to  the  number  engaged. 
It  appears  by  official  returns  that  the 
loss  of  the  Union  army  was  two  hundred 
and  twenty-three  killed,  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-one  wounded,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety-one  missing  ;  a  total 
loss  in  killed  and  wounded  of  about  one- 
fifth  of  the  number  engaged.  General 
McCulloch,  the  Confederate  commander, 
states  his  loss  at  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  killed,  eight  hundred  wounded,  and 
thirty  missing.  General  Price  reports 
one  hundred  and  fifty-six  killed  on  the 
field,  and  five  hundred  and  seventeen 
wounded  of  his  Missouri  State  Guard- — 
about  one-eighth  of  his  command.  "This 
great  victory."  he  writes,  "was  dearly 
bought  by  the  blood  of  man}7  a  skillful 
officer  and  brave  man.  Among  those 
who  fell  mortally  wounded  on  the  battle- 
field, none  deserve  a  dearer  place  in  the 
memory  of  Missourians  than  Richard 
Hanson  Weigh tman  Colonel  command  ing 
the  first  brigade  of  the  second  division 
of  the  army.  Taking  up  arms  at  the 
very  beginning  of  this  unhappy  contest, 


he  had  already  done  distinguished  ser- 
vices at  the  battle  of  Rock  Creek,  where 
he  commanded  the  State  forces  after  the 
death  of  the  lamented  Holloway,  and  at 
Carthage  where  he  won  unfading  laurels 
by  the  display  of  extraordinary  cool- 
ness, courage  and  skill.  He  fell  at  the 
head  of  his  brigade,  wounded  in  three 
places,  and  died  just  as  the  victorious 
shouts  of  our  army  began  to  rise  upon 
the  air.  Here,  too,  died,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duty,  Colonel  Benjamin 
Brown,  of  Ray  county,  President  of  the 
Senate,  a  good  man  and  true."  The 
story  of  the  day  multiplies  these  eulogies. 
'We  may  accept  them  from  both  sides. 
Good  men  and  true  may  be  deluded  by 
their  pride  or  prejudices.  The  deepest 
sorrow  for  them,  the  heaviest  indignation 
for  the  leaders,  the  traitorous  conspira- 
tors by  whom  the  offence  cometh. 

The  Union  forces,  the  morning  after  the 
battle,  left  Springfield,  and  began  their  re- 
treat under  command  of  Colonel  Sigel,  to 
whom  Major  Sturgis  and  the  other  offi- 
cers assigned  the  direction  of  the  move 
ment,  a  distance  of  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  miles  in  a  north-westerly  di- 
rection, to  Rolla,  where  there  was  railwajr 
communication  with  St.  Louis.  The 
southern  portion  of  the  State  was  thus 
left  open  to  the  depredations  of  the  Con- 
federates. It  was  more  than  a  month 
afterward,  however,  before  they  made 
any  further  inroad  upon  the  north,  when 
General  Price,  having  mustered  a  con- 
siderable force,  appeared  before  Lexing- 
ton. The  immediate  result  of  General 
Lyon's  battle  was  undoubtedly  to  give  an 
important  check  to  the  movements  of  the 
secessionists.  Its  lasting  influence  was 
felt  throughout  the  war,  and  will  not  be 
forgotten  in  another  age.  When  public 
speakers  would  animate  the  valor  of  the 


FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LYON. 


529 


newly-enlisted  officers  and  their  recruits, 
untried  in  the  experience  of  the  camp, 
they  held  up  the  example  of  the  courage 
and  devotion  of  Lyon  ;  when  Represent- 
atives in  Congress  would  stimulate  the 
activity  of  Generals  in  the  field,  they 
pointed  to  the  energy  of  Lyon  ;  when 
patriots  would  rebuke  the  corrupt  horde 
of  army  contractors,  fattening  upon  the 
misfortunes  of  the  State,  they  turned  to 
dwell  with  admiration  on  the  purity  and 
self-denying  virtues  of  Lyon,  the  single- 
minded  lover  of  his  country. 

General  Lyon  was  never  married.  He 
left  three  brothers  and  three  sisters.  It 
was  stated  at  the  time  of  his  death  that 
he  had  bequeathed  some  thirty  thousand 
dollars,  the  frugal  gatherings  of  his  ca- 
reer in  the  public  service,  to  the  nation  ; 
but  this  was  an  error.  He  made  no 
such  disposition  of  his  property,  nor  was 
he  called  upon  to  do  so.  That  such  an 
anecdote  was  invented  andgenerally  cred- 
ited shows,  however,  the  view  entertain- 
ed of  his  character  and  devoted  patriot- 
ism. By  no  one  was  this  devotion  more 
warmly  acknowledged  than  by  Major- 
General  Fremont,  the  commander  of  his 
department.  On  the  receipt  of  the  offi- 
cial reports  of  the  officers  engaged  at 
Wilson's  Creek,  he  issued  a  general  order, 
in  which  he  announced  "with  pride  and 
the  highest  commendation  the  extraordi- 
nary services  to  their  country  and  flag 
rendered  by  the  division  of  the  brave 
and  lamented  General  Lyon.  Opposed 
by  overwhelming  masses  of  the  enemy  in 
a  numerical  superiority  of  upward  of 
twenty  thousand  against  four  thousand 
three  hundred,  or  nearly  five  to  one,  the 
successes  of  our  troops  were  nevertheless 
sufficiently  marked  to  give  to  their  ex- 
ploits the  moral  effect  of  a  victory." 
Adopting  the  glowing  eulogy  of  the 
67' 


"  indomitable  "  General  Lyon,  which  we 
have  already  recorded  in  the  official  re- 
port of  Major  Sturgis,  he  invited  all  to 
"  emulate  his  prowess  and  undying  devo- 
tion to  his  duty.  The  regiments  and 
corps  engaged  in  this  battle  will  be  per- 
mitted to  have  '  Springfield'  emblazoned 
on  their  colors  as  a  distinguished  memo- 
rial of  their  services  to  the  nation." 

The  body  of  General  Lyon  was  placed 
in  an  ambulance  to  be  carried  from  the 
field,  and  by  some  accident  was  not  re- 
moved in  the  retreat ;  but  was  recovered 
by  a  flag  of  truce  and  borne  to  Spring- 
field. There  the  remains  were  taken  in 
charge  by  the  wife  of  the  Hon.  J.  S. 
Phelps,  loyal  member  of  Congress  of  the 
district  and  entombed.  They  were  pre- 
sently removed  to  the  East  by  two  mem- 
bers of  the  family  of  the  fallen  General, 
who  were  received  by  the  Confederate 
military  authorities  at  Springfield  with 
every  consideration  for  their  melancholy 
errand.  At  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Phila- 
delphia, New  York  and  Hartford,  the 
remains  were  accorded  public  honors  as 
they  were  borne  to  a  final  resting-place 
in  the  rural  district  of  Connecticut,  the 
village  home  where,  forty-three  years 
before,  the  lamented  patriot  first  saw  the 
light.  A  large  procession,  military  and 
civic,  attended  the  funeral,  and  eulogies 
and  addresses  were  delivered  in  front 
of  the  church  at  Eastford  by  the  Hon. 
Judge  Carpenter  of  Connecticut,  the  Hon. 
Galusha  A.  Grow,  Speaker  of  the  national 
House  of  Representatives,  Governor 
Buckingham  of  Connecticut,  Governor 
Sprague  of  Rhode  Island,  and  others. 
When  the  National  Legislature  met  in 
December,  it  was  resolved,  by  a  joint 
resolution  of  both  Houses,  that  "  Con- 
gress deems  it  just  and  proper  to  enter 
upon  its  records  a  recognition  of  the  emi- 


530 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


neut  and  patriotic  services  of  the  late 
Brigadier-General  Nathaniel  Lyon.  The 
country  to  whose  service  he  devoted  his 
life,  will  guard  and  preserve  his  fame  as 
a  part  of  its  own  glory.  That  the  thanks 
of  Congress  are  hereby  given  to  the 
brave  officers  and  soldiers  who,  under 
the  command  of  the  late  General  Lyon, 
sustained  the  honor  of  the  flag  and 
achieved  a  victory  against  overwhelming 
numbers  at  the  battle  of  Springfield  in 
Missouri ;  and  that  in  order  to  commem- 
orate an  event  so  honorable  to  the  coun- 
try and  themselves,  it  is  ordered  that 
each  regiment  engaged  shall  be  author- 
ized to  bear  upon  its  colors  the  word 
'  Springfield,'  embroidered  in  letters  of 
gold.  And  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is  hereby  requested  to  cause  these 
resolutions  to  be  read  at  the  head  of  every 
regiment  in  the  army  of  the  United  States." 
General  Price,  the  commander  of  the 
Missouri  State  Guard,  issued  a  Proclama- 
tion after  the  battle,  addressed  to  the 
People  of  Missouri.  Declaring  that  the 
army  under  bis  command  "  had  been  or- 
ganized under  the  laws  of  the  State  for 
the  protection  of  their  homes  and  fire- 
sides, and  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
rights,  dignity  and  honor  of  Missouri," 
he  added  that  it  was  "  kept  in  the  field 
for  these  purposes  alone,  and  to  aid  in 
accomplishing  them,  our  gallant  Southern 
brethren  have  come  into  our  State  with 
these.  We  have  just  achieved  a  glorious 
victory  over  the  foe,  and  scattered  far 
and  wide  the  well-appointed  army  which 
the  usurper  at  Washington  has  been 
more  than  six  months  gathering  for  your 
subjugation  and  enslavement.  This  vic- 
tory frees  a  large  portion  of  the  State 
from  the  power  of  the  invaders,  and  re- 
stores it  to  the  protection  of  its  army. 
It  consequently  becomes  my  duty  to  as- 


sure you  that  it  is  my  firm  determination 
to  protect  every  peaceable  citizen  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  all  his  rights,  whatever 
may  have  been  his  sympathies  in  the 
present  unhappy  struggle,  if  he  has  not 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  cruel  warfare 
which  has  been  waged  against  the  good 
people  of  this  State  by  the  ruthless  en- 
emies whom  we  have  just  defeated.  I 
therefore  invite  all  good  citizens  to  return 
to  their  homes  and  the  practice  of  their 
ordinary  avocations,  with  the  full  assur- 
ance that  they,  their  families,  their  homes 
and  their  property  shall  be  carefully 
protected.  I,  at  the  same  lime,  warn  all 
evil-disposed  persons,  who  may  support 
the  usurpations  of  any  one  claiming  to 
be  provisional  or  temporary  Governor  of 
Missouri,  or  who  shall  in  any  other  way 
give  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemy,  that 
they  will  be  held  as  "enemies,  and  treated 
accordingly."  The  Confederate  Congress 
at  Richmond  presently,  on  the  21st  of 
August,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Ochiltree  of 
'Texas,  passed  the  following  resolution  : 
"  Whereas  it  has  pleased  Almighty  God 
to  vouchsafe  to  the  arms  of  the  Confeder- 
ate States  another  glorious  and  import- 
ant victory  in  a  portion  of  the  country 
where  a  reverse  would  have  been  disas- 
trous, by  exposing  the  families  of  the 
good  people  of  the  State  of  Missouri  to 
the  unbridled  license  of  the  brutal  sol- 
diery of  an  unscrupulous  enemy  ;  there- 
fore, be  it  resolved  :  That  the  thanks  of 
Congress  are  cordially  tendered  to  Brig- 
adier-General Ben  McCulloch  and  the 
officers  and  soldiers  of  his  brave  com- 
mand, for  their  gallant  conduct  in  defeat- 
ing, after  a  battle  of  six  and  a  half  hours, 
a  force  of  the  enemy  equal  in  numbers, 
and  greatly  superior  in  all  their  appoint- 
ments, thus  proving  that  a  right  cause 
nerves  the  hearts  and  strengthens  the 


DEFENCE    OF    LEXINGTON. 


531 


arms  of  the  Southern  people,  fighting,  as 
they  are,  for  their  liberty,  their  homes 
and  friends  against  an  unholy  despotism." 
Such  were  the  representations  made,  and 
such  the  belief  inculcated  in  high  quar- 


ters of  the  motives  and  conduct  of  the 
Federal  army,  raised  at  such  cost  and 
self-sacrifice  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  and  the  old  liberties  and  prosper- 
ity of  the  nation ! 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 


THE     DEFENCE     OF     LEXINGTON,     SEPTEMBER     12-20,     1861. 


WE  have  now  to  turn  our  attention  to 
a  position  in  western  Missouri  which  be- 
came the  scene  of  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting episodes  of  the  war.  The  town  of 
Lexington,  the  capital  of  Lay  fayette  coun- 
ty, situated  on  the  Southern  bank  of  the 
Missouri  river,  three  hundred  miles 
above  St.  Louis,  occupies  an  important 
frontier  position,  commanding  the  ap- 
proach by  water  to  Fort  Leavenworth, 
and  the  direct  communication  with  Inde- 
pendence and  the  great  overland  route 
to  Santa  Fe.  It  was  a  prosperous  town, 
lying  in  a  fertile  region,  and  one  of  the 
most  thriving  settlements  of  the  West. 
Its  inhabitants  were  understood  to  be 
tainted  with  secession  sentiments,  and 
the  place  afforded,  of  course,  a  favorable 
opportunity  for  the  operations  of  the  in- 
surgents. As  the  danger  of  its  occupa- 
tion became  imminent,  a  small  force  was 
sent  forward  by  order  of  General  Fre- 
mont to  take  charge  of  the  money  in  the 
banks,  and  prevent  the  region  from  spoli- 
ation in  aid  of  the  Rebellion.  With  these 
and  several  accessions  of  troops,  there 
were  collected  at  this  place,  early  in  Sep- 
tember, a  body  of  about  twenty-seven 
hundred  men,  composed  of  the  13th  Mis- 
souri regiment  under  Colonel  Peabody, 


the  1st  Illinois  regiment  of  cavalry,  Col- 
onel Marshall,  five  hundred  Missouri 
Home  Guards,  and  the  23d  regiment  of 
the  Irish  brigade,  a  body  of  stalwart 
men  raised  in  Illinois,  who  were  led  by 
Colonel  James  A.  Mulligan  of  Chicago. 
This  gentleman  of  Irish  parentage,  was 
born  in  Utica,  New  York,  in  1829.  He 
was  educated  at  the  Catholic. College  at 
Chicago,  had  studied  law,  and  edited  the 
Western  Tablet  in  that  city,  been  admit- 
ted to  the  bar,  employed  as  a  clerk  in 
the  Department  of  the  Interior  at  Wash- 
ington, and  at  the  outbreak  of  tne  pre- 
sent war  was  a  Captain  of  a  militia  com- 
pany, "Shields'  Guards,"  at  Chicago. 
With  such  antecedents,  it  was  a  natural 
step  to  a  Colonelc}'  of  the  Irish  Brigade 
raised  in  that  city  in  1861.  The  youth, 
enthusiasm,  and  energy  of  this  officer 
proved  important  qualifications  for  the 
military  career  upon  which  he  had  enter- 
ed, and  which  his  command  was  destined 
successfully  to  illustrate. 

Colonel  Mulligan,  while  encamped  with 
his  regiment  at  Jefferson  City,  at  the  end 
of  August,  received  the  order  to  march  to 
the  relief  of  Colonel  Marshall's  cavalry 
at  Lexington,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  by  the  road  to  the  westward. 


532 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


Starting  with  forty  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion and  three  days'  rations,  foraging  by 
the  way,  they  accomplished  the  march  in 
nine  days,  reaching  Lexington  on  the 
9th  of  September,  when  Colonel  Mulli- 
gan, as  senior  officer,  took  the  command 
of  the  troops  assembled  there — Colonel 
Marshall's  cavalry  and  the  Home  Guard, 
already  mentioned.  Colonel  Peabody's 
Missouri  regiment  came  in  the  next  day 
in  full  retreat  from  Warrensburg,  before 
the  forces  of  General  Price.  Colonel 
Mulligan  then  immediately  began  the 
work  of  iutrenchment,  having  chosen  a 
favorable  position  for  the  purpose  on  an 
elevation  high  above  the  river,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  about  half  a  mile  from  it,  and 
commanding  the  lower  inland  approaches. 
The  spot  selected  bore  the  name  Masonic 
Hill,  and  was  intermediate  between  the 
new  and  old  town.  A  solid  brick  edifice, 
built  for  a  college,  was  upon  it,  and  by  the 
side  of  this  the  first  line  of  defence  were 
drawn.  The  whole  circuit  of  the  fortifi- 
cation was  made  to  include  an  area  capa- 
ble of  receiving  ten  thousand  men.  This 
was  defended  by  a  heavy  earthwork, 
raised  with  great  labor  by  Colonel  Mul- 
ligan's force,  breast  high,  some  ten  feet 
in  width  at  the  base  and  five  feet  at  the 
summit.  Outside  of  this  was  a  ditch 
eight  feet  broad,  while  in  the  open  space, 
for  several  hundred  feet  beyond,  the 
ground  was  perforated  by  a  series  of 
skillfully  contrived  pits,  and  heaped  up 
with  mounds  which,  though  extempore 
works,  suggested  more  by  mother  wit 
than  military  experience,  were  well  cal- 
culated to  baffle  the  efforts  of  any  assail- 
ants on  foot  or  on  horseback.  Beside 
these  ingenious  devices,  the  ground  was 
also  carefully  mined,  and  a  good  supply 
of  gunpowder,  with  suitable  trains  laid 
in  it,  a  fact  which,  vsubsequently  reported 


to  the  enemy  with  the  exaggeration 
usual  under  such  circumstances,  undoubt- 
edly tended  to  keep  them  at  a  distance 
and  prolong  the  siege. 

Works  like  these,  of  course,  were  not 
the  labor  of  a  day.  They  were  perform- 
ed under  many  disadvantages,  with  the 
foe  close  at  hand,  with  the  prospect  of  a 
fierce  and  deadly  encounter  with  superior 
numbers,  and  under  circumstances  which 
to  less  brave  and  spirited  men,  would 
have  counseled,  without  dishonor,  a  pru- 
dent and  safe  retreat.  It  would  seem 
that  this  gallant  band  were  actuated  by 
the  single  motive  of  setting  before  their 
countrymen  an  inspiring  example  of  en- 
nobling toil  and  indomitable  valor. 

Their  preparations  were  barely  com- 
menced, when  the  third  day  after  the 
arrival  of  Colonel  Mulligan,  the  enemy, 
in  large  numbers,  led  by  General  Price, 
were  announced  at  hand.  Their  first 
design  was  evidently  an  immediate  at- 
tack. The  pickets  were  driven  in,  but 
further  onset  was  steadily  repulsed. 
There  was  some  sharp  and  brave  work 
on  that  day,  the  12th,  driving  the  rebels 
backward  over  a  bridge  which  they  had 
crossed,  and  encountering  them  with 
deadly  resolution  in  a  struggle  at  another 
point  in  a  graveyard.  The  result  of  the 
day's  fighting,  which  included  a  cannon- 
ading of  the  college  defences,  was  the 
withdrawal  of  General  Price  to  a  safe 
position,  where  he  awaited  reinforce- 
ments, while  the  little  band  of  Lexington 
gathered  to  their  arduous  labors  at  the 
intrenchments.  At  these  works  were 
mounted  a  scant  supply  of  artillery,  con- 
sisting of  but  five  6-pounders,  with  which 
the  honors  of  a  siege  were  to  be  main- 
tained against  the  batteries  of  the  enemy, 
numbering  thirteen  guns. 

Having  been  strongly  reinforced — his 


THE   ATTACK   AND   DEFENCE. 


533 


troops  now  numbering,  it  is  calculated, 
twenty-seven  thousand  men — General 
Price  began  to  close  in  upon  the  works. 
The  number  appears  large.  The  troops 
gathered  by  the  rebels  in  Missouri,  it 
should  be  remembered,  however,  did  not 
always  turn  out  for  a  campaign,  but  came 
with  their  hunting  rifles  for  the  occasion. 
They  may  thus,  very  probably,  have 
greatly  exceeded  in  number  the  volun- 
teers regularly  enlisted  for  the  war.  On 
the  17th,  the  defenders  were  cut  off  from 
the  town,  upon  which  they  were  mainly 
dependent  for  a  supply  of  water.  The 
work  was  now  stoutly  invested.  On  the 
18th  the  final  attack  was  begun.  The 
extensive  preparations  for  it  are  related 
in  the  official  report  of  General  Price  to 
Governor  Jackson.  "Brigadier-General 
Rains'  division,"  he  states,  "occupied  a 
strong  position  on  the  east  and  north- 
east of  the  fortifications,  from  which  an 
effective  cannonading  was  kept  up  by 
Bledsoe's  battery  and  another  command- 
ed by  Captain  Churchill  Clark  of  St. 
Louis.  General  Parsons  took  a  position 
on  the  west  of  the  works,  whence  his 
battery,  under  command  of  Captain  Gui- 
bor,  poured  a  steady  fire.  Skirmishers 
and  sharpshooters  were  also  sent  for- 
ward from  both  of  these  divisions  to  har- 
ass and  fatigue  the  enemy,  and  to  cut 
them  off  from  the  water  on  the  north, 
east  and  south  of  the  college,  and  did  in- 
estimable service  in  the  accomplishment 
of  these,  purposes.  Colonel  Congreve, 
Jackson's  division,  and  a  part  of  General 
Steen's  were  posted  as  a  reserve,  at  all 
times  vigilant  and  ready  to  rush  upon 
the  enemy." 

One  of  the  severest  passages  of  arms 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  fort  during  these 
days  of  bombardment,  illustrates  the 
barbarity  of  this  unnatural  war.  It  was 


a  struggle  for  the  possession  of  the  hos- 
pital building,  occupied  by  the  sick  and 
wounded  of  the  Union  troops,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  in  number,  and  situated 
outside  of  their  entrenchments.  This 
edifice,  a  large  dwelling-house,  on  the 
summit  of  the  bluff,  commanded  the  fort 
and  its  defenders  at  a  distance  of  a  few 
hundred  yards.  It  was  seized  upon  by 
a  portion  of  General  Price's  command, 
about  noon,  his  troops,  he  alleges,  hav- 
ing been  fired  upon  from  the  building  ; 
and  became,  with  the  adjoining  grounds, 
in  the  hands  of  the  sharpshooters  of  his 
army — men  expert  in  the  use  of  their 
trusty  rifles — a  most  serious  anno}Tance 
to  the  defenders  of  the  fort.  In  this 
strait  Colonel  Mulligan,  after  two  parties 
of  the  Missouri  troops  shrank  from  the 
task,  sent  forth  a  devoted  band  of  his 
brigade,  Captain  Gleason's  company  of 
Montgomery  Guards,  to  regain  the  build- 
ing and  repel  the  assailants.  The  men 
whom  he  selected  were  a  single  com- 
pany, eighty  in  number.  Onward  they 
marched,  silent,  unflinching,  twice  re- 
ceiving the  volleys  of  the  insurgents 
from  the  building  and  making  no  reply. 
When  they  charged,  the  onset  was  ter- 
riffic.  They  quickly  drove  the  enemy 
before  them,  and  took  possession  of  the 
building.  Fifty  only  of  the  gallant  party 
returned,  quietly  to  resume  their  labors 
at  the  trenches  ;  the  rest  were  offered  a 
sacrifice  in  a  deed  of  glory. 

The  position  was,  however,  soon  re- 
gained by  the  insurgents.  The  heights 
to  the  left  of  the  hospital,  to  resume  the 
narrative  of  General  Price,  were  fortified 
by  his  soldiers,  "  who  threw  up  breast- 
works as  well  as  they  could  with  their 
slender  means."  Thus  the  siege  went  on 
for  three  prolonged  days,  the  bright 
moonlight  rendering  the  night  as  service- 


53-1 


WAR   FOR   THE   UNION. 


able  as  the  day  for  the  work  of  assault, 
which  was  never  intermitted.  The  sup- 
ply of  food  and  ammunition  was  rapidly 
failing  within  the  fort,  and  water,  that 
indispensable  craving  of  the  wounded, 
was  quite  cut  off.  Yet  the  garrison 
held  out  ;  its  thin  ranks  manfully  fight- 
ing the  guns,  and  ready  to  repel,  hand 
to  hand,  any  near  approach  of  the 
invaders.  At  length  a  prudent  expe- 
dient was  hit  upon  by  the  assailants, 
which  saved  them  the  necessity  of  a 
dangerous  assault,  "  On  the  morning  of 
the  20th,"  says  General  Price,  "  I  caused 
a  number  of  hemp  bales  to  be  trans- 
ported to  the  river  heights,  where  mov- 
able breastworks  were  speedily  con- 
structed out  of  them  by  Generals  Har- 
ris and  McBride,  Colonel  Rivers  and 
Major  Winston,  and  their  respective 
commands.  Captain  Kelley's  battery, 
attached  to  General  Steen's  division,  was 
ordered  at  the  same  time  to  the  position 
occupied  by  General  Harris'  force  and 
and  quickly  opened  a  very  effective  fire. 
These  demonstrations,  and  particularly 
the  continued  advance  of  the  hempen 
breastworks,  which  were  as  efficient  as 
the  cotton  bales  at  New  Orleans,  quickly 
attracted  the  attention  and  excited  the 
alarm  of  the  enemy,  who  made  many 
daring  attempts  to  drive  us  back.  They 
were,  however,  repulsed  in  every  in- 
stance by  the  unflinching  courage  and 
fixed  determination  of  our  men.  In  these 
desperate  encounters,  the  veterans  of 
McBride's  and  Slack's  divisions  fully 
sustained  their  proud  reputation,  while 
Colonel  Martin  Green,  and  his  com- 
mand, and  Colonel  Boyd  and  Major 
Winston,  and  their  commands,  proved 
themselves  worthy  to  fight  by  the 
side  of  the  men  who  had,  by  their 
courage  and  valor,  won  imperishable 


honor  in  the  bloody  battle  of  Spring- 
field." 

From  statements  like  these  of  the 
assailants,  we  may  judge  of  the  vigor 
of  the  defence.  We  have  heard  Colonel 
Mulligan  himself,  in  a  popular  address 
to  the  citizens  of  New  York,  recount  the 
incident  of  these  eventful  days  of  per- 
sistent courage  and  endurance.  He  fill- 
ed up  with  animated  adventure  that  tale 
of  war.  which,  in  the  best  written  dis- 
patches, is  little  better  than  a  barren 
formula,  but  which,  to  the  participants, 
is  intensified  with  lofty  purpose,  and 
glowing  action — a  sum  of  life  which 
crowds  the  sensations  of  years  into  days. 
He  told  of  the  toil  and  exposure,  the 
ignominious  hard  labor,  made  honorable 
by  the  lofty  motive,  the  patience  and 
resolution  with  which  wouuds  were 
braved,  and  death  encountered  among 
the  shattered  and  the  dying  ;  of  the 
hospital  sufferings  when  the  enemy  hav- 
ing barbarousl}r  made  captives  of  the 
surgeons,  the  only  aid  for  mangled  limbs 
was  from  the  scant  service  of  a  soldier, 
who  had  been  at  one  time  a  physician, 
who  was  called  from  the  ranks  for  this 
unwonted  duty,  who  cut,  lopped  and 
hacked  perforce,  his  only  instrument  a 
razor  ;  of  the  dying  agonies  of  men  call- 
ing for  water,  and  drinking  the  scant 
refuse  mingled  with  blood,  with  which 
the  whole  place  was  dabbled  and  oozy  j 
of  the  death-dealing  of  the  enemy,  when 
they  for  a  short  time  only  gained  a  por- 
tion of  the  works  ;  of  the  strange  touches 
of  good  humor  and  good  fellowship 
which  seemed  to  relieve,  and  yet  en- 
hanced the  terrors  of  this  grim  scene. 

By  the  testimony  of  friend  and  foe  it 
was  an  extremity  which  justified  sur- 
render, which,  in  the  eyes  of  policy  and 
military  discretion,  might  have  justified 


THE  FINAL  SURRENDER. 


535 


surrender  long  before.  Not  until  the 
ammunition  was  exhausted,  the  priva- 
tions of  thirst  become  excessive,  and 
all  hope  of  timely  relief  departed,  was  a 
council  of  officers  held,  and  the  delivery 
of  the  fort  agreed  upon.  The  surrender- 
was  unconditional.  This  occurred  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  20th,  the  third  day 
of  the  incessant  siege,  when  the  work 
was  taken  possession  of  by  General 
Price,  who  already  held  the  town  ;  the 
officers  were  kept  as  prisoners,  and  the 
rank  and  file  dismissed  on  their  parole, 
pledging  themselves  not  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  Confederate  States  or  the 
State  of  Missouri. 

"Thus,"  in  the  words  of  an  eye-wit- 
ness of  the  scene,  "  ended  the  siege  of 
Lexington.  Of  the  defence  I  need 
scarcely  speak  in  terms  of  eulogy  ;  a 
plain  statement  of  the  circumstances  car- 
ries its  own  conclusion  to  every  mind. 
For  seventy-two  hours  was  a  mere  hand- 
ful of  men  exposed,  without  cessation,  to 
a  literal  shower  of  iron  and  leaden  hail ; 
and  to  this  was  added  the  more  terrible 
enemy,  thirst.  For  forty-eight  hours  did 
the  Union  forces  labor  beneath  a  melting 
sun,  grimy  with  powder,  choked  by  sul- 
phurous smoke,  worn  out  by  labor,  to 
which  the  cooling  shades  of  night  brought 
no  intermission,  tortured  by  a  terrible 
thirst,  which  was  mocked  by  the  turgid 
waters  of  the  Missouri,  that  flowed 
lazily  along  just  beneath  their  eager 
eyes — out  of  provisions,  out  of  ammuni- 
tion, despairing  of  help,  certain  of  ulti- 
mate extinction,  they  yet  fought  on.  The 
gallant  Mulligan  was  always  where  bul- 
lets and  dangers  were  thickest — lead- 
ing now  a  desperate  charge  against  a 
hempen  breastwork — passing  from  trench 
to  trench,  encouraging  the  men  to  resist- 
ance----^^ like  a  broken-hearted  chil  1 


when  forced  by  stern  necessity  to  vield 
up  his  command — and,  last  of  all,  groan- 
ing upon  a  sick  bed,  to  which  he  was 
driven  by  the  workings  of  a  gallant  but 
sensitive  soul  over  his  'great  misfor- 
tunes.' "  * 

The  loss  of  the  Union  troops  during 
the  siege  has  been  stated  at  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  in  killed  and  wound- 
ed ;  that  of  the  assailants  is  set  down  in 
the  report  of  General  Price  as  twent}r- 
five  killed  and  seventy-two  wounded. 
"The  visible  fruits  of  this  almost  blood- 
less victory,"  adds  this  Confederate  com- 
mander, "are  great — about  3,500  pris- 
oners, among  whom  are  Colonels  Mulli- 
gan, Marshall,  Peabody,  White,  Grover, 
Major  Yan  Horn,  and  118  other  commis- 
sioned officers,  five  pieces  of  artillery  and 
two  mortars,  over  3,000  stand  of  infan- 
try arms,  a  large  number  of  sabres, 
about  750  horses,  many  sets  of  cavalry 
equipments,  wagons,  teams,  ammunition, 
more  than  $100,000  worth  of  Commissa- 
ry stores,  and  a  large  amount  of  other 
property.  In  addition  to  all  this,  1  ob- 
tained the  restoration  of  the  great  seal 
of  the  State  and  the  public  records, 
which  had  been  stolen  from  their  proper 
custodian,  and  about  $900,000  in  money, 
of  which  the  bank  at  this  place  had  been 
robbed,  and  which  I  have  caused  to  be 
returned  to  it.  This  victory  has  demon- 
strated the  fitness  of  our  citizen  soldiery 
for  the  tedious  operations  of  a  siege,  as 
well  as  for  a  dashing  charge.  They  lay 
for  fifty-two  hours  in  the  open  air,  with' 
out  tents  or  covering,  regardless  of  the 
sun  and  rain,  and  in  the  very  presence 
of  a  watchful  and  desperate  foe,  manfully 
repelling  every  assault,  and  patiently 
awaiting  my  orders  to  storm  the  fortifi- 


*  Correspondence  of  the  New  York  Times.   Sqiiers  Pic- 
torial History  of  t,\\a  War,  p.  155. 


536 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


cations.  No  general  ever  commanded  a 
braver  or  a  better  army.  It  is  composed 
of  the  best  blood  and  the  bravest  men  of 
Missouri."  *  The  question  was  asked, 
why  was  not  Lexington  relieved.  Col- 
onel Mulligan  had  sent  for  aid,  and 
though  his  messenger  was  captured,  his 
position  was  known,  and  the  tenacity  of 
his  defence  could  only  be  understood  on 
the  supposition  that  he  expected  succor. 
The  official  announcement  of  Major-Gen- 
eral  Fremont  of  the  event,  in  his  des- 
patch to  Colonel  Townsend,  Adjutant- 
General  at  Washington,  dated  St.  Louis, 
September  23,  in  these  few  words,  says 
something  in  explanation  of  the  apparent 
neglect :  "I  have  a  telegram  from  Brook- 
field  that  Lexington  has  fallen  into 
Price's  hands,  he  having  cut  off  Mulli- 
gan's supply  of  water.  Reinforcements, 
four  thousand  strong,  under  Sturgis,  by 
the  capture  of  the  ferry-boats,  had  no 
means  of  crossing  the  river  in  time. 
Lane's  force  from  the  south-west,  and 
Davis'  from  the  p^ith-east,  upward  of 
eleven  thousanu  in  all,  could  also  not  get 
there  in  time.  I  am  taking  the  field  my- 
self, and  hope  to  destroy  the  enemy 
either  before  or  after  the  junction  of  the 
forces  under  McCulloch."  Great  disap- 
pointment was  felt  on  this  disaster  of 
Lexington,  following  close  upon  the  de- 
feat at  Springfield,  and  fears  were  enter- 
tained of  a  permanent  occupation  of 
western  Missouri,  with  inroads  into  the 
northern  region  across  the  river.  Noth- 
ing of  this,  however,  occurred.  Conscious 
of  his  inability  to  hold  the  position  against 
the  forces  marshalling  at  St.  Louis,  Gen- 
eral Price  soon  determined  to  abandon 
the  place.  As  Fremont  made  prepara- 

*  General  Sterling  Price  to  the  Hon.  Claiborne  F.  Jack- 
son, Governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  Camp  Wallace,  Lex- 
ington, Sept.  2?,  1861. 


tions  to  advance  toward  him  he  retreat- 
ed. The  rebels  took  their  course  toward 
the  southern  portion  of  the  State,  leaving 
a  guard  behind  them  in  possession  of 
Lexington. 

The  following  month  (Oct.  16th)  a  bril- 
liant attack  was  made  upon  the  town  by 
Major  Frank  J.  White,  a  gallant  young 
officer  of  General  Fremont's  staff,  at  the 
head  of  a  scouting  cavalry  squadron 
which  he  had  organized  for  special  ser- 
vice under  direction  of  his  commander. 
Setting  out  from  Georgetown  at  9  o'clock 
in  the  evening  with  two  hundred  and 
twenty  men,  he  reached  Lexington  early 
the  following  morning  by  a  severe  forced 
march  of  nearly  sixty  miles.  Driving  in 
the  rebel  pickets  without  loss,  he  took 
possession  of  the  town,  made  from  sixty 
to  seventy  prisoners,  to  whom  he  admin- 
istered the  oath  of  allegiance,  captured 
a  quantity  of  arms  and  provisions,  re- 
leased a  number  of  Federal  officers  and 
men  who  had  been  taken  and  imprisoned 
by  Price,  and  seized  a  steamer  which 
came  up  to  the  town  during  his  visit 
The  place  was  held  for  thirty-six  hours 
before  the  rebels,  who  had  fled  in  every 
direction,  mustered  in  force  to  surround 
it,"* 

Colonel  Mulligan,  after  following  the 
insurgent  forces  for  awhile  in  their 
marches  as  a  prisoner,  recovered  his 
freedom  by  exchange.  An  agreement 
was  made  on  the  26th  October  at  Neo- 
sho,  between  Generals  Fremont  and 
Price,  arranging  terms  of  exchange  of  the 
prisoners  taken  at  Lexington  and  those 
who  were  captured  by  General  Lyon  at 
Camp  Jackson.  The  exchange  was  to 
be  effected  grade  for  grade,  or  two  offi- 
cers of  a  lower  grade  as  an  equivalent 

*  Major  White,  Com.  1st  Squadron  Prairie  Sc:«ts,  to 
Major-General  Fremont,  Oct.  24.  1861. 


COLONEL  MULLIGAN'S  RETURN  HOME. 


537 


in  rank  for  one  of  a  higher  grade  ;  the 
exchange  to  embrace  prisoners  on  par- 
)le,  as  also  those  held  in  custody.  The 
lumber  of  prisoners  enumerated  in  the 
igreement  for  exchange  was  five  hun- 
Ired  and  thirty,  mostly,  if  not  all,  par- 
oled. Of  these,  there  were  about  seven- 
ty officers  on  each  side.  In  making  this 
exchange,  General  Price  reiterated  the 
protest  of  the  officers  and  men  made  at 
Camp  Jackson,  against  the  legality  of 
their  capture  and  the  exaction  of  parole 
when  released. 

On  his  return  soon  after  to  Chicago, 
Colonel  Mulligan  was  welcomed  by  a 
public  reception,  when  he  acknowledged 
the  salutations  of  his  fellow-citizens  in 
the  following  appropriate  speech  :  "How 
deeply  and  profoundly  I  am  impressed 
with  this  honor,  let  my  future  conduct 
determine.  It  stirs  me  with  a  deep 
omotion.  I  take  it  as  intended,  not  for 
myself,,  but  that  I  may  tender  it  to  those 
brave  men  who,  with  arms  that  never 
failed,  and  hearts  that  never  faltered, 
hedged  me  round  for  those  nine  wild, 
trying  days  at  Lexington.  I  take  it  that 
I  may  tender  it  to  the  brave  Major 
Moore  :  to  my  gallant  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Quirk  ;  to  the  chivalric  Captain 
Moriarty,  that  brave  old  soldier  who 
laid  down  the  sword  in  the  trenches  for 
the  scalpel  in  the  hospital,  and  the 
scalpel  again  for  the  sword,  to  wield  it 
bravely  in  the  trenches  till  the  last  mo- 
ment ;  to  that  noble  Captain  Montgom- 
ery who,  when  I  ordered  him  on  the 
bloodiest  charge  of  the  battle,  drew  up 
his  company  in  readiness  four  deep,  and 


as  I  said  to  them,  '  Men  of  the  brig- 
ade, you  must  take  that  hospital,'  there 
stood  Captain  Gleason,  pale  as  marble — 
pale,  not  with  fear,  but  from  sickness — 
ready  to  meet  death  at  any  moment ;  to 
the  gallant  Fitzgerald,  worthy  the  name 
of  the  illustrious  Edward  j,  and  to  all 
who  have  lain  with  me  upon  the  steel 
and  flinty  couch  of  war,  and  personally 
offer  it  to  those  brave  hearts.  I  was 
besieged  at  Lexington,  but  never  so  be- 
sieged as  now,  and  coming,  as  I  do,  from 
the  land  of  Price  and  of  '  Dixie,'  such  a 
welcome  is  indeed  pleasant,  as  it  is  again 
to  stand  in  the  land  of  '  Hail  Columbia' 
and  '  Yankee  Doodle.'  Coming  to,  as  I 
do,  with  the  experience  gained  in  those 
trying  hours,  I  pledge  myself,  and  the 
whole  Irish  Brigade,  that  while  there  is 
a  fireside  here  threatened,  or  a  house 
endangered,  their  lives  will  cheerfully 
be  given  in  defence  of  that  fireside  and 
home.  I  am  for  the  Union  now,  and  for 
the  Union  until  death,  and,  in  conclu- 
sion, let  me  say,  that  when  I  again 
meet  you,  I  hope  it  will  be  at  the 
head  of  my  old  brigade,  with  my  face 
set  toward  Missouri  and  against  re- 
bellion." 

At  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  De- 
cember, a  resolution,  introduced  by  Mr. 
Arnold  of  Illinois,  was  adopted,  thank- 
ing Colonel  Mulligan  and  his  command 
for  their  heroic  defence  of  Lexington, 
and  authorizing  the  23d  regiment  of 
Illinois  to  wear  on  their  colors  the  name, 
of  "  Lexington."  For  this  and  other 
services,  Colonel  Mulligan  was  promoted 
to  a  Brigadier-Generalship. 


68 


CHAPTER   XXXY. 


HATTERAS      ISLAND. 


TOWARD  the  end  of  August  a  military 
and  naval  expedition  was  in  preparation 
at  Fortress  Monroe  obviously  intended 
to  act  on  some  point  of  the  Southern 
coast.  The  secret  of  its  destination  was 
well  kept,  and  it  was  not  till  the  speedy 
return  of  its  commander,  bearing  news 
of  its  success,  that  its  plan  and  objects 
were  known  to  the  public.  It  was  of 
importance,  not  so  much  by  its  magnitude 
or  any  immediate  grand  results,  as  by 
the  demonstration  which  it  afforded  of 
the  power  of  our  ships  in  operations 
against  forts  on  the  land,  and  of  the  com- 
parative ease  with  which  the  coast  terri- 
tory of  the  rebels  might  be  occupied  and 
controlled.  Hitherto  the  Navy  had  been 
confined  to  the  tedious  maneuvering  and 
police  work  of  the  blockade  ;  it  was  now 
to  have  an  opportunity  to  test  the  skill 
of  its  gunners,  the  seamanship  of  its  sail- 
ors, and  the  spirit  and  efficiency  of  its 
officers.  The  result  proved  that,  what- 
ever lagging  or  need  of  further  prepara- 
tion there  might  be  in  the  army,  this 
portion  of  the  service  was  in  every  re- 
spect ready  for  its  work. 

The  command  of  the  land  force  of 
this  expedition  was  held  by  Major-Gen- 
eral Butler,  who  had  been  recent!}'  suc- 
ceeded at  Fortress  Monroe  by  General 
Wool.  He  had  with  him  about  nine 
hundred  troops,  consisting  of  five  hun- 
dred of  Colonel  Max  Weber's  20th  regi- 
ment New  York  Volunteers,  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  of  Colonel  Hawkins' 
9th  New  York  Zouave  regiment,  one 
hundred  of  the  Union  Coast  Guard,  com- 


manded by  Captain  Nixon,  and  sixty  of 
the.  2d  United  States  Artillery,  under 
Lieutenant  Larned.  The  naval  force, 
under  the  command  of  Commodore  Silas 
H.  Stringham,  a  native  of  New  York. 
who  had  been  in  the  service  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  honorably  employed 
in  its  active  duties,  was  composed  of  the 
flag-ship  Minnesota,  Captain  G.  A.  Yan 
Brunt,  having  in  company  the  United 
States  steamers  Wabash,  Captain  Samuel 
Mercer  ;  Monticello,  Commander  John  P. 
Gillis  ;  Pawnee,  Commander  S.  C.  Row- 
an ;  Harriet  Lane,  Captain  John  Faunce  ; 
the  chartered  transport  steamers  Ade- 
laide, Commander  Henry  S.  Stellwagen  ; 
George  Peabody,  Lieutenant  R.  B.  Low- 
ry  ;  and  the  chartered  tug  Fanny,  an 
armed  propeller  of  light  draft,  command- 
ed by  Lieutenant  Crosby  —  all  of  the 
United  States  navy.  The  fleet  was  well 
provided  with  surf-boats  for  landing. 

The  destination  of  the  expedition  was 
Hatteras  Inlet,  one  of  the  most  important 
entrances  to  the  extensive  series  of  navi- 
gable waters  on  the  river  coast  of  North 
Carolina,  through  the  long  range  of  sand 
islands  which  here  serve  as  a  barrier 
against  the  wild  waves  of  the  Atlantic. 
There  were  several  of  these  passages— 
a  shallow  one  above  at  New  Inlet,  a  near 
approach  to  Albemarle  Sound,  another 
of  more  consequence  below  at  Ocracoke, 
but  this  at  Hatteras,  hard  by  the  light- 
house at  the  Cape,  was  evidently  of  most 
value.  It  was  guarded  by  two  protect- 
ing forts — Hatteras  and  Clark — recently 
erected  by  the  rebels,  and  its  deep  iw- 


THE  IIATTERAS  EXPEDITION. 


539 


bor  was  notorious  as  a  refuge  for  priva- 
teers and  an  entrance  for  various  trading 
vessels  running  the  blockade.  Its  value 
to  the  secessionists  in  this  respect  may 
DC  estimated  from  the  following  passage 
from  a  letter  written  by  Major  W.  Bever- 
how  Thompson,  the  constructing  engineer 
of  the  rebels  at  Fort  Hatteras,  to  Colonel 
Warren  Winslow,  Military  Secretary. 
This  epistle  is  dated  at  the  end  of  July, 
about  a  month  preceding  the  arrival  of 
the  Burnside  Expedition,  and  was  found 
at  the  capture  of  the  forts.  After  calling 
for  additional  troops  for  the  defence  of 
the  place,  and  urging  its  importance  as 
"  the  key  to  Albemarle  Sound,"  he  notes 
these  incidents  of  the  day:  "We  now 
have  two  privateers  in  this  harbor,  be- 
sides the  war  steamers  Winslow,  the 
Gordon  of  Charleston,  Captain  Lockwood, 
armed  with  three  guns,  a  fine  large  steam- 
er. She  returned  this  morning  with  a 
prize  brig  laden  with  three  hundred  and 
sixty  hogsheads  of  molasses.  We  have 
also  a  saucy-looking  little  pilot-schooner, 
the  Florida,  mounting  one  6-pound  rifle 
cannon.  She  captured  a  prize  two  days 
since,  took  her  crew  out,  and  sent  her  in 
with  her  own  men.  A  United  States 
Government  steamer  gave  chase  to  the 
prize,  and  they  were  obliged  to  beach 
her  near  Nag's  Head.  She,  of  course,  is 
a  total  loss."  Were  it  only  to  relieve  the 
commerce  of  the  country  of  so  conveni- 
ent a  piratical  resort,  the  capture  of  the 
position  would  have  been  worth  attempt- 
ing. Its  possession  would  control  a  large 
part  of  the  trade  of  North  Carolina,  and 
cut  off  from  Virginia  a  very  ready  means 
uf  supply  in  numerous  essential  articles 
of  foreign  production. 

The  expedition  to  accomplish  this  de- 
sirable result  set  sail  from  Hampton 
Roads  after  midday  of  the  26th  of  Aug- 


ust, reached  Cape  Hatteras  the  next  day, 
and  were  anchored  off  the  Inlet  in  the 
afternoon.  The  surf-boats  were  hoisted 
out,  and  preparations  made  for  landing 
troops  in  the  morning.  The  Wabash, 
with  the  Cumberland,  Captain  John 
Marston,  in  tow,  this  frigate  having  join- 
ed the  expedition  from  her  cruising- 
ground  off  the  coast,  led  in  toward  Fort 
Clark,  the  outermost  of  the  two  forts  at 
the  entrance,  and  at  10  o'clock  opened 
fire,  which  was  returned  from  the  fort. 
The  Minnesota  presently  passed  inside 
of  the  attacking  vessels  just  named  and 
delivered  her  fire.  At  11  Captain  John 
Chauncey  arrived  with  the  Susquehanna 
from  the  Delaware,  and  added  his  heavy 
guns  with  admirable  precision  to  the 
bombardment.  In  the  words  of  Commo- 
dore Stringham,  in  his  report  describing 
the  method  of  the  action,  "the  vessels 
continued  passing  and  repassing  the  fort 
until  it  was  abandoned  by  the  enemy." 
While  the  fire  from  the  squadron  was 
most  effective,  that  from  the  fort  fell 
short  or  passed  the  ships.  At  half-past 
12  the  flags  were  down  on  both  forts,  and 
the  signal  was  given  by  the  Commodore 
to  cease  firing. 

Meanwhile  General  Butler,  on  board 
the  Harriet  Lane,  was  busily  engaged  in 
directing  the  disembarkation  of  his  troops 
on  the  open  beach,  a  proceeding,  as  it 
proved,  of  no  little  difficulty,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  heavy  surf  which  had 
been  excited  by  the  recent  gales  from 
the  south-west.  The  landing  commenced 
at  10  o'clock,  and  was  only  partially 
successful,  being  broken  up  by  the  in- 
creasing violence  of  the  wind  and  surf, 
and  the  injuries  to  the  means  of  trans- 
portation. Both  the  iron  boats,  upon 
which  dependence  were  placed,  were 
swamped  in  the  surf,  and  both  the  flat- 


540 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


boats  were  stove.  "  A  brave  attempt," 
records  General  Butler,  "made  by  Lieu- 
tenant Crosby  of  the  United  States  army, 
who  had  volunteered  to  come  down  with 
the  steam -tug  Fanny,  belonging  to  the 
army,  to  land  in  a  boat  from  the  war- 
steamer  Pawnee,  resulted  in  the  beach- 
ing of  the  boat  so  that  she  could  not  be 
got  off."  The  further  landing  was  relin- 
quished for  the  time,  because  it  was 
found  utterly  impracticable.  Three  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  of  the  men,  however, 
were  safely  on  shore,  though  in  an  ill 
condition,  their  garments  saturated  with 
water,  their  ammunition  wet,  and  they 
were  without  provisions  or  the  means  of 
receiving  them  from  the  fleet.  The  little 
force  thus  thrown  upon  the  island  con- 
sisted of  portions  of  the  two  New  York 
regiments,  a  party  of  marines  from  the 
Minnesota,  forty -five  regulars  under 
Lieutenant  Lamed,  twenty-eight  of  Cap- 
tain Nixon's  coast-guard,  and  twenty 
sailors  to  serve  the  artillery.  Fortunate- 
ly a  12-pound  rifled  boat-gun  and  a  12- 
pound  howitzer  had  been  landed.  The 
whole  were  under  the  command  of  Col- 
onel Weber.  His  first  proceeding  was 
to  forward  a  small  reconnoitering  party, 
when  word  was  presently  brought  back 
reporting  that  the  troops  were  beginning 
to  evacuate  Fort  Clark.  He  then  order- 
ed its  occupation,  which  was  gallantly 
accomplished.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Weiss 
entered  the  work,  took  with  his  own 
hands  the  first  secession  flag,  and  hoisted 
the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Colonel  Weber 
then  followed  with  his  troops,  but  his 
movement  was  somewhat  seriously  inter- 
rupted by  the  fire  from  the  fleet,  which 
had  not  yet  ceased.  Shells  burst  over 
them  and  in  their  midst,  two  exploding 
in  the  fort  wounding  one  of  the  men 
slightly  in  the  hand.  "I  still,"  says  Col- 


onel Weber,  "held  the  fort  occupied, 
sent  an  American  flag  along  the  beach, 
and  the  firing  ceased."  He  then  placed 
Captain  Nixon,  with  a  sufficient  guard, 
to  hold  possession  of  the  fort  during  the 
night,  and  set  a  vigilant  watch  of  the  en- 
emy in  the  direction  of  Fort  Hatteras, 
and  returning  with  his  main  force,  bi- 
vouacked at  the  landing  place. 

The  attention  of  the  fleet  meanwhile, 
in  the  afternoon,  had  been  more  par- 
ticularly turned  to  this  by  far  the  more 
important  of  the  two  works.  At  2 
o'clock  the  Monticello,  while  making  her 
way  into  the  inlet  to  take  possession, 
was  opened  on  from  Fort  Hatteras,  "  to- 
ward which  a  tug  steamer,  towing  a 
schooner  filled  with  troops,  was  seen 
coming  from  the  southward  for  its  relief. 
General  signal  'Engage  batteries,'  was 
immediately  made.  "The  Minnesota,  Sus- 
quehanna  and  Pawnee  opened  fire  at 
once,  the  Wabash  having  towed  the 
Cumberland  into  the  offing.  The  Mon- 
ticello, from  her  advanced  position,  was 
much  exposed,  and  was  struck  several 
times,  but  finally  hauled  off  without 
serious  damage."  The  firing  ceased  at 
evening,  and  the  squadron  hauled  off 
for  the  night,  leaving  the  Monticello, 
Pawnee  and  Harriet  Lane  near  the  shore 
for  the  protection  of  the  troops. 

Early  the  next  morning,  the  29th,  the 
attack  was  vigorously  resumed.  The 
weather  was  pleasant,  with  the  wind  to 
the  south-west,  and  a  more  moderate 
sea.  At  half-past  five  the  fleet  weighed 
anchor  and  stood  for  the  shore.  The 
troops,  about  whom  some  anxiety  was 
felt,  were  discovered  on  the  shore,  and 
the  Monticelio  and  Pawnee  were  order- 
ed to  their  relief.  An  adventurous  act 
was  performed  at  this  time  by  an  Aid  of 
General  Butler,  Lieutenant  Fiske.  He 


THE  BOMBARDMENT. 


541 


boldly  plunged  through  the  breakers, 
with  the  expectation  of  being  thrown 
ashore,  that  he  might  carry  orders  for 
the  troops  on  the  land,  and  apprise  them 
of  the  movements  of  the  troops.  He  not 
only  accomplished  this,  but  he  returned 
in  a  similar  manner  to  the  fleet,  bearing 
with  him,  in  a  package  strapped  on  his 
shoulders,  the  official  documents,  letters 
and  books  of  the  commanding  officers, 
which  he  had  found  in  Fort  Clark. 
"  When  the  meeting  was  held  on  the 
Minnesota,"  as  the  story  is  told  by  the 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald, 
"  to  arrange  terms  of  capitulation,  the 
rebel  officers  were  utterly  astonished  at 
the  accurate  information  of  the  General, 
and  inquired  anxiously  how  he  knew 
what  they  were  doing  the  day  before, 
and  who  was  the  person  among  them  to 
whom  signals  had  been  made  from  the 
fleet.  The  General  simply  replied  that 
he  possessed  means  of  accurate  informa- 
tion.'' 

At  half-past  seven  the  general  signal 
was  given,  "Attack  batteries,  but  be 
careful  not  to  fire  near  the  battery  in 
our  possession."  At  8  the  Susquehanna 
led  the  way,  and  opened  fire  on  Fort 
Hatteras.  The  Wabash  immediately 
followed,  the  Minnesota  passing  inside 
and  anchoring  between  the  two.  At  9 
they  were  joined  by  the  Cumberland, 
coming  in  under  full  sail,  "  handled 
handsomely,"  says  Commodore  String- 
ham,  with  a  genuine  sailor's  admiration, 
of  the  relief  of  the  old  frigate,  from  her 
dependence  upon  the  steam  power  of  her 
associates.  She  anchored  in  excellent 
position,  on  the  starboard  bow  of  the 
Minnesota,  and  joined  in  the  attack.  At 
first  the  shots  fell  somewhat  short,  when 
longer  fuses  were  employed,  and  the 
shell  fell  in  and  around  the  fort  with 


destructive  effect.  The  Harriet  Lane, 
about  10,  came  up  and  opened  her  rifled 
guns.  A  few  minutes  past  11  a  white 
flag  was  displayed  from  the  fort,  and  the 
action  ceased.  The  force  of  Colonel 
Weber,  which  had  been  employed  dur- 
ing the  morning  in  holding  a  position 
on  the  inner  shore,  and  driving  off  with 
the  artillery  the  rebel  steamers  in  the 
Sound,  now  advanced  to  take  possession 
of  the  fort. 

General  Butler  was  at  the  time  of  the 
surrender  on  board  the  tug  Fanny,  about 
to  land  the  remainder  of  the  troops.  He 
then  proceeded  into  the  inlet,  and  sent 
Lieutenant  Crosby  on  shore,  "  to  demand 
the  meaning  of  the  white  flag."  There 
had  been  already  some  conversation  on 
the  subject  between  the  Commander  of 
the  Fort,  Captain  Samuel  Barren,  for- 
merly of  the  United  States  navy,  now 
in  the  Confederate  service,  "  Command- 
ing Naval  Defence,  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,"  and  Captain  Nixon  and 
Lieutenant  Wiegel,  of  the  forces  on 
shore,  and  the  rebel  officer  had  pre- 
pared a  memorandum  expressive  of 
his  wishes,  to  be  conveyed  to  General 
Butler.  It  was  now  received  and  car- 
ried by  Lieutenants  Crosky  and  Wiegel. 
It  thus  read:  "Flag  Officer,  Samuel 
Barren,  C.  S.  Navy,  offers  to  surrender 
Fort  Hatteras,  with  all  the  arms  and 
munitions  of  war.  The  officers  allowed 
to  go  out  with  side-arms,  and  the  men 
without  arms  to  re  tire. "  This  was  ac- 
companied by  a  verbal  communication, 
stating  that  he  had  in  the  fort  six  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  men,  and  a  thousand 
more  within  an  hour's  call,  but  that  he 
was  anxious  to  spare  the  effusion  of  blood. 
To  both  these  messages  General  Butler, 
answered  in  the  following  terms  :  "Mem- 
orandum. Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Major- 


' 


542 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNI01S. 


General,  U.  S.  Army  commanding,  in 
reply  to  the  communication  of  Samuel 
Barron,  commanding  forces  at  Fort  Hat- 
teras,  cannot  admit  the  terms  proposed. 
The  terms  proposed  are  these  :  full 
capitulation,  the  officers  and  men  to  be 
Created  as  prisoners  of  war.  No  other 
terms  admissible.  Commanding  officers 
to  meet  on  board  flag-ship  Minnesota  to 
arrange  details." 

After  a  slight  delay,  while  the  propo- 
sition was  considered  by  the  Confederate 
officers,  Lieutenant  Crosby  returned, 
bringing  with  him  Captain  Barron,  Ma- 
jor W.  L.  G.  Andrews,  commander  of 
the  forts,  and  Colonel  William  F.  Mar- 
tin of  the  7th  Light  Infantry,  N.  C.  Vol- 
unteers. They  were  first  met  by  Gen- 
eral Butler  in  his  tug  Fanny,  and  thence 
proceeded  together  to  the  more  imposing 
quarters  of  the  flag-ship  Minnesota,  where 
they  were  joined  by  Commodore  String- 
ham,  and  the  formal  articles  of  capitula- 
tion agreed  upon  and  signed.  All  muni- 
tions of  war,  arms,  men  and  property, 
were  unconditionally  surrendered  with 
the  stipulation  that  the  officers  and  men 
should  receive  the  treatment  due  to 
prisoners  of  war. 

When  this  was  accomplished,  General 
Butler  landed  with  the  Confederate 
officers,  Colonel  Martin  and  Major  An- 
drews, and,  in  his  own  concise,  expres- 
sive language,  "  took  a  formal  surrender 
of  the  forts,  with  all  the  men  and  muni- 
tions of  war,  inspected  the  troops,,  to  see 
that  the  arms  had  been  properly  sur- 
rendered, marched  them  out  and  em- 
barked them  on  board  the  Adelaide,  and 
marched  my  own  troops  into  the  fort, 
and  raised  our  flag  upon  it  amid  the 
cheers  of  our  men,  and  a  salute  of  thir- 
teen guns,  which  had  been  shotted  by 
the  enemy." 


Whilst  the  negotiations  for  the  capitu- 
lations were  in  hand,  both  the  Adelaide 
transport,  with  a  large  portion  of  the 
troops  on  board,  and  the  Harriet  Lane 
had  grounded,  in  attempting  to  pass  the 
bar,  and  lay  fully  exposed  to  the  enemy's 
guns.  It  was  a  moment,  General  Butler 
acknowledges,  in  which  he  felt  the  greatest 
anxiety.  He  had  demanded  the  strongest 
terms  and  they  were  yet  under  consider- 
ation. The  opportunity  of  assault  upon 
so  valuable  a  portion  of  the  expedition, 
which  accident  had  suddenly  thrown  in 
their  way,  might  be  a  temptation  to  the 
enemy  to  reject  them.  "  But,"  says  the 
General,  "I  determined  to  abate  not  a 
tittle  of  what  I  believed  to  be  due  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Government  ;  not  even  to 
give  an  official  title  to  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  rebels.  Besides,  my  tug  was 
in  the  inlet,  and  at  'least  I  could  carry 
on  the  engagement  with  my  two  rifled 
six-pounders  well  supplied  with  Sawyer's 
shell."  Considering  that  the  tag  thus 
alluded  to,  the  Fanny,  was  but  a  canal 
boat,  which  had  been  adapted  to  warlike 
purposes,  and  that  the  full  powers  of  the 
Wabash,  the  Susquehannah  and  other 
proved  vessels  of  the  Navy  had  been  re- 
quired to  bring  the  forts  to  surrender, 
this  determination  certainly  showed  a 
doughty  resolution  on  the  part  of  the 
gallant  commander.  Fears  were  had  of 
the  loss  of  the  Harriet  Lane,  in  her  crit- 
ical position  in  the  breakers,  but  by 
lightening  her  of  her  guns  and  coal, 
which  were  thrown  overboard,  and  by 
the  aid  of  a  high  tide,  she  was  two  days 
afterwards  got  off  in  safety. 

"  Upon  taking  possession  of  Fort  Hat- 
teras,"  continues  General  Butler  in  his 
official  report,  "  I  found  that  it  mounted 
ter  guns,  with  four  yet  unmounted,  and 
one  large  ten-inch  Coluirbiad.  all  readv 


INCIDENTS   OF   THE  BOMBARDMENT. 


543 


for  mounting.  It?  position  is  an  exceed- 
ingly strong  one,  near.y  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  water,  and  only  to  be  approach- 
ed by  a  march  of  five  hundred  yards, 
circuitously  over  a  long  neck  of  sand, 
within  half  musket  range,  and.  over  a 
causeway  a  few  feet  only  in  width,  and 
which  was  commanded  by  two  thirty- 
two  pound  guns,  loaded  with  grape  and 
canister,  which  were  expended  in  our 
salute.  It  had  a  well-protected  maga- 
zine, and  bomb  proof,  capable  of  shelter- 
ing some  three  or  four  hundred  men.  The 
parapet,  was  nearly  of  octagon  form,  en- 
closing about  two-thirds  of  an  acre  of 
ground,  well  covered  with  sufficient 
traverses  and  ramparts  and  parapets, 
upon  which  our  shells  had  made  but 
little  impression.  Fort  Clark,  which  was 
about  seven  hundred  yards  northerly,  is 
a  square  redoubt,  mounting  five  guns 
and  two  six-pounders.  The  enemy  had 
spiked  these  guns,  but  in  a  very  inef- 
ficient manner,  upon  abandoning  the  fort 
the  day  before." 

The  casualties  to  the  enemy  in  the  en- 
gagement are  not  exactly  known.  From 
the  report  of  assistant-surgeon  William 
M.  King,  the  United  States  officer  to 
whom  was  assigned  the  charge  of  the 
rebel  wounded,  we  learn  that  the  whole 
number  found  wounded  at  the  surrender 
of  the  forts  was  thirteeen.  Eleven  of 
these  were  capable  of  being  removed  on 
board  the  Adelaide.  Many  others,  and 
perhaps  all  the  killed,  he  thinks  were 
sent  away  on  the  steamers  in  the  Sound 
prior  to  the  capitulation.  On  the  Union 
side  "  there  was  no  casualty  of  any  con- 
sequence whatever."  Among  the  inci- 
dents of  the  bombardment,  one  is  related 
of  a  sailor  of  the  Minnesota,  named 
Kraigbaum,  who  accidentally  dropped  his 
gun  sponge  overboard,  instantly  jumped 


after  it,  succeeded  in  regaining  it,  and 
was  assisted  on  deck  by  his  comrades. 
On  being  questioned  by  his  officer  for 
this  rash  act,  he  replied,  "  He  did  not 
want  his  gun  to  be  disgraced !" 

Two  secession  reports  of  the  engage- 
ment by  Major  Andrews  and  Commo- 
dore Barron  have  appeared.  Both 
these  officers  arrived  on  the  ground  the 
evening  of  the  first  day's  engagement. 
Major  Andrews  found  Colonel  Martin  in 
command,  utterly  prostrated  by  the  du- 
ties of  his  position,  having,  "after  a  da}T 
of  most  severe  and  unceasing  fighting," 
succeeded  in  concentrating  his  forces 
within  the  walls  of  Fort  Hatteras.  Com- 
modore Barron  was  then  invited  to  as- 
sume the  command,  and  accepted  the 
task.  Measures  were  taken  to  bring  the 
guns  to  bear  upon  the  assailants,  but 
when  the  bombardment  began  the  next 
morning,  it  was  found  that  the  fleet 
was  quite  out  of  their  reach.  "Waiting 
for  reinforcements,  they  received  the 
hostile  shower  which,  Major  Andrews 
tells  us,  "  o  half  an  hour  became  literal- 
ly tremendous,  as  we  had  falling  into, 
and  immediately  around  the  works,  not 
less  on  an  average  than  ten  each  minute 
and,  the  sea  being  smooth,  the  firing  was 
remarkably  accurate .  One  officer  count- 
ed twenty-eight  shells  falling  so  as  to 
damage  us  in  one  minute,  and  several 
others  counted  twenty  in  a  minute.  For 
three  hours  and  twenty  minutes  Fort 
Hatteras  resisted  a  storm  of  shells  per- 
haps more  terrible  than  ever  fell  upon 
any  other  works.  At  the  time  the  coun- 
cil determined  to  surrender,  two  of  our 
guns  were  dismounted,  four  men  were 
reported  killed,  and  between  twenty-five 
and  thirty  badly  wounded.  One  shell 
had  fallen  into  the  room  adjoining  the 
magazine,  and  the  magazine  was  reported 


544 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


on  fire."  Commodore  Barron  informs  us 
that  in  assuming  the  grave  responsibility 
of  defending  the  fort,  he  was  not  unaware 
that  he  could  be  shelled  out  of  it.  but 
that  he  expected  the  arrival  from  New- 
bern  of  a  regiment  of  North  Carolina 
volunteers  at  or  before  midnight,  with 
which  he  would  be  able  to  assault  the 
party  who  had  landed  and  taken  posses- 
sion of  Fort  Clark.  He  was  encouraged 
to  this  by  the  fleet  having  put  to  sea  and 
the  appearances  of  bad  weather.  The 
regiment,  however,  did  not  arrive  till  the 
following  day,  when  the  bombardment 
had  commenced,  "and  when  the  time 
came,"  he  adds,  "that  I  deemed  evacua- 
tion or  surrender  unavoidable,  the  means 
of  escape  were  not  at  my  command." 
Commodore  Samuel  Barron,  who  thus 
became  a  prisoner  of  war  and  was  so  re- 
tained in  the  Northern  States  till  the 
general  exchange  of  prisoners  which  took 
place  a  year  after  these  events,  was  a 
native  of  Virginia,  son  of  Commodore 
Barron,  celebrated  for  his  command  of 
the  Chesapeake  in  the  encounter  with  the 
Shannon,  and  his  fatal  duel  with  Decatur. 
He  entered  the  United  States  navy  in 
1812,  and  remained  in  the  service  va- 
riously employed  at  intervals  on  sea  and 
on  shore,  till  his  recent  defection  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  revolt.  Accompany- 
ing him  in  the  surrender  was  Lieutenant 
William  Sharpe,  also  a  native  of  Virgi- 
nia, late  holding  the  same  rank  in  the 
United  States  service,  who  had  left  the 
Navy  Yard  at  Norfolk  for  the  rebel  flag. 
General  Wool,  from  his  headquarters 
of  the  department  of  Virginia,  at  Fort- 
ress Monroe,  issued  a  G-eneral  Order  an- 
nouncing the  glorious  victory,  which  he 
eulogized  not  by  epithets,  but  by  an  enu- 
meration of  its  immediate  results  in  "  the 
capture  of  seven  hundred  and  fifteen  men. 


including  the  commander,  Barren,  and  one 
of  the  North  Carolina  cabinet,  one  thou- 
sand stand  of  arms,  and  seventy-five  kegs 
of  powder,  five  stand  of  colors,  and  thir- 
ty-one pieces  of  cannon,  including  a  ten- 
inch  columbiad,  a  brig  loaded  with  cot- 
ton, a  sloop  loaded  with  provisions  and 
stores,  two  light  boats,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  bags  of  coffee,  etc.  This  gallant 
affair  will  not  fail  to  stimulate  the  volun- 
teers and  regulars  to  greater  achieve- 
ments," adding,  in  the  spirit  of  an  old 
disciplinarian  who  knew  the  dangers  of 
presumption  and  the  essential  conditions 
of  success,  the  oracular  military  maxim  : 
"  Obedience,  order,  discipline  and  in- 
struction are  indispensable  to  maintain 
the  interest,  honor,  and  humane  institu- 
tions of  the  Union." 

Mr.  Welles,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
congratulated  the  officers  and  men  on  the 
skill  and  bravery  tliey  had  displayed, 
and  its  successful  result.  "  This  brilliant 
achievement,"  was  the  language  of  his 
letter,  "accomplished  without  the  loss  of 
a  man  on  your  part,  or  injury  to  any  one 
in  the  Federal  service,  has  carried  joy 
and  gladness  to  the  bosom  of  every 
friend  of  the  Union."  He  saw  in  it  "  but 
the  beginning  of  results  that  will  soon 
eventuate  in  suppressing  the  insurrection 
and  confirming  more  strongly  than  ever 
the  integrity  of  the  Union." 

This  sentiment  of  the  day  was  every- 
where loudly  echoed.  The  tide  of  suc- 
cess, it  was  said,  had  at  last  turned  in 
our  favor.  The  navy  had  an  opportunity 
to  display  its  strength,  and  had  not  been 
found  wanting.  The  whole  Southern 
coast  was  at  the  mercy  of  its  operations. 
It  had  but  to  strike,  and  the  blow  would 
be  felt.  One  gun  on  shore  had  been 
thought  equal  to  three  on  land  ;  but  all 
this  was'  now  reversed.  The  modern 


IMPORTANCE   OF  THE    VICTORY. 


545 


system  of  warfare  had  changed  all  that. 
Steam  navigation,  newly  invented  weap- 
ons, and  practised  gunnery,  had  destro}^ 
ed  the  prestige  of  the  land.  Such  a  defence 
as  that  by  Moultrie  of  Fort  Sullivan  in 
the  Revolution,  when  a  handful  of  reso- 
lute men,  behind  a  wall  of  Palmetto  logs, 
could  defy  a  well-equipped  British  squad- 
ron, was  no  longer  practicable.  What 
would  hinder  the  repetition  of  this 
achievement  at  Charleston,  Savannah, 
the  seaports  of  Florida,  Mobile  and  the 
Mississippi  ?  In  the  victory  at  Fort 
Hatteras  the  whole  coast  was  potentially 
ours. 

The. import  of  the  victory  at  Hatteras, 
in  its  connection  with  the  progress  of  the 
war,  is  indicated  in  the  correspondence 
of  an  accurately  informed  observer  at 
Washington,  the  editor,  Mr.  John  W. 
Forney,  to  his  journal,  The  Press,  at 
Philadelphia.  After  describing  some  of 
the  immediate  results  of  the  occupation, 
he  adds  :  "  Now  that  Virginia  is  almost 
effectually  closed  in — now  that  the  rebels 
can  receive  no  aid  from  Maryland — none 
from  the  frontier  counties  of  Pennsylva- 
nia—  none  from  North  Carolina,  the 
whole  coast  of  which  is  to-day  almost 
entirely  blockaded  —  Western  Virginia 
becomes  a  strategic  point  of  the  highest 
importance.  Now  Eastern  Tennessee 
may  look  up  with  some  hope  for  succor. 
Kentucky  may  be  emboldened  to  strike 
from  her  gigantic  limbs  her  self-imposed 
or  neutral  fetters.  The  same  influences 
that  awaken  the  patriots  of  Virginia, 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  may  reorganize 
and  revive  the  patriots  of  North  Caroli- 
na. But  beyond  the  border  States,  for 
thus  far  the  whole  burden  of  the  war  has 
fallen  upon  them,  lies  the  greater  ques- 
tion of  meeting  the  traitors  in  the  Gulf  or 
cotton  States,  and  of  punishing  them  in 
Rfi 


their  strongholds.  They  have  sent  for- 
ward nearly  all  their  available  troops  to 
capture  the  capital  and  to  subsidize  the 
Union  men  of  the  border  States.  They 
will  hereafter  be  called  upon  to  protect 
their  coasts,  and  undoubtedly  their  in- 
land positions,  from  the  loyal  fleets  that 
will  swarm  in  their  waters,  and  the  loyal 
armies  that  will  swarm  over  their  soil. 
Gradually  Fort  Pickens  has  been 
strengthened  ;  Key  West,  in  the  same 
latitude,  held,  and  more  than  one  of  their 
strong  points  silently  and  secretly  occu- 
pied. The  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  is 
menaced  by  our  men-of-war.  Fort  Pu- 
laski,  in  Georgia,  will  soon  be  in  range 
of  our  guns,  and  the  Texan  coast,  within 
easy  sailing  or  steaming  distance,  will  be 
seized  by  our  naval  or  mercantile  mar- 
ine— all  the  more  easily  that  Ben  McCul- 
loch  and  his  banditti  are  off  ravaging  the 
fair  fields  of  Missouri."  These  prescient 
intimations  of  coming  campaigns  were 
thrown  out  on  the  1st  of  September, 
1861  ;  we  shall  see  in  what  the  future 
fell  short  of  the  programme,  and  in  what 
the  promise  was  sustained. 

In  fitting  out  the  Expedition  it  was  the 
intention  of  the  Government  simply  to 
take  and  destroy  the  forts  and  break  up 
the  communication  with  the  interior  by 
blocking  the  shallow  channel  within  the 
inlet.  The  unexpected  success  of  the 
bombardment,  however,  led  General  But- 
ler, on  consultation  with  Flag-Officer 
Stringham  and  Commander  Stellwagen, 
to  garrison  the  fort  and  occupy  the  posi- 
tion, at  least  till  such  time  as  further  in- 
structions could  be  obtained  from  the 
Government  on  the  subject.  The  troops 
were  accordingly  left  in  possession,  while 
the  prisoners  were  embarked  in  the  Mon- 
ticello  for  New  York,  and  General  But- 
ler hastened,  on  the  Adelaide,  to  carrv 


546 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


the  first  tidings  of  his  victory  to  the  De- 
partment at  Washington.  He  reached 
the  capital  by  way  of  Fortress  Monroe 
and  a  special  train  from  Annapolis,  a 
little  after  midnight  on  the  morning  of 
Sunday  the  1st  of  September,  and  im- 
mediately communicated  the  intelligence 
to  members  of  the  Cabinet.  The  news 
was  then  quickly  spread  by  telegraph 
over  the  country.  Commodore  String- 
ham  arrived  at  New  York  a  few  days 
after  in  his  flag-ship  Minnesota,  bringing 
with  him  the  captured  officers  and  men, 
who  were  lodged  at  Governor's  Island. 
On  the  night  of  the  5th  of  September,  he 
was  honored  by  a  complimentary  seren- 
ade from  his  fellow-citizens  of  Brooktyn, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  resided,  when  various 
congratulatory  speeches  were  delivered 
with  much  enthusiasm. 

Shortly  after  General  Butler's  return, 
a  letter  written  by  him  was  published, 
dated  from  the  United  States  frigate 
Minnesota,  off  Cape  Hatteras,  the  day 
preceding  the  recent  action,  August  27th. 
It  was  in  reply  to  inquiries  and  solicita- 
tions of  his  Democratic  party  friends  in 
Massachusetts,  who  had  suggested  that 
he  should  be  a  candidate  for  Governor 
at  the  ensuing  election.  On  leaving 
home,  he  said,  for  the  duties  of  the  war, 
he  left  all  politics,  in  a  party  sense  of  the 
term  behind  him,  and  now  "knew  no 
politics  in  any  sense,  save  as  represented 
by  the  question — How  best  to  preserve 
the  Union  and  restore  the  country  in  its 
integrity."  He  therefore  seeing  in  Gov- 
ernor Andrew  one  who  "  has  endeavored 
faithfully,  zealously  and  efficiently  to  put 
our  commonwealth  on  the  side  of  the  na- 
tion," desired  no  change  in  the  Execu- 
tive. He  would  not  say  that  he  would 
vote  for  Governor  Andrew,  but  if  he 
were  at  home  he  would  not  vote  against 


him.  "The  Republican  party  having  won 
a  political  victory,  both  in  the  State  and 
the  nation,  is  entitled  to  the  patriotic  en- 
deavor of  every  man  to  give  it  a  fair 
trial  in  the  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  in  that  it  should,  as  it  does, 
take  the  lead  in  official  positions."  In 
regard  to  certain  "  peace"  propositions  or 
discussions,  he  said  :  "A  peace  involving 
the  disintegration  of  the  Union,  or  until 
the  supremacy  of  the  Government  is  for- 
ever established,  would  be  simply  a  de- 
claration of  perpetual  war  of  sections. 
Were  the  Southern  Confederacy  to-day 
acknowledged  in  the  fullness  of  good 
faFth,  two  months  would  not  elapse  be- 
fore causes  of  war  would  arise,  sufficient 
not  only  to  justify,  but  to  demand  a  re- 
newal of  the  conflict.  No  two  months 
have  passed,  in  the  last  ten  years  at 
least,  in  which  outrages  have  not  been 
committed  upon  Northern  men  in  the 
South,  which,  had  they  been  perpetrated 
by  a  foreign  nation,  would  have  demand- 
ed a  redress  of  grievances,  under  pain 
of  a  suspension  of  diplomatic  relations. 
But  we  have  borne  these  outrages  be- 
cause there  was  no  tribunal  to  the  arbi- 
trament of  which  we  could  submit  them, 
and  it  was  against  the  genius  of  our  peo- 
ple to  appeal  to  arms.  Therefore,  I  see 
with  pain  upon  the  part  of  some  of  those 
with  whom  I  have  acted  in  political  or- 
ganizations, a  disposition  to  advocate 
peaceful  settlements  wherein  there  can 
be  no  peace.  Therefore,  this  war  must 
go  on,  not  for  the  purpose  of  subjugation, 
but,  if  those  who  have  commenced  it 
bring  upon  themselves  that  condition  as 
an  incident,  it  will  only  be  another  illus- 
tration of  the  fruit  of  sowing  the  wind." 
In  the  same  spirit  and  to  the  same  effect 
he  addressed  the  citizens  of  Lowell  on 
his  return  to  Massachusetts.  "  We  must 


VISIT  TO  FORT   OCRACOKE. 


547 


have  the  whole  of  this  country  under  one 
government,  or  else  no  government  at 
all  There  is  no  middle  ground.  We 
must  pour  out  blood  and  treasure — the 
first  like  water,  the  last  like  sand — until 
that,  is  accomplished.  If  you  have  no 
country,  what  have  you  left  ?  Noth- 
ing! We  should  be  base  to  give  up 
the  rich  inheritance  bequeathed  to  us 
by  our  fathers,  and  leave  to  our 
children  only  a  broken  and  ruined 
country." 

The  action  of  the  officers  in  retaining 
possession  of  the  forts  was  approved  by 
the  Government,  and  measures  taken  to 
secure  the  position.  The  garrison  at 
Hatteras  was  reinforced  by  the  remain- 
ing companies  of  Hawkins'  Zouaves,  who 
were  destined  for  honorable  service  in 
this  reg'on,  and  the  rebel  defences  at 
Ocracoke,  which  had  been  abandoned, 
were  entirely  broken  up.  This  service 
was  performed  under  the  direction  of 
Commodore  S.  C.  Eowan,  of  the  U.  S. 
steamer  Pawnee,  by  Lieutenant  James 
Y.  Maxwell,  who  proceeded  to  the  spot 
with  a  detachment  of  marines  and  sol- 
diers of  the  Naval  Brigade,  on  the 
Fanny,  towing  a  launch  from  the  Paw- 
nee. The  Susquehannah  also  accom- 
panied the  expedition.  Fort  Ocracoke, 
on  Beacon  Island,  commanding  the  inlet, 
was  found  to  be  a  well  constructed  work, 
octagonal  in  shape,  with  four  shell- 
rooms,  and  a  large  bomb-proof  in  the 
centre.  There  were  platforms  for  twenty 
guns,  which  had  been  partially  des- 
troyed, and  the  gun  carriages  burnt. 
Eighteen  guns  were  left  in  the  fort  which 
Lieutenant  Maxwell,  after  vain  efforts  to 
break  off  the  truncheons  with  sledge 
hammers,  or  effectually  damage  by  drop- 
ping solid  shot  from  an  elevation,  des- 
troyed by  heavily  loading  one  and  firing 


it  against  the  others.*  In  its  construc- 
tion and  position,  Fort  Ocracoke,  com- 
pared to  advantage  with  the  work  at 
Hatteras. 

Simultaneously  with  this  proceeding, 
Colonel  Hawkins  issued  a  Proclamation 
to  the  People  of  North  Carolina,  in 
which  he  endeavored  to  correct  various 
erroneous  impressions  of  an  extraordi- 
nary character,  arguing  a  sad  miscon- 
ception of  the  motives  of  'the  Govern- 
ment, which  were  said  to  prevail  among 
them.  He  assured  them  that  it  was 
"no  part  of  the  object  of  the  Federal 
forces  to  pillage  or  plunder,"  that  they 
came  not  "  to  war  against  women  and 
children,"  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they 
would  give  them  every  protection,  that 
loyal  citizens  might  "  enjoy  their  homes 
and  property  without  fear  of  molesta- 
tion," that  the  "  rights  of  property  and 
persons  would  be  respected  and  pro- 
tected ;"  in  fine,  that  they  came  to  war 
only  upon  traitors  and  rebels,  who  were 
called  upon  to  lay  down  their  arms. 
Nothing  could  be  more  conciliatory  or 
assuring  than  the  declaration  thus  va- 
riously repeated.  "  We  come  to  give 
you  back  Law,  Order,  the  Constitution, 
your  rights  under  it,  and  to  restore 
peace."  Yet,  such  was  the  prejudice  or 
system  of  repression,  that  this  good  seed 
thus  generously  sown,  bore  no  immediate 
fruit. 

Affairs  remained  the  ensuing  month 
at  Hatteras  much  as  they  were  left  by 
General  Butler.  The  poor  inhabitants, 
the  fishermen  and  wreckers  of  the  sand- 
spit,  readily  professed  their  allegiance  to 
the  old  Government,  and  there  was 
some  talk  of  a  sound  Union  feeling  exist- 
ing on  the  main  land,  but,  if  so,  it  was 


*  Commander  Rowan  to  Flag-Officer  Stringhnrn.     Lieu- 
tenant  Maxwell  to  Commander  Rowan,  Sept.  18,  1861. 


548 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


not  suffered  to  be  very  demonstrative. 
Vessels  of  the  Navy,  in  the  blockading 
service,  lingered  at  the  spot  as  a  guard, 
and  transports  came  and  departed  with 
supplies  for  the  fort.  Garrison  duty 
was  performed  by  Hawkins'  Zouaves, 
Colonel  Hawkins,  in  cooperation  with 
the  naval  officers  on  the  station,  being 
in  command  of  the  post.  At  the  end  of 
September,  the  force  at  Hatteras  having 
been  increased  by  the  arrival  of  Colonel 
Brown's  20th  Indiana  Volunteers,  a 
jiilitary  movement  was  undertaken.  The 
enemy,  it  was  understood,  were  estab- 
lishing themselves  at  Roanoke  Island, 
where  Pamlico  Sound,  at  its  northern 
extremity,  is  joined  by  the  waters  of 
the  Albemarle,  and  where  there  is  an 
outlet  to  the  sea  at  the  termination  of  the 
sandy  barrier  on  which  Hatteras  is  situ- 
ated. The  upper  inlet  was  not  very  ad- 
vantageous for  navigation,  but  it  afforded 
a  refuge  for  small  craft,  and  if  the  rebels 
were  allowed  to  control  it,  their  next 
step  might  be  to  advance  upon  Hat- 
teras itself.  Influenced,  probably,  by 
some  such  considerations,  Colonel  Haw- 
kins resolved  to  meet  the  threatened 
evil  by  stationing  a  force,  properly  pro- 
vided with  artillery,  to  hold  the  upper 
end  of  Hatteras  Island,  in  the  inlet. 
Accordingly,  on  the  29th  of  September 
he  sent  forward  Colonel  Brown's  20th 
Indiana  regiment,  with  the  exception  of 
three  companies,  which  he  reserved  at 
the  fort  to  occupy  the  position.  The 
troops  were  transported  on  the  gun- 
boats Putnam  and  Ceres,  some  forty 
miles  along  the  Sound,  arriving  at  the 
neighborhood  of  the  place  which  they 
were  to  fortify,  in  the  evening.  The 
water  was  very  shallow  off  the  shore,  so 
that  the  steamers  could  approach  no 
nearer  than  three  miles  ;  but  they  were 


provided  with  appropriate  barges,  and 
the  men  were  landed  the  next  morning 
in  safety.  They  had  but  a  few  days' 
provisions,  and  were  without  their  camp 
equipage,  intrenchment  tools,  and  other 
means  of  defence,  which  were  to  be  sent 
after  them  by  the  tug-boat  Fanny.  This 
serviceable  little  vessel  which  we  have 
seen  noticeably  employed  at  the  capture 
of  the  forts,  left  Hatteras  two  days  after, 
carrying  a  further  small  detachment  of 
the  Indiana  regiment,  thirty-five  in  num- 
ber, under  command  of  Captain  Hartt, 
and  a  squad  of  ten  of  Hawkins'  Zouaves, 
under  Sergeant  Major  Peacock,  to  assist 
in  working  the  two  rifled  guns,  six  and 
nine  pounders,  of  the  James  and  Sawyer 
pattern,  which  were  on  board.  The 
vessel  was  freighted  with  sixty  barrels 
of  flour,  a  large  quantity  of  beef,  military 
clothing,  an  ample  slock  of  ammunition, 
and  the  usual  sutler's  supplies  for  the 
camp.  She  sailed  alone,  unaccompanied 
by  an  escort. 

On  reaching  her  destination  where 
the  troops  had  been  previously  landed, 
at  about  two  o'clock,  the  disembarkation 
had  hardly  commenced,  a  single  barge 
having  been  sent  off  with  ten  persons 
and  a  portion  of  the  camp  equipage, 
when  three  rebel  gun-boats  appeared  in 
sight,  and  opened  fire  on  the  Fanny. 
Being  simply  a  chartered  vessel  under 
no  naval  or  military  command,  her  naval 
commander,  Lieutenant  Crosby,  having 
been  called  to  other  service,  and  her 
previous  crew,  from  the  Naval  Brigade, 
withdrawn,  the  tug,  ill  protected  for 
defence,  and  with  troops  on  board 
unskilled  in  gunnery,  was  certainly 
not  prepared  for  a  contest.  Nine 
shots,  however,  says  her  captain,  Mor- 
rison, were  fired  from  her  before  she 
surrendered.  She  was  then  deserted  by 


ATTACK  AT   CHICAMOCOMICO. 


the  captain  and  crew,  who  took  with 
them  the  only  remaining  boat,  and  made 
their  way  to  Hatteras.  The  troops  who 
were  left  on  board  employed  themselves 
in  throwing  overboard  portions  of  the 
ammunition,  but  all — men,  equipments, 
provisions  and  sutler's  luxuries — were 
speedily  taken  possession  of  by  the 
enemy.  The  captor,  Colonel  Wright, 
is  reported  by  a  rebel  authority  to  have 
had  with  him  three  hundred  men  on  the 
steamer  Curlew.  The  prize  was  esti- 
mated by  the  North  Carolinians  at  some 
seventy  or  eighty  thousand  dollars,  ex- 
clusive of  the  vessel,  which  was  of  no 
great  worth.  Her  former  owners  valued 
the  cargo  at  half  the  sum. 

On  the  day  following  this  disaster,  the 
steamers  Putnam  and  Ceres,  with  the 
launch  of  the  Susquehanna,  went  up  and 
landed  seven  days'  provisions  for  the  In- 
diana troops  without  meeting  with  oppo- 
osition.  Nor  was  any  immediate  attack 
made  by  the  rebels  upon  the  party  on 
shore,  but  the  success  of  their  adventure 
emboldened  Colonel  Wright,  with  his 
Georgia  and  North  Carolina  troops  on 
Roanoke  Island,  to  attempt  the  capture  of 
the  whole  body  of  the  Indianians  at  their 
camp.  Accordingly,  having  taken  ten  full 
days  for  preparation,  early  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  4th,  an  expedition  was  set  on 
foot  which  is  described  by  one  of  the  In- 
diana regiment,  who  witnessed  its  arrival 
off  Chicamocomico,  as  the  beach  where 
the  encampment  was  situated  is  called,  as 
consisting  of  seven  steamers,  two  schoon- 
ers, one  floating  battery,  and  a  number 
of  transports  for  landing  troops.  The 
force  thus  conveyed,  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Wright,  and  numbered,  accord- 
ing to  a  rebel  authority,  fifteen  hundred 
men.  There  were  about  six  hundred  of 
the  Indiana  regiment  on  the  shore. 


The  plan  of  the  enemy  was  to  make  a 
double  attack  first  on  the  camp,  putting 
the  men  to  flight,  and  then  intercepting 
their  return  to  Hatteras  by  a  landing  be- 
low on  the  shore.  A  messenger  from 
the  fort,  Captain  Jardine,  had  reached 
the  camp  the  day  before,  charged  with 
instructions  for  a  retreat,  if  he  should 
think  it  necessary.  He  did  not  deliver 
this  order  till  the  shot  from  the  enemy's 
gunboats  had  set  fire  to  the  tents,  and 
their  preparations  for  landing  rendered 
escape  imperative,  where  the  island  was 
narrow  and  offered  every  facility  for  a 
flanking  fire  from  the  guns.  He  then 
took  his  departure  in  haste  to  carry  word 
of  the  peril  of  the  regiment  to  Fort  Hat- 
teras. Riding  down  three  horses  on  the 
way.  he  reached  the  camp  in  the  after- 
noon, when  Colonel  Hawkins  at  once 
advanced  to  the  rescue. 

It  was  about  9  o'clock  when  the  attack 
upon  the  Indianians  was  made.  Armed 
only  with  their  muskets,  and  with  not  a 
day's  provisions  on  hand,  they  were 
drawn  up  along  the  shore,  prepared  to 
receive  the  foe.  Without  returning  to 
his  encampment  Colonel  Brown  com- 
menced the  retreat.  It  was  a  march  of 
fearful  severity.  One  of  the  Indianians 
who  participated  in  its  hardships  has  de- 
scribed it.  "  The  sun  was  shining  on 
the  white  sand  of  the  beach,  heating  the 
air  as  if  it  were  a  furnace.  The  men 
had  neither  provisions  nor  water.  The 
haste  in  which  they  had  rushed  to  repel 
the  enemy  had  prevented  this,  and  it 
was  too  late  to  go  back  to  camp.  It  was 
a  march  I  shall  never  forget.  The  first 
ten  miles  was  terrible.  No  water,  the 
men  unused  to  long  marches,  the  sand 
heavy,  their  feet  sinking  into  it  at  every 
step.  As  the  regiment  pushed  along, 
man  after  man  would  stagger  from  the 


550 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


ranks  and  fall  upon  the  hot  sand.  Look- 
ing back,  I  saw  our  Colonel  trudging 
along  wlch  his  men,  having  given  up  his 
horse  to  a  sick  soldier.  But  the  most 
sorrowful  sight  of  all  was  the  Islanders 
leaving  their  homes  from  fear  of  the  en- 
emy. They  could  be  seen  in  groups, 
sometimes  with  a  little  cart  carrying  their 
provisions,  but  mostly  with  nothing,  flee- 
ing for  dear  life  ;  mothers  car  lying  their 
babes,  fathers  leading  along  the  boys, 
grandfathers  and  grandmothers  straggling 
along  from  homes  they  had  left  behind. 
Relying  on  our  protection,  they  had  been 
our  friends,  but  in  an  evil  hour  we  had 
been  compelled  to  leave  them. 

"  We  still  toiled  on,  the  heat  most 
intense,  and  no  water.  Hunger  was 
nothing  in  comparison  with  thirst.  It 
was  maddening.  The  sea  rolling  at  our 
feet  and  nothing  to  drink.  1  started  to 
take  a  scout  to  watch  the  movements  of 
the  enemy's  vessels.  I  skirted  the  Sound 
for  some  ten  miles.  In  every  clump  of 
bushes  I  would  find  men  utterly  exhaust- 
ed. The  enemy's  vessels  were  now 
nearly  opposite,  steaming  down  the 
Sound  to  cut  off  our  retreat.  I  would 
tell  them  this,  but  they  would  say,  '  they 
did  not  care,  they  would  die  there,'  so 
utterly  hopeless  did  they  seem. 

"  Near  sunset  I  caught  sight  of  the 
army  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle  on  the 
beach,  about  a  mile  distant.  Soon  join- 
ing them,  I  found  that  the  enemy  were 
reported  in  force  in  front.  After  some 
delay,  the  army  marched  by  the  right 
flank,  skirmishers  ahead,  until  we  reach- 
ed the  narrow  inlet  about  five  miles 
above  Hatteras  lighthouse,  and  here  our 
great  danger  was  at  once  seen.  The 
fleet  of  the  enemy  had  drawn  up  in  line, 
30  as  to  sweep  the  beach,  and  render  a 
passage  impossible,  but  had  neglected  to 


land  their  men.  It  was  now  near  twi- 
light. The  clouds  in  the  west  reflected 
he  bright  tints  of  the  sun,  and  showed 
us  the  enemy  in  the  foreground.  In  the 
east  heavy  gray  clouds  lowered,  and  our 
uniforms  corresponding,  hid  us  from  their 
view,  as  we  silently  stole  along,  the  roar 
of  the  surf  drowning  the  footsteps  of  the 
men  and  the  commands  of  the  officers, 
yet  every  little  while  we  would  watch, 
expecting  to  see  the  flash  of  the  enemy's 
cannon,  or  hear  the  report  of  the  burst- 
ing shell  in  our  little  band.  It  was  a 
narrow  escape,  and  a  providential  one, 
and  our  Colonel  was  affected  to  tears  at 
the  danger  we  had  passed.  At  midnight 
we  reached  Hatteras  Lighthouse,  having 
made  a  march  of  twenty-eight  miles. 
Here  we  found  water,  and  usiug  the 
lighthouse  as  a  fort,  we  encamped  for  the 
night,  and  woke  up  n'ext  morning  feeling 
like  sand-crabs,  and  ready,  like  them, 
to  go  into  our  holes,  could  we  find  them." 
Thus  closed  the  events  of  the  4th  with 
the  escape  of  the  fugitives.  The  5th 
was  to  witness  a  bitter  and  unexpected 
revenge  from  the  guns  of  the  fleet.  Col- 
onel Hawkins,  on  making  his  prepara- 
tions to  meet  the  returning  troops,  had 
also  given  information  to  Captain  J.  L. 
Lardner,  the  successor  of  Captain  Chauu- 
cey  in  the  command  of  the  steam- frigate 
Susquehanna,  of  the  state  of  affairs.  Be- 
sides his  vessel,  the  United  States  steam- 
er Monticello,  Lieutenant  D.  L.  Braine 
commanding,  was  then  in  the  inlet. 
Captain  Lardner  immediately  brought 
both  vessels  to  Hatteras  Cove,  where  he 
found  the  retreating  Indianians  in  the 
morning  gathered  round  the  lighthouse 
after  their  exhausting  night  vigil.  He 
supplied  them  with  food  and  remained 
for  their  protection,  sending  the  Monti- 
cello  along  the  coast  to  watch  the  move- 


THE  ENEMY  ATTACKED  BY  THE  MONTICELLO. 


551 


mcnts  of  the  enemy,  who,  having  effected 
a  landing,  were  reported  to  be  in  force 
some  miles  above  at  Keneekut.  The 
errand  was  thoroughly  accomplished. 
Its  striking  incidents  are  thus  related 
in  the  official  report  of  Lieutenant 
Braine,  addressed  to  Captain  Lardner  the 
day  of  the  assault.  "  I  have  the  honor 
to  inform  you  that,  in  obedience  to  your 
order  of  this  morning,  I  stood  through 
the  inner  channel  of  Hatteras  shoals  at 
12£  P.  M.,  and  stood  close  along  shore  to 
the  northward,  keeping  a  bright  look-out 
from  aloft.  At  1£  P.  M.  we  discovered 
several  vessels  over  the  woodland  Ken- 
eekut, and  at  the  same  time  a  regiment 
marching  to  the  northward,  carrying  a 
rebel  flag  in  their  midst,  with  many 
stragglers  in  their  rear ;  also  two  tugs  in- 
side flying  the  same  flag.  As  they  came 
out  of  the  woods  of  Keneekut,  we  ran 
close  in  shore,  and  opened  a  deliberate 
fire  upon  them  at  a  distance  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile.  At  our  first  shell, 
which  fell  apparently  in  their  midst,  they 
rolled  up  their  flag  and  scattered,  moving 
rapidly  up  the  beach  to  the  northward. 
We  followed  them,  firing  rapidly  from 
three  guns,  driving  them  up  to  a  clump 
of  woods  in  which  they  took  refuge,  and 
abreast  of  which  their  steamers  lay.  We 
now  shelled  the  woods,  and  could  see 
them  embarking  in  small-boats  after  ves- 
sels, evidently  in  great  confusion,  and 
suffering  greatly  from  our  fire. 

"  Their  steamers  now  opened  fire  upon 
us,  firing,  however,  but  three  shots, 
which  fell  short.  Two  boats  filled  with 
men  were  struck  by  our  shells  and  de- 
stroyed. Three  more  steamers  came 
down  the  Sound  and  took  position  oppo- 
site the  woods.  We  were  shelling  also 
two  sloops.  We  continued  firing  delib- 
erately from  1£  P-  M.  to  3£  p.  M.,  when 


two  men  were  discovered  on  the  sea- 
beach  making  signals  to  us.  Supposing 
them  to  be  two  of  the  Indiana  regiment, 
we  sent  an  armed  boat  and  crew  to  bring 
them  off,  covering  them  at  the  same  time 
with  our  fire.  Upon  the  boat  nearing 
the  beach  they  took  to  the  water.  One 
of  them  was  successful  in  reaching  the 
boat — private  Warren  0.  Haver,  Com- 
pany H,  20th  regiment  Indiana  troops. 
The  other  man — private  Charles  White, 
Company  H,  20th  regiment  Indiana  troops 
— was  unfortunately  drowned  in  the  surf. 
"  Private  Haver  informs  me  that  he 
was  taken  prisoner  on  the  morning  of  the 
4th  ;  that  he  witnessed  one  shot  which 
was  very  destructive.  He  states  that 
two  of  our  shells  fell  into  two  sloops 
loaded  with  men,  blowing  the  vessel  to 
pieces  and  sinking  them.  Also  that  sev- 
eral officers  were  killed,  and  their  horses 
seen  running  about  the  track.  He  hud 
just  escaped  from  his  captors,  after  shoot- 
ing the  captain  of  one  of  the  rebel  com- 
.panies.  He  states  that  the  enemy  were 
in  the  greatest  confusion,  rushing  wildly 
into  the  water  striving  to  get  off  their 
vessels.  Private  Haver  now  directed 
me  to  the  point  where  the  rebels  were 
congregated,  waiting  an  opportunity  to 
get  off.  I  opened  fire  again  with  success, 
scattering  them.  We  were  now  very 
close,  in  three  fathoms  water,  and  the 
fire  of  the  second  shell  told  with  effect. 
Six  steamers  were  now  off  the  point,  one 
of  which  I  recognized  as  the  Fanny.  At 
twenty-five  minutes  past  5  we  ceased 
firing,  leaving  the  enemy  scattered  along 
the  beach  for  upwards  of  four  miles.  I 
fired  repeatedly  at  the  enemy's  steamers 
with  our  rifled  cannon — a  Parrott  30- 
pounder — and  struck  the  Fanny,  I  think, 
once."* 


*  Lieutenant  Braine  to  Captain  Lardner,  October  5, 1861 


552 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


Twenty-nine  of  the  Indiana  regiment, 
in  addition  to  those  captured  on  the 
Fanny,  were  missing  in  this  retreat. 
From  an  account  of  the  affair  published 
in  the  Norfolk  Day-Book,  purporting  to 
be  from  Captain  Carsville  of  the  3d 
Georgia  regiment,  it  would  appear  that 
the  rebels,  as  at  the  capture  of  the  Fan- 
ny, were  commanded  by  Colonel  Wright. 
The  firing  on  the  encampment  was  from 
the  10-pound  howitzer  on  board  the 
transport  Cotton  Plant,  about  a  mile 
from  the  shore.  The  Georgia  regiment, 
on  landing,  dragged  their  guns  with  them 
through  the  heavy  sand  in  the  pursuit, 
so  that  they  had  themselves  a  taste  of 
the  hardships  which  they  were  inflicting 
on  the  fugitives.  Newspaper  anecdotes 
of  personal  prowess  are  not  over  relia- 
ble ;  but  as  we  have  the  authority  of  a 
Georgia  captain  for  the  story,  and  as  a 
characteristic  specimen  of  its  class,  we 
give  this  anecdote  of  the  pursuit  from  the 
account  just  cited.  The  incident  is  said 
to  have  occurred  on  the  morning  of  the. 
second  da}7.  "When  about  six  miles 
from  the  starting-place,  Colonel  Wright, 
being  on  horseback  and  considerably  in 
advance  of  his  command,  overtook  a 
party  of  thirteen  Yankees,  together  with 
their  Adjutant.  He  made  a  gallant 
charge  on  them,  when  the  Adjutant  shot 
his  horse  and  commenced  loading  again, 
when  the  Colonel  grabbed  up  a  small 
Yankee  and  presented  him  as  a  breast- 
work to  ward  off  the  Adjutant's  fire. 
With  this  he  advanced  on  the  Adjutant 
with  his  repeater  and  captured  four,  in- 
cluding the  Adjutant."  In  the  same  nar- 
rative we  are  informed  that  the  Monti- 
cello  poured  in  her  shell  upon  the  rebel 
party  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  from 
the  shore  for  five  hours  "  without  injury 
to  any  one  except  a  slight  bruise  on  one 


man's  leg,  who  foil  down  in  endeavoring 
to  dodge  a  ball,  which  rolled  over  his 
leg  ;  and  a  slight  scratch  on  another's 
face  from  the  explosion  of  a  shell."  The 
entire  expedition  then  returned  to  Roan- 
oke  Island,  stopping  on  their  way  to 
gather  the  spoils  left  at  Chicamocomico. 

On  receipt  of  the  news  of  this  disaster 
at  Washington,  General  Mansfield  was 
sent  to  Hatteras  with  five  hundred  troops. 
Their  presence,  with  the  recent  lesson 
from  the  fleet,  gave  security  to  the  island, 
and  no  further  serious  attempt  was  made 
by  the  rebels  to  annoy  the  Union  forces 
in  its  occupation.  It  was  evident,  how- 
ever, that  without  a  proper  fleet  of  light 
draft  gunboats  on  the  Sound  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  enemy's  steamers,  the  pos- 
session of  Hatteras  was  available  only 
for  guarding  the  inlet,  without  making 
any  of  the  expected  impressions  upon 
the  mainland  of  the  State.  Why,  it  was 
asked,  should  the  enemy  be  allowed 
quietly  to  intrench  themselves  at  Roan- 
oke  Island,  and  thus  hold  command  of 
the  waters  of  Albemarle  and  the  south- 
ern communications  with  Virginia.  The 
country  grew  somewhat  impatient  with 
the  Government  as  the  season  wore  on, 
and  the  angry  storms  of  winter  fell  upon 
the  desolate,  isolated  position,  and  no  re- 
sponse was  given.  The  answer,  however, 
was  pronounced  at  last,  and,  as  we  shall 
see,  in  no  doubtful  language. 

Meantime,  the  post  was  firmly  held. 
Brigadier-General  Thomas  Williams,  an 
eminent  officer  of  the  regular  army,  fol- 
lowed General  Mansfield  in  the  com- 
mand ;  constant  services  were  rendered 
to  the  blockading  squadron ;  the  illicit 
commerce  of  the  enemy  was  checked, 
and  an  occasional  prize  taken.  But  the 
most  prominent,  if  not  the  most  import- 
ant event  at  Hat' eras,  was  the  r>olitical 


A  STATEMENT   OF   GRIEVANCES. 


553 


assembly  of  the  loyal  inhabitants  of  the 
island.  Though  necessarily  but  a  limit- 
ed demonstration,  and  quite  insignificant 
as  an  encroachment  upon  the  vast  area 
of  secessiondom,  it  yet  attracted  no  little 
attention,  and  was  the  means  of  calling 
forth  the  sympathies  of  the  North.  On 
the  12th  of  October  a  Convention  of  one 
hundred  and  eleven  delegates  of  the  cit- 
izens of  Hyde  county,  -of  which  Hatteras 
is  a  part,  assembled  at  a  church  near  the 
inlet,  and  adopted  a  "Statement  of  Griev- 
ances and  a  Declaration  of  Independence," 
in  which  they  loudly  proclaimed  their  loy- 
alty to  the  United  States,  and  expressed 
in  the  most  decided  manner  their  abhor- 
rence of  the  "spurious  government  desig- 
nating itself  the  '  Confederate  States  of 
America,'  and  of  the  revolutionary  and 
treasonable  dynasty  which  now  usurps 
the  governing  power  of  our  own  State." 
Like  other  documents  of  its  class,  it  was 
modelled  on  the  national  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  found  no  lack  of  ma- 
terial in  the  violent  and  injurious  acts  of 
a  revolutionary  government  trampling 
upon  the  hallowed  rights  of  the  people, 
for  a  long  and  serious  bill  of  indictment. 
Passing  over  what  is  common  to  all  such 
usurpations,  we  ia&y  note  what  is  distinc- 
tive in  the  case  of  North  Carolina.  The 
dominant  secession  party  was  thus  ar- 
raigned : 

"  They  have  recklessly  disregarded 
the  will  of  the  people  to  abide  by  the 
compact  of  the  national  Union,  as  repeat- 
edly declared  in  public  meetings  through- 
out the  State,  and  by  the  emphatic  and 
overwhelming  vote  of  the  qualified  elect- 
ors of  the  Commonwealth  in  February 
last  j  they  have  set  aside  the  solemn  and 
deliberate  disapproval  of  the  machina- 
tions of  the  Disunionists,  pronounced  by 
a  majority  of  the  people,  in  refusing  to 
70 


authorize  the  calling  of  a  State  Conven- 
tion ;  they  have  prostituted  their  official 
positions  to  the  purpose  of  a  secret  and 
infamous  conspiracy  which  had  predeter- 
mined the  destruction  of  the  Union,  re- 
gardless of  popular  dissent ;  and,  in  the 
unscrupulous  zeal  of  their  treason,  they 
have  assumed  powers  without  warrant, 
either  express  or  implied,  in  the  Consti- 
tution ;  they  have  arrogated  the  author- 
ity,  through  a  Convention  summoned 
with  indecent  haste,  and  acting  in  flagrant 
defiance  of  the  wishes  of  the  people,  to 
perform  an  act  legally  impossible,  and 
therefore  without  effect  or-  force,  in  de- 
creeing the  secession  of  this  Common- 
wealth from  the  Federal  Union.  The 
ordinances  of  this  Convention  have  never 
been  submitted  to  the  people  for  their 
ratification  or  rejection  ;  they  have  com- 
missioned ten  men  as  Representatives  of 
the  State  in  a  body  called  the  Confeder- 
ate Congress,  unknown  to  and  unauthor- 
ized by  the  laws,  and  occupying  an  atti- 
tude of  open  hostility  to  that  Constitution 
which  North  Carolina  has  formally  and 
definitively  ratified  and  accepted  as  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land.  And,  as  if  to 
omit  no  incident  of  a  complete  disfran- 
chisement,  they  have  withheld  from  the 
electors  the  poor  privilege  of  designating 
such  Representatives."  This  Declaration 
bears  the  signatures  of  a  select  commit- 
tee of  three  —  the  Rev.  Marble  Nash 
Taylor  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference, 
Caleb  B.  Stowe  and  William  O'Neil. 

In  the  following  month  this  patriotic 
movement  was  brought  prominently  be- 
fore the  citizens  of  New  York  at  a  public 
meeting  called  to  express  sympathy  and 
furnish  aid  for  the  people  of  North  Car- 
olina who  had  been  impoverished  by 
their  loyalty  to  the  Union.  The  Hon. 
George  Bancroft,  the  eminent  historiar 


554 


WAR  FOE   THE   UNION. 


presided,  and  many  distinguished  men 
spoke  on  the  occasion.  The  Eev.  Mr. 
Taylor,  one  of  the  authors  of  the  Declar- 
ation just  cited,  unhesitatingly  pronounc- 
ed North  Carolina  not  a  secession  State. 
It  was  true  that  she  was  out  of  the 
Union,  but  not  by  the  voice  of  her  peo- 
ple. At  two  elections  in  reference  to 
that  matter,  they  had  declared,  by  large 
majorities,  in  favor  of  remaining  firm  for 
the  Uiiion.  "  Some  four  thousand  of  the 
inhabitants  living  on  the  narrow  strip 
of  land  on  the  coast,"  he  said,  "had,  on 
the  first  arrival  of  the  troops,  flocked  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  ;  and  this  had 
cut  them  off  from  their  scanty  resources 
of  traffic  with  the  interior.  They  were 
a  poor  race,  living  principally  by  fishing 
and  gathering  of  yoakum,  an  evergreen  of 
spontaneous  growth,  which  they  dried 
and  exchanged  for  corn."  The  claim 
for  aid  was  supported  by  the  testimony 
of  officers  on  the  coast  and  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  President  and  Secre- 
tary of  War. 

Mr.  Bryant,  the  poet,  seconded  the 
appeal  at  the  meeting,  enforcing  it  as  an 
opportunity  to  improve  the  visitation  of 
war  by  turning  it  to  a  lesson  of  mutual 
charities  which  would  bring  us  out  of 
the  conflict  "a  nobler  branch  of  the  hu- 
man family  than  before,  raised  to  a  more 
exalted  standard,  more  worthy  of  the 
fortunate  light  shining  upon  us  in  this 
Western  hemisphere,  more  worthy  of 
the  glorious  institutions  under  which  we 
live."  Of  the  suffering  patriots  for  whom 
charity  was  solicited,  he  said,  elevating 
their  humble  lives  and  their  cause  by  as- 
sociating them  with  the  grand  lessons  of 
nature  around  them  :  "Their  occupation 
is  on  the  great  deep,  but  they  have  not 
copied  its  turbulence  in  their  lives.  They 
have  seen  in  its  storms  and  its  tumults 


the  power  by  which  these  are  overruled, 
and  have  been  taudit  to  obey  the  laws 
first  ordained  for  the  government  of  man- 
kind." 

General  Burnside,  then  preparing  in 
silence  and  secrecy  his  Expedition,  to 
rescue  the  afflicted  region  from  the 
power  of  the  enemy,  earnestly  joined  in 
the  appeal,  improving  the  opportunity  to 
eulogise  the  military  talents  and  per- 
sonal virtues  of  his  friend  General  Mc- 
Clellan,  who  had  just  succeeded  General 
Scott  in  the  Chief  Command.  "I  have 
known  him,"  said  he,  "most  intimately, 
as  students  together,  as  soldiers  in  the 
field,  and  as  private  citizens.  For  years 
we  have  lived  in  the  same  family,  and  I 
know  him  as  well  as  I  know  any  human 
being  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  I 
know  that  no  more  honest,  conscientious 
man  exists  than  Gene-ral  McClellan.  He 
is  an  honest,  Christian-like  and  con- 
scientious man,  and  now  let  me  add  one 
thing,  that  he  has  the  soundest  head  and 
the  clearest  military  perception  of  any 
man  in  the  United  States."  Such  was 
the  ample  measure  of  admiration  and 
confidence  with  which  the  country  wel- 
comed the  new  General. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  note  the 
striking  declarations  which  were  made 
at  this  meeting  by  influential  speakers 
on  the  topic  of  slavery.  "  We  have  a 
continent,"  said  the  Rev.  R.  C.  Hitch- 
cock, a  prominent  divine  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  in  New  York,  "  which 
is  a  unit  by  its  ver}r  structure,  and  we 
are  essentially  one  race  of  men,  without 
one  dividing  line  of  race  or  language. 
The  leaders  of  the  rebellion  are  sagacious 
enough  to  understand  this.  They  have 
contemplated  from  the  start  a  recon- 
struction of  the  Government,  but  they 
intend  its  corner-stone  shall  be  black  as 


A  STORM  AT  HATTERAS. 


555 


ebony.  This,  then,  is  the  issue — not 
between  dismemberment  and  unity,  but 
between  a  unity  based  upon  freedom 
and  a  unity  which  is  based  upon  human 
bondage.  But  we  must  have  a  unity 
based  on  the  old  Constitution,  which 
allowed  slavery  as  evil — found  an  evil 
and  tolerated, — which  in  the  good  prov- 
idence of  God  it  was  hoped  by  and  by 
might  be  ejected  from  the  system." 

Dr.  Francis  Lieber  saw  in  the  attempt 
to  foist  the  institution  upon  the  reluctant 
world  at  the  present  time,  the  source  of 
much  of  the  acrimony  with  which  the  re- 
bellion was  undertaken  and  maintained. 
"  There  are  a  great  many  things,"  he  said, 
"  which  distinguish  the  operation  of  Sla- 
very in  modern  times — Slavery,  that  great 
anachronism,  out  of  time,  out  of  place  in 
the  nineteenth  century.  Now,  one  point 
has  alwaj'S  struck  me — and  I  may  say 
that  I  have  had  a  great  deal  of  ex- 
perience on  that  subject — is,  that  slavery 
because  out  of  time  and  out  of  place,  if 
once  adopted,  if  once  proclaimed  as  a 
good  thing,  leads  people  invariably  at  this 
time  to  a  great  degree  of  vindictiveness. 
I  do  not  know  any  period  in  history  in 
which  any  fanaticism  has  shown  itself 
more  vindictive  than  Slavery  at  the  pre- 
sent period."  As  a  result  of  this  meeting 
and  appeal,  a  large  sum  of  money  was 
contributed  by  the  city  of  New  York  for 
the  distressed  Carolinians,  and  expended 
in  various  articles  of  necessity,  which 
were  in  good  time  transported  to  Hat- 
teras  Island.  By  the  time  they  reached 
there,  however,  a  profitable  employment 
had  been  afforded  to  the  natives  by  the 
soldiers,  which  relieved  the  wants  of  the 
people,  so  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  produce  sent  for  charity  was  sold 
and  the  money  returned  to  the  New 
York  Committee. 


The  next  that  we  hear  of  the  North 
Carolina  loyalists  is  an  announcement 
of  the  formation  of  a  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment at  Hatteras  Island  on  the  IStb 
of  November,  "  in  which  forty-five  coun- 
ties were  represented  by  delegates  and 
authorized  proxies."  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Taylor  was  appointed  Provisional  Gov- 
ernor, and  his  Excellency  ordered  an 
election  for  the  2d  Congressional  Dis- 
trict, at  which  Mr.  Charles  Henry  Foster 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  National 
House  of  Representatives.  But  thai 
body,  when  he  presented  himself  at 
Washington  the  ensuing  month,  did  not 
think  the  certificate  of  the  Provisional 
Governor,  or  the  proceedings  at  Hat- 
teras, of  sufficient  importance  to  justify 
his  admission. 

The  fearful  storm  of  the  2d  of  November 
should  be  chronicled  among  the  incidents 
at  Hatteras.  It  was  the  gale  in  whicl 
the  fleet  of  Commodore  Dupont's  Port 
Royal  Expedition  suffered  so  severely  on 
its  passage.  Its  onset  at  Hatteras  was 
most  alarming.  The  waves  dashed  over 
the  island  in  the  night,  submerging  its 
lower  portions  between  the  forts,  sweep- 
ing away  a  vast  quantity  of  provisions 
and  stores,  which  had  just  been  landed 
at  the  wharf,  driving  the  soldiers  from 
their  tents,  threatening  both  forts,  and 
rendering  them  quite  uninhabitable.  The 
Indiana  20th  Regiment,  which  had  not 
yet  recovered  from  its  early  experience 
of  Hatteras  in  its  disasters  at  Chica- 
mocomico,  was  most  unfortunate.  Its 
stock  of  winter  clothing  had  then  been 
captured  by  the  enemy  ;  now  half  of  the 
new  supply  was  carried  off  by  the  ocean, 
and '  the  regiment  was  momentarily  in 
expectation  of  being  compelled  to  aban- 
don its  quarters  at  Fort  Clark,  and 
wade  through  the  waters  to  such  resting- 


556 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


place  as  could  be  found  on  the  higher 
grounds  above.  The  storm,  however, 
in  a  few  hours  expended  its  first 
violence,  and  the  garrison  escaped 
without,  loss  of  life.  But  they  had 
suffered  serious  discomfort  particu- 
larly in  the  fearful  removal  of  the 
sick.* 

It  was  in  the  sequel  of  this  gale,  three 
days  afterward,  that  the  French  steam 
corvette  Prony,  Captain  M.  de  Fon- 
tanges,  carrying  six  guns  and  a  crew  of 
one  hundred  and  forty  officers  and  men, 
;vas  wrecked  to  the  south  of  Hatteras, 
off  Ocracoke  Inlet.  She  was  cruising  on 
the  Southern  coast,  and  was  at  the  time 

*  Special  Correspondence  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  Hat- 
teras  Inlet.  Nov.  2  1861. 


I)S  orftlo  fmote  It/hcy}  9ffT        Jnio< 
>m£  fofoino-Hlo  scf  bfaorfa   yce 

CHAPTER      XXXYI. 


making  her  way  North.  She  struck  o-u 
the  sand,  and  there  remained  without 
assistance  till  she  was  in  immediate  dan- 
ger of  destruction,  when  two  Confederate 
steamers  of  light  draft  arrived  and  took 
off  her  crew.  They  were  received  ~by 
the  small  fleet  of  Commodore  Lynch  in 
Pamlico  Sound,  and  after  returning  to 
burn  the  vessel,  "  that  nothing  belong- 
ing to  her  might  be  made  use  of  by 
either  belligerent,"'  were  conveyed,  by 
way  of  Albemarle  Sound  and  the  Dis- 
mal Swamp  Canal,  to  Norfolk,  whence 
they  came  by  a  flag  of  truce  to  Fortress 
Monroe,  and  were  transported  in  safety 
to  New  York.* 

*  Statement  of  Captain  De  Fontanges,  New  York  Times, 
Nov.  14.  1861. 

• 


THE      CAMPAIGN      IN 


SOUTH-WESTERN     VIRGINIA. 


General  McClellan  crossed  the 
Ohio  he  sent  Brigadier-General  J.  D. 
Cox,  with  a  sufficient  force  of  Ohio  and 
Kentucky  troops  to  oppose  the  move- 
ments of  General  Wise,  the  "  chivalric" 
ex-Governor  of  Virginia,  who,  gathering 
around  him  a  body  of  insurgents,  was 
stimulating  and  assisting  the  revolt  in  the 
southerly  and  westerly  part  of  the  Kan- 
awha  river.  His  proclamation  of  the 
6th  of  July,  dated  at  Ripley,  the  capital  of 
Jackson  county,  on  the  Ohio,  summoned 
the  citizens  of  that  border  region  "  to  re- 
turn to  their  patriotic  duty  and  acknow- 
ledge their  allegiance  to  Yirginia  and  her 
Confederate  States  as  their  true  and  law- 
ful sovereigns.  You  were  Union  men," 
was  the  conciliatory  language  of  the  ap- 
peal ;  '  so  was  I,  and  we  held  a  right  to 


be  so  until  oppression  and  invasion  and 
war  drove  us  to  the  assertion  of  a  second 
independence.  The  sovereign  State  pro- 
claimed it  by  her  Convention  and  by  a 
majority  of  more  than  a  hundred  thou- 
sand votes  at  the  polls.  She  has  seceded 
from  the  old,  and  established  a  new 
Confederacy.  She  has  commanded,  and 
we  must  obey  her  voice.  I  corne  to  ex- 
ecute her  command — to  hold  out  the 
olive  branch  to  her  true  and  peaceful 
citizens — to  repel  invasion  from  abroad 
and  subdue  treason  only  at  home.  Come 
to  the  call  of  the  country  which  owes  you 
protection  as  her  native  sons.'1 

We  have  seen  General  McClelland  an- 
ticipation from  General  Cox's  column,  in 
his  despatch  of  the  13th  of  July,  immedi- 
ately after  the  victory  of  Rich  Mountain, 


SKIRMISH  AT  BARBOURSVILLE. 


557 


of  the  early  liberation  of  the  valley  of  the 
Kanawha  from  the  forces  of  General 
Wise.*  The  month  of  July  saw  the  ex- 
pectation fulfilled.  There  was  some 
spirited  fighting  as  the  command  of  Gen- 
eral Cox  made  their  way  up  to  the  head- 
waters of  the  Kanawha.  A  brilliant 
skirmish  occurred  on  the  12th  of  July  at 
Barboursville,  the  county  seat  of  Cabell 
county,  on  the  Guyandotte.  Five  com- 
panies of  Colonel  Woodruffs  2d  Ken- 
tucky regiment,  under  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Neff,  left  the  Union  camp 
at  midnight  for  an  attack  upon  the  town, 
which  was  held  by  a  body  of  Confeder- 
ate troops.  "  It  was  proposed,"  says  the 
correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Com- 
mercial accompanying  General  Cox's 
division,  "  to  make  the  attack  at  early 
daylight,  but  the  deep  silence  observed 
along  the  route,  together  with  the  halts 
to  send  forward  scouting  parties,  defer- 
red their  coming  into  sight  of  the  enemy 
until  the  sun  was  too  hours  high.  When 
they  did  catch  a  first  glance,  if  there 
had  been  any  fear  in  their  composition, 
it  would  have  overpowered  them  at  once. 
The  rebels  were  drawn  up  in  line  of  bat- 
tle on  the  brow  of  a  high  hill,  apparently 
inaccessible  on  all  sides,  and  commanding 
a  view  for  two  miles  around  of  a  magni- 
ficent level  plain,  with  all  its  roads  in 
full  sight,  until  they  dwindled  into  the 
distant  forests  Near  the  base  of  the  hill 
wound  the  Gu}randotte  river,  and  within 
pistol  shot  of  their  position  was  the  only 
bridge  which  spanned  it  from  the  side  on 
which  we  were  advancing.  Our  brave  boys 
took  but  one  glance  and  passed  on.  As 
they  neared  the  bridge,  they  discovered 
a  large  body  of  cavalry  on  the  road 
which  wound  around  the  base  of  the  hill 
on  which  the  enemy  were  ranged,  re- 
Ante,  p.  847. 


treating  and  dividing  in  order  to  inter- 
cept our  flight- --a  natural  inference,  but 
a  matter  of  opinion  nevertheless.  The 
rebels  very  considerately  reserved  their 
fire  until  the  head  of  our  column  had  set 
foot  upon  the  bridge,  and  then  they  fired 
a  terrific  volley,  killing  one  man  instant- 
ly, and  wounding  a  number  of  others. 
To  escape  this  terrible  shelving  fire,  our 
men  moved  double-quick  into  the  cover- 
ed bridge,  where  the  bullets  pelted,  pat- 
tered, and  whistled  like  a  leaden  hail- 
storm. They  rushed  onward,  however, 
until  they  halted  with  such  a  sudden 
shock,  that  it  sent  the  whole  column  into 
disorder.  The  planks  of  the  bridge  had 
been  removed  on  the  opposite  side,  and 
the  mule  on  which  the  guide  was  mounted 
had  fallen  through,  and  he  barely  escaped 
sharing  its  destruction  by  clinging  to  the 
timbers.  The  rebels,  encouraged  by  our 
delay  at  the  fearful  impediment,  broke 
into  wild  shouts  and  cheers.  Fired  by 
their  assurances  of  victory,  our  bo}Ts 
could  be  restrained  no  longer  ;  they  an- 
swered with  terrific  yells  ;  some  ran  to 
the  path-holes  of  the  bridge  and  dis- 
charged their  muskets  at  the  foe  ;  and 
Company  A,  led  by  Captain  Brown, 
made  a  dash  in  single  file  across  the  bare 
stringers  and  rafters  of  the  bridge,  fol- 
lowed by  Company  D  (Woodward 
Guards)  and  the  remaining  companies. 
As  they  emerged  from  the  bridge  the 
rebels  flanked  and  charged  front  from 
the  mouth  of  the  bridge  to  the  road 
which  encircled  the  base  of  the  hill,  and 
sent  another  bitter  voLey  at  our  men, 
which  luckily  was  aimed  too  high,  and 
did  but  little  damage.  Our  men  at  this 
time  had  all  cleared  the  bridge  in  total 
disorder,  but  blazing  away  with  excite- 
ment, yelling  and  leaping  like  madmen. 
They  turned  suddenly  up  the  side  of  the 


558 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


hill  at  a  charge  bayonets,  and  literally 
dragging  themselves  up  by  bushes  and 
jutting  turf.  They  cleared  in  a  few  mo- 
ments, rushed  at  the  enem}7",  who  had,  as 
the}7"  commenced  the  ascent,  fired  again 
with  effect.  It  was  their  last  voile}7.  As 
the  glistening  bayonets  reached  the  top 
of  the  hill  and  met  their  wavering  gaze, 
and  those  yells  continued,  which  meant 
victory  if  there  had  been  a  thousand  op- 
posed, the  enemy  swayed  for  a  moment, 
a  leap  was  made  from  their  flank  and 
rear,  and  then  the  whole  body  scattered 
like  sparks  from  a  pin- wheel  down  the 
rear  of  the  hill,  streaming  in  every  di- 
rection in  the  fields  below,  at  full  speed, 
with  white  faces  and  an  impulse  of  fear 
which  I  heard  compared  to  the  fright 
of  a  hundred  horses  in  a  conflagration. 
Our  men  were  too  breathless  for  pursuit, 
but  they  cheered  as  only  men  who  had 
conquered  can  cheer,  and  planted  imme- 
diately the  Stars  and  Stripes  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  hill.  There  was  some  firing 
at  the  retreating  foe,  and  their  command- 
er, Colonel  Mansfield,  was  hit  and  fell 
from  his  horse,  but  was  immediately 
seized  and  carried  off  by  his  companions, 
as  is  supposed  others  were.  They  left 
but  one  on  the  field,  an  old  gray-haired 
man,  who,  we  are  informed,  was  pressed 
into  the  service,  as  many  of  his  compan- 
ions had  been.  He  was  taken  care  of 
by  our  troops,  but  he  died  in  the  after- 
noon. The  victorious  battalion,  when 
the  rebels  had  disappeared,  marched 
through  the  town  with  their  banners  fly- 
ing and  the  bands  playing  airs  which  the 
inhabitants  never  hoped  to  hear  again. 
The  Woodland  boys  planted  their  flag 
on  the  cupola  of  the  Court-House, 
and  seemed  to  regard  as  a  coinci- 
dence that  precisely  two  months  after 
it  was  presented  it  was  streaming  from 


a  spire  in  one  of  the  hot-beds  of  seces- 
sion." 

The  next  engagement  with  the  enemy 
took  place  a  few  days  after  at  Scarytown, 
where  Scary  Creek  meets  the  Kanawha, 
about  forty  miles  above  the  entrance  of 
the  latter  into  the  Ohio.  The  Union 
camp  was  at  this  time  at  the  mouth  of 
Pocatalico  Creek,  some  eight  or  ten  miles 
below  the  camp  of  the  enemy  at  Scary- 
town,  which  was  held  with  the  purpose 
of  commanding  the  communication  by  the 
Kanawha  with  the  important  region 
above.  The  Confederate  position  was 
well  chosen.  It  was  on  a  hill  well  de- 
fended by  intrenchments,  mounting  two 
rifled  cannon,  while  several  log-houses 
adjoining  offered  most  convenient  means 
of  annoyance  for  musketry  through  their 
crevices.  In  front,  in  the  valle}',  was 
the  small  stream  which -gave  name  to  the 
place  ;  the  right  rested  on  the  Kanawha  ; 
on  the  left  was  a  wooded  height.  On 
the  morning  of  the  17th  of  July,  General 
Cox  sent  forward  a  detachment  consist- 
ing of  Colonel  Howe's  12th  Ohio  regi- 
ment, portions  of  two  companies  of  the 
21st  Ohio,  with  Captain  Cotter's  Cleve- 
land artillery,  two  rifled  6-pounders,  and 
Captain  Rogers'  cavalry  company  from 
Ironton,  Ohio — altogether  less  than  a 
thousand  men,  with  instructions  to  recon- 
noitre the  enemy's  position,  and  drive 
them  from  it  if  practicable.  The  party 
was  commanded  by  Colonel  Lowe  of  the 
12th  Ohio  Volunteers,  an  estimable  citi- 
zen of  the  State,  who  had  been  one  of  the 
foremost  to  offer  his  services  to  his  coun- 
try in  her  present  trials.  It  took  a  short 
route  by  land,  and  in  the  afternoon  ap- 
proached the  enemy's  works  from  the 
opposite  side  of  the  creek.  The  cavalry 
company  was  in  advance,  and  was  first 
greeted  with  a  sharp  discharge  from  the 


BATTLE  AT  SCARYTOWN. 


559 


battery,  quickly  retiring  with  the  loss  of 
a  man  killed.  The  artillery  of  the  Union 
force  then  took  position,  and  returned 
the  fire  with  considerable  effect,  the  dis- 
tance between  the  parties  being  about 
five  hundred  yards,  and  the  number  and 
calibre  of  the  guns  being  the  same  on  each 
side.  The  infantry  were  also  discharging 
volleys  of  musketry. 

An  incident  of  the  conflict  at  this 
moment,  one  of  a  thousand  like  piteous 
scenes  of  this  lamentable  war,  should 
not  be  passed  over.  It  shows  us 
what  war  really  is,  in  the  destruction 
of  the  noblest  and  the  best.  "  The 
first  few  rounds,"  writes  a  correspond- 
ent from  the  camp  after  the  action,  "like 
those  of  the  rebels,  were  too  high  ; 
but  the  Captain  kept  crying  out,  '  a  little 
lower,  boys,'  till  the  proper  elevation 
was  attained,  when  he  played  upon  them 
rapidly,  and  in  fifteen  minutes  silenced 
their  guns,  with  the  loss  of  one  man — 
private  John  Haven  of  Scholersville, 
Putnam  county — a  handsome,  intelligent 
young  man,  as  brave  as  a  lion,  and  the 
pet  of  the  company.  Poor  fellow !  his 
right  hip  was  shot  away  just  as  he  was 
passing  a  ball  to  his  gun.  When  his 
captain  saw  him  fall,  he  ran  and  picked 
him  up,  and  conveyed  him  in  his  arms  to 
a  place  of  safety.  'Never  mind  me, 
Captain,'  he  cried  ;  "but  don't  let  that 
flag  go  down !'  He  still  lingers,  but  can 
hardly  survive  the  night." 

When  this  firing  had  continued  for 
some  time  with  mutual  loss,  the  enemy's 
cannon  being  dismounted,  the  ammu- 
nition of  the  Union  men  —  they  had 
taken  with  them  but  thirty  rounds — be- 
gan to  fail,  and  an  order  was  given  to 
charge  bayonets.  A  portion  of  the 
troops  on  the  left,  led  by  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  White,  made  the  attempt,  ford- 


ing the  stream,  and  making  for  the  in- 
trenchments,  but  they  were  not  support- 
ed by  the  men  who  were  to  cooperate 
with  them  from  the  right,  and  the  move- 
ment failed.  The  enemy,  meanwhile, 
getting  reinforcements,  word  was  given 
by  Colonel  Lowe  for  the  retreat,  in  which 
his  force  was  not  pursued.  They  met  on 
their  return  a  fresh  regiment  sent  by 
General  Cox  from  his  camp,  which  was, 
of  course,  too  late  to  turn  the  fortunes 
of  the  day.  The  Union  loss  in  this  affair 
was  nine  killed,  thirty-eight  wounded, 
and  nine  missing  ;  that  of  the  enemy  was 
represented  as  much  larger.  The  fact 
that  they  did  not  follow  up  their  advan- 
tage is  the  best  evidence  of  their  IOSF 
Unhappily  for  General  Cox's  command 
an  accident  of  the  day  stripped  him  of 
some  of  his  best  officers.  Colonel  Wil- 
liam E.  Woodruff,  Lieutenant- Colonel 
George  W.  Neff,  Captains  George  Austin 
and  J.  B.  Hurd,  all  of  the  2d  Kentucky 
regiment  of  Volunteers  ;  and  Colonel 
Charles  De  Yilliers  of  the  llth  Ohio 
Volunteers,  as  they  were  riding  out  of 
the  camp  to  see  something  of  the  en- 
gagement, found  themselves  unexpected- 
ly in  the  enemy's  lines,  and  were  taken 
prisoners. 

The  subsequent  escape  from  the  rebel 
authorities  of  Colonel  De  Villiers,  is 
among  the  most  interesting  personal  nar- 
ratives of  the  war.  After  his  capture  on 
the  Kanawha,  he  was  conducted  with 
his  brother  officers  who  were  captured, 
to  Kichmond,  and  confined  in  the  tobacco 
factory  with  the  prisoners  of  war  taken 
at  Bull  Run.  At  first,  says  his  fellow- 
prisoner  Mr.  Ely,  in  his  journal,  he  ap- 
peared much  distressed,  and  was  at  times 
subject  to  great  depression  of  spirits.  As 
this  wore  away,  and  his  nervous  temper- 
ament recovered  its  elasticity,  he  would 


56C 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


entertain  his  companions  with  an  exhi- 
bition of  the  most  difficult  exercises  of 
arms  with  the  musket  and  broad  sword, 
in  which,  though  but  "a  bundle  of 
nerves,  almost  without  flesh,  weighing 
not  more  than  110  pounds,"  he  was  a 
great  proficient.  It  was  from  him,  in- 
deed, as  his  preceptor,  that  Ellsworth 
had  learnt  the  Zouave  exercises,  in  which 
he  drilled  his  regiment.  Having  some 
acquaintance  with  medicine,  he  was  as- 
sociated in  the  duties  of  the  surgeons, 
and  allowed  the  liberty  which  they  en- 
joyed, of  moving  about  the  city  under 
parole.  This,  after  a  time,  was  taken 
from  him,  when  one  day  he  made  an 
auction  of  his  military  clothing  to  his 
comrades,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  sup- 
pMng  his  wants,  and  in  the  evening  dis- 
appeared from  the  prison.  How  his 
escape  was  managed  is  not  told.  Mr. 
Ely  hints  at  the  complicity  of  rebel 
officers  in  the  affair,  who  assisted  him 
out  of  the  town,  and  provided  him  with 
some  means  of  continuing  his  journe}7'. 
However  this  may  be,  he  had  to  depend 
on  his  own  resources.  Avoiding  the 
well-watched  route  to  the  Potomac,  he 
took  to  the  woods  and  swamps  lying  be- 
tween Richmond  and  Norfolk,  and  living 
on  such  berries  and  fruits  as  they  afford- 
ed, was  six  weeks  in  reaching  tire  latter 
city,  when  he  appeared  in  the  character 
of  an  old  mendicant  Frenchman,  poor 
and  enfeebled.  Wearing  a  pair  of  green 
goggles,  with  a  pack  on  his  back,  he  went 
about  tottering  on  a  rough  stick,  and 
sustaining  his  disguise  by  confining  his 
speech  to  the  French  language,  he  ap- 
pealed, and  not  in  vain,  to  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  inhabitants.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  hospital,  and  after  a  while 
began  to  solicit  the  authorities  for  a  pass 
to  Fortress  Monroe,  under  the  flag  of 


truce.  "  The  piteous  story  of  the  ven- 
erable Frenchman,"  continues  Mr.  Ely's 
narrative,  "and  his  urgency  to  return 
to  his  home,  which  he  had  left  before  the 
rebellion  broke  out,  and  the  accommo- 
dating spirit  of  the  Confederates  mani- 
fested to  the  French,  as  well  as  to  the 
English  at  that  time,  induced  the  rebel 
General,  from  charitable  motives,  after 
two  weeks7  delay  and  persistent  applica- 
tion on  the  part  of  De  Villiers,  to  allow 
him  to  go  on  board  the  truce  boat. 
When  the  boat  met  the  Federal  steamer, 
the  infirm  old  Frenchman  (at  the  vener- 
able age  of  thirty-five)  was  assisted  on 
board  by  the  compassionate  officers  from 
Norfolk,  who  bade  him  an  affecting 
adieu.  But  no  sooner  had  he  reached 
the  deck  of  the  Union  boat,  than  he 
coolly  cast  off  his  pack,  green  goggles 
and  all  ;  and,  after  thanking  the  officers 
for  their  politeness,  shouted  with  an  air 
of  youthful  animation,  a  loud  huzza  for 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  gave  the  Con- 
federates the  pleasing  information  that 
they  had  just  parted  with  Colonel  De 
Villiers  of  the  llth  Ohio  regiment."  In 
the  subsequent  October  Colonel  De  Vil- 
liers was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brig- 
adier-General of  Volunteers. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  General  Cox, 
with  his  division,  having  advanced 
cautiously  up  the  Kanawha,  and  driven 
the  enemy  from  their  camp  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, reinforced  the  important  town 
of  Charleston.  He  then  continued  his 
advance,  without  interruption  to  Gauley 
Bridge,  at  the  junction  of  the  Gauley 
and  New  Rivers,  an  important  position 
at  the  head  of  the  valley  of  the  Kanaw- 
ha, where,  on  the  29th  of  the  month  he 
reported,  in  a  dispatch  to  Governor 
Pierpont :  "  The  Kanawha  Valley  is 
now  free  from  the  secession  troops. 


BATTLE  AT  CARXIFEX  FERRY. 


5(H 


Most  of  the  forces  raised  by  Wise  in  this 
valley  left  him  between  Charleston  and 
this  place.  I  had  sent  them  assurances 
that  if  they  laid  down  their  arms  they 
might  go  quietly  to  their  homes,  and 
many  have  done  so,  asserting  that  they 
were  cheated  into  the  rebel  service.  I 
regret  here  to  say  that  Wise,  in  his  re- 
treat, has  burned  a  number  of  valuable 
bridges,  and  carried  off  most  of  the 
wagons  and  teams  of  the  people  of  the 
valley.  All  parties  denounce  him  for  his 
vandalism.  I  congratulate  you  on  the 
success  of  this  expedition." 

More  than  a  month  now  elapsed  of 
comparative  quiet  in  Western  Virginia, 
during  which  the  Union  army  was  suf- 
ficiently engaged  in  keeping  the  peace, 
protecting  the  property  of  loj^alists  and 
holding  in  check  the  insurgent  maraud- 
ers who  infested  the  mountainous  region, 
before  the  forces  of  the  two  opposed 
armies  were  brought  into  prominent  con- 
flict. An  engagement  then  occurred  be- 
tween the  immediate  commands  of  Gen- 
eral Rosecrans,  the  immediate  successor 
of  McClellan  in  Western  Virginia,  and 
General  John  B.  Floyd,  the  ex-Secretary 
of  AVar  at  Washington,  whose  services  to 
the  cause  of  rebellion  had  been  reward- 
ed with  a  high  military  commission  in 
the  rebel  army.  On  the  10th  of  Sep- 
tember, the  latter  was  entrenched  at  a 
peculiarly  advantageous  position  on  the 
Gauley  River  at  Carnifex  Ferry,  eight 
miles  south-west  of  Summersville,  in 
Nicholas  county.  He  had  a  short  time 
before,  on  the  26th  of  August,  taken  by 
surprise  and  routed  Colonel  Tyler's  7th 
Ohio  regiment  at  Cross  Lanes,  near 
Summersville.  The  regiment  was  sur- 
rounded while  at  breakfast  by  superior 
numbers,  and  fearfully  cut  up.  General 
Rosecrans  having  left  Clarksburg  at  the 
71 


beginning  of  September,  was  advancing 
with  several  of  his  best  regiments  by  way 
of  Sutton  and  Summersville,  to  attack 
Floyd  wherever  he  might  be  found.  As 
he  approached  the  region  of  the  Gauley 
he  was  informed  of  the  enemy's  position 
and  his  force  was  led  in  that  direction. 
The  story  of  the  encounter  which  ensued 
is  thus  given  in  a  dispatch  of  General 
Rosecrans  to  the  Department  at  Wash- 
ington, from  his  camp  on  the  llth  : 
"  We  yesterday  marched  seventeen  and 
a  half  miles,  and  reached  the  enemy's 
entrenched  position,  in  front  of  Carnifex 
Ferry,  driving  his  advanced  outposts 
and  pickets  before  us.  We  found  him 
occupying  a  strongly  intrenched  posi- 
tion, covered  by  a  forest  too  dense  to 
admit  its  being  seen  at  a  distance  of 
three  hundred  yards.  His  force  was  five 
regiments,  beside  the  one  driven  in.  He 
had  probably  sixteen  pieces  of  artillery. 
At  3  o'clock  we  began  a  strong  recon- 
noissance,  which  proceeded  at  such  length 
that  we  were  about  to  assault  the  posi- 
tion on  the  flank  and  front,  when  night 
coming  on,  and  our  troops  being  com- 
pletely exhausted,  I  drew  them  out  of 
the  woods  and  posted  them  in  the  order 
of  battle,  behind  ridges,  immediately  in 
front  of  the  enemy's  position,  when  they 
rested  on  their  arms  till  morning.  Short- 
ly after  daylight  a  runaway  contraband 
came  in  and  reported  that  the  enemy 
had  crossed  the  Gauley  during  the  night 
by  means  of  the  ferry,  and  a  bridge 
which  they  had  completed.  Colonel 
Ewing  was  ordered  to  take  possession  of 
the  camp,  which  he  did  at  about  7 
o'clock,  capturing  a  few  prisoners,  two 
stand  of  colors,  a  considerable  quantity 
of  arms,  with  Quartermaster's  stores, 
mesa  and  camp  equipage.  The  enemy 
had  destroyed  the  bridge  across  the 


562 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


which  here  rushes  through  a 
deep  gorge,  and  our  troops  being  still 
much  fatigued,  and  having  no  material 
for  immediately  replacing  the  bridge,  it 
was  thought  prudent  to  encamp  the 
troops,  occupy  the  ferry  and  the  cap- 
tured camp,  sending  a  few  rifle  shots 
after  the  enemy  to  produce  a  moral 
effect.  Our  loss  will  probably  amount 
to  twenty  killed  and  one  hundred  wound- 
ed. The  enemy's  loss  has  not  been  as- 
certained, but  from  report,  it  must  have 
been  considerable." 

The  special  report  of  General  Ben- 
ham,  who  led  the  advance,  exhibits  more 
particularly  the  military  nature  of  the 
engagement :  "The  head  of  his  brigade," 
he  tells  us,  "started  from  the  camp, 
eight  miles  north  of  Summersville,  at 
about  4  A.  M.  of  the  10th,  reaching  that 
place  before  8  A.  M.  in  good  order,  and 
with  the  men  eager  for  the  continuance 
of  the  march  toward  the  enemy,  who,  we 
there  ascertained,  were  well  intrenched 
and  determined  to  resist  us  near  Carni- 
fex  Ferry.  After  a  halt  of  nearly  two 
hours,  about  one  mile  short  of  the  Cross 
Lanes,  we  moved  rapidly  forward  to- 
ward the  position  of  the  enemy,  until  our 
arrival  at  the  site  of  this  camp,  about 
one  mile  from  their  intrenchments,  a 
little  past  2  o'clock,  when,  after  a  recon- 
noissance  by  you,  myself  accompanying 
you,  I  was  authorized  to  move  forward 
with  my  brigade,  '  using  my  best  dis- 
cretion in  the  case.'  Upon  receiving 
this  order,  and  with  the  mass  of  my 
brigade  well  closed  up,  which  had  been 
accomplished  during  our  reconnoissance, 
I  moved  carefully  forward,  with  the  10th 
Ohio  regiment  leading,  having  our  skir- 
mishers well  ahead,  and  at  the  flanks  for 
nearly  three-fourths  of  a  mile,  when  we 
discovered  through  the  opening  of  the 


woods  on  our  left,  their  intrenchments  in 
an  open  space  on  our  left,  beyond  a  deep 
and  steep  valley,  and  crowning  the  crest 
of  the  opposite  hill.  Having  no  engineer 
officer  with  my  brigade,  and  no  others, 
that  I  knew  of,  to  replace  one,  I  kept 
with  the  head  of  the  regiment  to  avoid 
ambuscades,  and  to  judge  myself  of  their 
position  and  arrangements.  After  ad- 
vancing about  one-fourth  of  a  mile  to  the 
end  of  the  woods  I  halted  the  command, 
and  could  perceive  that  a  heavy  cross 
fire  had  been  prepared  for  us  at  the  open 
space  of  the  debouch  from  the  roads. 
Within  some  five  minutes  after  this  time 
(nearly  half-past  three  o'clock),  while 
carefully  examining  their  earth-works  on 
the  road  in  front,  and  their  intrench- 
ments on  our  left,  a  tremendous  fire  of 
musketry  was  opened  on  us,  which  in  a 
few  minutes  was  followed  by  a  discharge 
of  grape  and  spelter  canister  from  a  bat- 
tery of  some  six  pieces  of  artillery.  This 
caused  a  break  in  the  line  for  a  few 
minutes,  though  for  a  few  minutes  only, 
for  the  men  immediately  returned  to 
their  ranks,  under  the  lead  of  their 
officers,  to  their  former  position,  where  I 
retained  them,  as  I  was  certain  that  the 
fire  at  us  through  the  close  woods  was 
without  direct  aim,  and  because  they  were 
needed  for  the  protection  of  our  artil- 
lery, which  I  immediately  ordered  up  ; 
the  two  rifled  guns  of  Captain  Schneider, 
and  Captain  McMullen  with  his  four 
mountain  howitzers  immediately  follow- 
ed, throwing  their  shells  well  into  their 
intrenchments  on  our  left. 

"A  further  examination  of  their  posi- 
tion convinced  me  that  their  weak  part, 
and  our  true  part  of  attack,  was  on  their 
right  flank,  across  the  deep  valley  from 
our  position,  upon  which  orders  were 
immediately  sent  to  Colonel  Smith  of  the 


BATTLE  AT  CARNIFEX  FERRY. 


563 


13th  regiment,  and  to  Colonel  Lowe  of 
the  12th  regiment,  to  advance  and  pass 
the  valley  on  our  left,  under  cover  of  the 
woods,  to  that  attack.  Neither  of  these 
regiments  were  to  be  found  in  their 
proper  position  on  the  road  in  my  rear, 
as  I  expected.  After  a  short  time  Col- 
onel Smith  was  met  with  on  our  right, 
where  he  had  been  drawn  into  the  woods 
by  the  belief,  from  the  sound  of  the 
firing,  that  the  attack  was  upon  our 
right.  Upon  the  receipt  of  my  order, 
however,  Colonel  Smith  moved  rapidly 
across  the  main  road,  down  the  ravine 
valley  on  our  left,  where  he  fortunately 
struck  upon  the  most  advantageous  route, 
and  thence  he' moved  up  the  opposite 
hill,  entirely  past  the  right  flank  of  the 
enemy.  But  as  I  had  been  unable  to 
find  the  12th  regiment  to  send  forward  to 
his  support,  though  I  have  since  learned 
that  three  companies,  under  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  White,  were  near  him,  his  move- 
ment became  principal!}7 a  reconnoissance, 
from  which  he  soon  after  returned,  re- 
porting to  me  his  opinion  of  the  entire 
practicability  of  a  successful  attack  upon 
the  rebel  intrenchments  at  that  point,  he 
having  entirely  passed  by  the  breast- 
work on  the  right,  approaching  within 
one  hundred  yards  of  their  line,  pouring 
a  fire  into  them,  which,  it  is  since  satis- 
factorily ascertained,  cleared  that  part 
of  the  breastwork  of  the  enemy.  As  I 
was  still  unable  to  find  the  position  of 
the  12th  regiment,  which  it  has  been  re- 
ported to  me  had  been  ordered  into  the 
woods  by  the  commanding  General,  I 
sent  one  of  my  staff  to  Colonel  McCook, 
commanding  the  2d  brigade,  to  ask  him 
to  aid  the  13th  in  this  attack  with  his 
9th  regiment,  to  which  request  a  reply 
was  returned  to  me  that  there  were 
other  orders  from  the  commanding  Gen- 


eral, as  stated  to  my  aid  by  acting  Ad- 
jutant-General, Captain  Hartsuff. 

"In  this  state  of  affairs,  I  could  only 
hold  my  position  in  front,  with  the  10th 
regiment  protecting  the  artillery,  which 
was  endeavoring  to  silence  the  cannon 
of  the  enemy,  which  was  to  a  consider- 
able extent  accomplished  after  the  first 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes — their  guns 
being  at  once  removed  to  other  positions, 
as  was  then  also  done  with  one-half  of 
Schneider's  and  McMullen's  pieces,  to 
enfilade  the  crest  of  the  hill  from  the 
edge  of  the  woods  on  our  right,  which 
gave  a  fair  view  of  their  battery  at  some 
three  hundred  and  eighty  yards  distance. 
At  this  time,  or  about  an  hour  after  the 
commencement  of  the  action,  Colonel 
Lytle  of  the  10th,  though  not  ordered  by 
me,  and  while  I  was  still  endeavoring  to 
obtain  troops  for  the  attack  from  our 
left,  made  a  very  gallant  attempt  to  ap- 
proach their  battery  through  the  cleared 
space  in  front  of  it,  which  of  course  failed 
from  the  smallness  of  his  force  in  that 
exposed  situation — he  being  severely 
wounded,  and  compelled  to  retire  with 
the  loss  of  many  men  killed  and  wound- 
ed. Colonel  Lowe  of  the  12th,  also  at  a 
subsequent  period  made  a  similar  at- 
tempt, and,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  with- 
out orders  ;  in  which  I  regret  to  say,  he 
fell  being  instantly  killed  by  a  discharge 
of  canister  from  the  enemy.  The  above 
comprises  the  sum  of  the  action  of  the 
portion  of  my  brigade  that  was  with 
me,  until  you  arrived  on  the  field  and 
assumed  the  direction  of  affairs,  some 
time  after  which  arrival  you  also  ar- 
ranged for  and  directed  the  attack  upon 
their  right,  with  Colonel  Smith's  regi- 
ment, and  a  part  of  the  12th  and  47th, 
Colonel  Mohr —  this  attack,  as  having 
been  first  directed  by  myself,  you  will 


564 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


recollect  I  offered  to  lead  upon  the 
enemy,  recommending  at  the  same  time 
a  simultaneous  demonstration  or  attack 
by  the  9th  and  12th  regiments,  under 
cover  of  the  woods,  from  our  right.  The 
command  moved  forward,  however,  un- 
der the  direction  of  Colonel  Smith,  but 
from  the  lateness  of  the  hour  it  was  com- 
pelled to  return  without  attempting  any- 
thing, and  the  lateness  of  the  hour  seemed 
to  forbid  farther  operations  for  the  day." 
The  battle  of  Carnifex  Ferry — appro- 
priate name  for  a  place  of  slaughter — 
was  thus  a  reconnoissance  running  into 
an  attack  upon  well  defended  intrench- 
ments  and  heavy  batteries,  the  final  cap- 
ture of  which  by  assault  of  the  weaker 
portion  of  the  works,  was  spared  by  the 
timely  departure  of  their  occupants.  The 
action,  however,  called  forth  the  courage 
of  the  assailants  in  a  manner  which  would 
have  entitled  them  to  a  victory  in  a  more 
regular  encounter.  Many  brave  deeds 
ivere  performed  by  the  Ohio  troops  in 
their  impetuous  assault  upon  the  enemy's 
well-posted  batteries.  Colonel  W.  H. 
Lytle,  leading  his  Irish  companies  of  the 
10th  Ohio,  made  a  gallant  attack  upon 
a  strong  position  against  superior  num- 
bers. The  lines  of  the  enemy  extended 
on  each  side  to  the  river,  enclosing  an 
irregular  space,  divided  by  the  road  to 
Carnifex  Ferry  in  the  rear  of  the  camp. 
The  immediate  approach  by  the  road 
was  guarded  by  their  heaviest  battery, 
and  it  was  within  range  of  this  fire,  at  the 
very  strongest  point  of  their  position, 
that  Colonel  Lytle  found  himself  engaged. 
His  report  to  General  Benham  vividly 
exhibits  the  movement  of  the  regiment, 
with  its  disastrous  results.  "Agreeably 
to  your  orders,"  says  he,  "I  proceeded 
with  my  command  on  yesterday,  Septem- 
ber 10th,  at  3  o'clock,  }rourself  accom- 


panying and  directing  the  advance  with 
me,  to  reconnoitre  the  position  of  the  en- 
emy, supposed  to  be  in  force  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Gauley  River  ;  our  road  led 
up  hill  through  a  densely  timbered  forest, 
and  as  I  advanced  I  threw  out  flanking 
parties  to  the  right  and  left,  and  skir- 
mishers in  advance  of  my  column.  After 
passing  through  the  woods  for  half  a  mile, 
our  skirmishers  were  suddenly  engaged 
in  front,  and  I  pushed  on  to  their  relief 
until  I  reached  a  cleared  space  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  where,  for  the  first 
time,  the  enemy  came  in  view,  posted  in 
force  behind  an  extensive  earthwork, 
with  twelve  guns  in  position  sweeping 
the  road  for  over  a  mile.  A  ravine  sep- 
arated the  hill  by  which  we  approached 
from  the  right  of  the  breastworks  of  the 
enemy,  which  were  composed  of  logs  and 
fence-rails,  and  extended  for  over  a  mile 
to  the  right  and  left  of  their  intrench- 
ments,  affording  secure  protection  to  their 
infantry  and  riflemen.  When  the  head 
of  my  column  reached  a  point  opposite 
the  right  centre  of  their  earthwork,  their 
entire  battery  opened  on  us  with  grape 
and  canister,  with  almost  paralyzing 
effect,  my  men  falling  around  me  in 
great  numbers.  I  ordered  the  colors  to 
the  front  for  the  purpose  of  making  an 
assault  on  their  battery,  perceiving 
which,  the  entire  fire  of  the  enemy  was 
directed  upon  us.  The  men  rallied  gal- 
lantly on  the  hill-side,  under  withering 
volleys  of  grape  and  small-arms,  and  a 
part  of  three  companies,  A.,  E,  and  D, 
actually  moved  up  to  within  pistol-shot 
of  the  intrenchments,  and  for  some  time 
maintained  an  unequal  contest.  Both 
my  color-bearers  were  struck  down  ;  the 
bearer  of  the  State  color — Sergeant  Fitz- 
gibbons — had  the  staff  shot  away  and  his 
hand  shattered,  and  in  a  few  moments 


COLONEL  R.  L.  McCOOK. 


565 


afterward  was  shattered  in  both  thighs 
while  waving  his  color  on  the  broken 
staff.  The  bearer  of  the  National  color — 
Sergeant  O'Connor — was,  at  the  same 
time,  struck  down  by  some  missile,  but 
recovered  himself  in  a  short  time,  and 
kept  waving  his  colors  in  front  of  the 
enemy's  fire  ;  about  this  time  I  received 
a  wound  in  the  leg,  the  ball  passing 
through  and  killing  my  horse.  Perceiv- 
ing the  fearful  odds  against  us,  I  directed 
the  men  to  place  themselves  under  a 
cover  ;  a  portion  rallied  behind  two  log- 
houses  in  front  of  the  battery,  and  kept 
up  a  spirited  fire  for  at  least  an  hour  be- 
fore any  other  regiment  came  into  action, 
and  the  remaining  portion  of  the  right 
wing,  under  command  of  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Korff,  returned  in  good  order  to  its 
position  under  cover  of  a  cornfield  in 
front  of  the  right  of  the  battery ;  a 
steady  fire  was-  maintained  against  the 
enemy  until  night,  after  which  four  com- 
panies, G-,  H,  I,  and  K,  and  a  great  por- 
tion of  companies  D  and  E,  by  order  of 
General  Rosecrans,  remained  on  the 
ground  during  the  night  and  held  their 
position,  throwing  out  their  pickets  under 
command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Korff. 
While  the  right  wing  of  the  regiment 
under  my  command  engaged  the  enemy 
on  their  right  centre,  a  portion  of  the 
left  wing,  consisting  of  companies  C,  J, 
P.  and  K,  under  command  of  Major 
Burke,  pushed  through  the  woods  on  the 
left  of  the  road,  and  assailed  the  pali- 
sades of  the  enemy's  infantry  across  a 
deep  ravine.  This  portion  of  the  com- 
mand held  its  position  in  face  of  a  terri- 
fic fire  until  every  round  of  ammunition 
was  expended,  and  the  companies  reliev- 
ed by  artillery,  when  it  rejoined  the 
right  wing,  already  in  position  in  front 
of  the  battery." 


The  worthy  Colonel  Lowe  of  the  12th 
Ohio,  whom  we  have  seen  engaged  at 
Scarytown,  fell  in  a  similar  attack  to  that 
of  Colonel  Lytle's  regiment.  He  was 
almost  instantly  shot  down  by  a  dis- 
charge of  canister.  Colonel  Robert  L. 
McCook,  with  his  brave,  well-drilled 
Germans  of  the  9th  Ohio,  were  drawn 
up  in  line  of  battle,  and  were  eager  for 
the  fight.  An  eye-witness  thus  describes 
their  enthusiasm  and  that  of  their  gallant 
commander.  "It  was,"  he  says,  "per- 
haps, 6  o'clock  when  Colonel  Lowe  was 
announced  among  the  killed.  The  fir- 
ing continued  with  intensified  violence 
on  our  side,  but  it  appeared  to  slacken 
on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  But  the  din 
was  still  terrific,  showing  that  the  rebels 
intended  to  make  us  pay  for  victory. 
The  sun  was  rapidly  sinking  when  orders 
arrived  to  forward  the  Dutch  brigade. 
It  was  my  grand  satisfaction  to  be  pro- 
sent  and  witness  the  magnificent  recep- 
tion of  the  order.  Colonel  R.  L.  McCook, 
acting  brigadier,  in  his  citizen's  dress, 
stood  in  his  stirrups,  and  snatching  his 
slouched  hat  from  his  head,  roared  out, 
'Forward,  my  bully  Dutch!  We'll  s:o 
over  their  d — d  intrenchments,  if  every 
man  dies  the  other  side.'  The  usually 
phlegmatic  Teutons,  inflamed  with  pas- 
sionate excitement,  exploded  with  terri- 
fic cheers.  Old,  gray-bearded  fellows 
threw  up  their"  hats  with  frenzied  vio- 
lence, and  the  gallant  brigade  shot  for- 
ward at  double  quick,  shaking  the  road 
with  their  ponderous  step.  The  scene 
was  magnificently  exciting.  Not  a  man 
witnessed  it  whose  very  soul  was  not 
inflamed,  and  as  the  gallant  McCook 
dashed  furiously  up  and  down  his  lines, 
shouting  to  his  solid  Dutchmen,  no  man 
doubted  that,  if  they  ever  got  orders  to 
storm  the  battery,  they  would  go  over 


560 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


the  parapet  with  resistless  power.  As 
the  column  deployed  into  the  road,  Cap- 
tain Hartsuff  volunteered  to  lead  the 
column  into  position,  when  three  thou- 
sand Dutchmen  again  yelled  themselves 
hoarse,  and  McCook  spurred  onward  to 

the  front  to  reconnoitre  his  post 

The  brigade  was  not  permitted  to  storm, 
but  the  9th  Ohio,  McCook 's  own  regi- 
ment, and  Colonel  Moore's  28th,  had  op- 
portunity to  show  their  steadiness  under 
a  galling  fire."* 

The  severe  skirmishing  was  kept  up 
for  three  or  four  hours,  and  this  animated 
bravery,  it  should  be  remembered,  was 
exhibited  by  men  who  had  hurried  to 
face  the  enemy  in  an  unknown  position, 
without  rest,  after  a  long  march  since 
daylight  through  the  sultry  noon-tide 
heat.  The  details  will  be  found  in  the 
newspaper  correspondence  of  the  time, 
written  down  with  the  first  glow  of  en- 
thusiasm of  the  eye-witnesses  in  the 
camp.  They  are  too  numerous,  too  much 
resembling  scenes  in  all  struggles  of  the 
kind  to  require  their  repetition  here.  In 
the  history  of  all  wars  but  little,  indeed, 
of  the  true  heroism  can  be  recorded. 
That  must  be  sought  in  the  story  of  the 
individual  lives  freely  offered  in  the  na- 
tional sacrifice.  A  reverent  hand  has 
preserved  one  of  these  simple  narratives 
in  a  memorial  of  the  career  of  Colonel 
Lowe,  whose  death  at  "  the  perilous  edge 
of  battle"  has  just  been  mentioned.  Mr. 
Shea,  in  his  chronicles  of  the  "Fallen 
Brave"  of  the  war,  has  noted  his  early 
trials,  the  spirit  and  perseverance  with 
which  they  were  overcome,  his  devotion 
to  his  country,  and  the  piety  and  affection, 
mingled  with  a  certain  prescience  of  his 
coming  fate,  in  a  last  fond  letter  to  his  wife, 

*  Correspondence  of  the  New  York  Times,  Camp  Scott, 
neai  Carnifex  Ferry,  Sept.  12,  1S61. 


The  report  of  General  Floyd  of  the 
engagement  at  Carnifex  Ferry,  repre- 
sents the  force  in  his  command  at  less 
than  two  thousand.  His  lines,  he  says, 
"  were  necessarily  very  extended,  and 
when  manned,  left  not  one  man  for  re- 
serve. The  assault  was  made  with  spirit 
and  determination.  .  .  .  Upon  the  close 
of  the  contest  for  the  night,  I  discovered 
that  it  was  only  a  question  of  time  when 
we  should  be  compelled  to  yield  to  the  su- 
periority of  numbers.  I  therefore  deter- 
mined at  once  to  recross  the  Gauley  river 
and  take  position  upon  the  left  bank,  which 
I  accomplished  without  the  loss  of  a  gun 
or  any  accident  whatever.  Our  loss, 
strange  to  say,  after  a  continued  firing 
upon  us  by  cannon  and  small-arms  for 
nearly  four  hours,  was  only  twenty  men 
wounded.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  we 
had  no  means  of  accurately  estimating, 
but  we  are  satisfied,  from  reports  of  pris- 
oners and  other  sources  of  information, 
was  very  heavy.  We  repulsed  them  in 
five  distinct  and  successive  assaults,  and 
at  nightfall  had  crippled  them  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  were  in  no  condition 
whatever  to  molest  us  in  our  passage 
across  the  river.  ,.,^Ar,^  I  am  very  con- 
fident that  I  could  have  beaten  the  en- 
emy and  have  marched  directly  to  the 
valley  of  Kanawha,  if  the  reinforcements 
from  General  Wise's  column  had  come 
up  when  ordered,  and  the  regiments  from 
North  Carolina  and  Georgia  could  have 
reached  me  before  the  close  of  the  second 
day's  conflict.  I  cannot  express  the  re- 
gret which  I  feel  at  the  necessity,  over 
which  I  had  no  control,  which  required 
that  I  should  recross  the  river."* 

Immediately  following  the  attack  upon 
Floyd's  camp  at  Carnifex  Ferry,  an  iia- 


*  Brigadier-General  John  B.  Floyd,  Commanding  Army 
Kanawha,  to  the  Hon.  L.  P.  Walker,  Secretary  of  War 
September  12,  1861. 


CHEAT  MOUNTAIN. 


567 


posing  attempt  was  made  on  the  Union 
positions  held  by  General  J.  J.  Rey- 
nolds of  the  first  brigade,  guarding  the 
important  Cheat  Mountain  Pass.  The 
movement  was  made  by  the  Confeder- 
ate General  Robert  E.  Lee,  recently 
detached  from  the  "Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac," and  sent  with  a  considerable 
body  of  troops  across  the  mountains,  who 
now,  with  a  force  of  nine  thousand  men, 
and  eight  to  twelve  pieces  of  artillery, 
on  the  12th  of  September  advanced  from 
Huntersville  with  the  view  of  cutting  off 
the  communications  and  capturing  the 
Union  posts  at  Cheat  Summit  and  Elk 
"Water.  He  had  made  some  dispositions 
toward  this  result,  which  were  held  in 
check  by  General  Reynolds,  when  it  be- 
came necessary  for  the  latter  promptly 
to  assume  the  aggressive.  The  work  on 
the  Summit  was  in  need  of  supplies,  and 
the  enemy,  who  were  investing  the  post, 
must  be  driven  from  its  vicinity.  Two 
strong  relieving  parties  were  accordingly 
set  in  motion  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
13th,  but  before  they  reached  their  des- 
tination the  route  was  opened  by  the 
valor  of  the  besieged  occupants  of  the 
fort.  They  were  but  three  hundred,  but 
they  managed  to  put  to  flight  a  greatly 
superior  force  of  their  assailants  on  the 
mountain.  Meanwhile  Lee  was  threaten- 
ing Elk  Water  below,  but  was  held  at  a 
distance  by  the  excellent  handling  of  a 
rifled  10-pounder  brought  in  advance  to 
the  front  from  Loomis'  battery.  The 
next  day  saw  a  repetition  of  the  opera- 
tions at  both  camps,  with  the  like  result. 
On  the  day  following,  the  fourth  of  these 
attacks,  the  fort  on  the  Summit  again 
gallantly  repulsed  the  enemy.  The  re- 
sult of  the  several  encounters,  as  given 
by  General  Reynolds  in  his  report,  was 
a  loss  on  the  Union  side  of  nine  killed 


and  some  sixty  prisoners  ;  and  a  loss  to 
the  enemy  of  nearly  a  hundred  killed, 
and  about  twenty  prisoners.*  In  (he 
number  of  the  rebels  who  were  slain  was 
a  person  of  some  note,  Colonel  John  A. 
Washington,  the  recent  proprietor  of  the 
estate  of  Mount  Yernon,  which  had  been 
purchased  from  him  for  a  large  sum  by 
an  association  formed  by  the  ladies  of 
the  country  to  secure  its  preservation  as 
the  property  of  the  nation. 

Three  weeks  after  this  resolute  defence 
of  his  post  at  Cheat  Mountain,  General 
Reynolds,  on  the  third  of  October,  de- 
tached a  large  portion  of  his  brigade, 
well  provided  with  artillery,  numbering 
about  five  thousand  men,  to  make  a  re- 
connoissance  of  the  enemy's  fortifications 
twelve  miles  distant,  on  Greenbriar 
river.  On  approaching  the  spot,  the 
pickets  were  driven  in,  and  the  artillery 
brought  to  play  upon  the  works.  There 
was  much  skirmishing,  and  a  heavy  loss 
to  the  enemy  from  the  well-worked  bat- 
teries. The  Union  loss  was  ten  killed 
and  eleven  wounded. 

Looking  in  another  direction  we  find, 
at  the  end  of  October,  General  Kelley, 
having  recovered  from  the  severe  wound 
he  had  received  at  Philippa,  again  in  the 
field  in  a  movement  against  the  rebel 
force  at  Romney  and  its  neighborhood, 
in  Hampshire  county.  Leaving  New 
Creek,  on  the  line  of  the  railway,  at 
midnight,  with  twenty-five  hundred  Ohio 
and  Virginia  troops,  and  three  pieces  of 
artillery,  he  carne  up  with  the  rebels  a 
few  miles  from  Romney  at  3  o'clock  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  26th,  drove  in  their 
outposts,  and  after  a  brilliant  action  of 
two  hours,  completely  routed  them,  tak- 


*  General  J.  J.  Reynolds  to  Geo.  L.  Hartsuff,  Assistant 
Adjutant-General,  Department  of  Ohio.  Elk  Water,  Sept 
IT,  1861. 


568 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


ing  all  their  cannon — three  pieces — much 
of  their  camp  equipage,  and  several  hun- 
dred prisoners.  The  rebel  loss  was  be- 
tween thirty  and  forty  killed  and  wound- 
ed ;  that  of  the  Unionists  but  one  killed 
and  five  wounded.  Colonel  Angus  Mc- 
Donald commanded  the  rebel  cavalry, 
and  Colonel  Monroe  the  militia.  This 
victory  gave  General  Kelley  possession 
of  Romney,  and  the  opportunity  to  ad- 
dress a  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants, 
assuring  them  of  safety  and  protection  in 
their  rights,  civil,  social  and  political, 
under  the  flag  of  the  United  States  ;  while 
all  who  had  borne  arms  were  required 
simply  to  lay  them  down,  return  to  their 
homes,  and  secure  the  same  privilege  on 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance. 

An  indication  of  the  perils  to  which 
the  posts  of  the  army  of  occupation  were 
exposed  in  Western  Virginia  is  afforded 
in  the  painful  story  of  the  surprise  of  a 
party  of  Union  troops  at  the  little  town 
of  Guyandotte,  at  the  junction  of  the 
river  of  that  name  with  the  Ohio.  The 
opinions  of  the  residents  of  the  place, 
which  was  on  the  southern  line  of  the 
Union  army,  were  divided  on  the  national 
question.  There  were  warm  friends  of 
the  Government,  but  the  larger  number, 
it  is  said,  favored  the  secession  cause. 
It  was,  at  the  time  to  which  we  allude, 
held  by  Colonel  R.  V.  Whaley,  of  the 
adjacent  Wayne  county,  as  the  recruit- 
ing station  of  the  9th  Virginia  regiment 
of  Volunteers.  He  had  about  a  hundred 
and  fifty  men  assembled  when,  on  the 
evening  of  Sunday  the  10th  of  Novem- 
ber, the  discipline  of  the  camp  being 
relaxed  —  some  were  at  church  and 
others  scattered  through  the  town — an 
attack  was  suddenly  made  by  a  guerrilla 
party  of  cavalry,  several  hundred  in 
number,  led  by  Colonel  Albert  G.  Jen- 


kins, a  member  of  the  National  House 
of  Representatives  from  the  county  in  the 
recent  Congress.  As  the  recruits  were 
taken  entirely  by  surprise,  they  were 
enabled  to  rally  only  singly  or  in  small 
parties,  fighting  in  the  streets  and  at  the 
bridge  which  crosses  the  Guyandotte 
river.  The  assailants,  well  informed  as 
to  their  position,  seized  their  arms  and 
horses,  and  with  mutual  slaughter,  made 
prisoners  of  nearly  half  their  number. 
The  town  during  the  night  was  occupied 
by  the  rebels. 

Word  of  the  attack  immediately 
reached  Colonel  John  L.  Zeigler,  a  reso- 
lute and  patriotic  citizen  of  Wayne  coun- 
ty, who  was  stationed  a  few  miles  below 
on  the  Ohio,  at  Ceredo,  with  his  5th  Vir- 
ginia regiment.  He  at  once  embarked 
two  hundred  of  his  men  on  the  steamer 
Boston,  with  whom  he  arrived  at  Guy- 
andotte about  8  o'clock  on  Monday 
morning,  just  as  the  rebels  had  left,  car- 
rying off  with  them,  beside  the  prisoners 
of  war,  their  Enfield  rifles  and  horses, 
various  Union  citizens  of  the  town,  store- 
keepers and  others,  whose  property  they 
had  plundered.  The  indignation  of  the 
relieving  party,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, was  excessive.  The  time  and 
manner  of  the  attack,  the  alleged  com- 
plicity of  many  of  the  townspeople  with 
the  surprise,  and  the  ruthless  conduct  of 
the  assailants,  aroused  the  vengeance  of 
the  troops.  Several  arrests  of  leading 
secessionists  were  made,  and  a  portion 
of  the  town,  comprising  some  of  the  most 
valuable  stores  and  dwellings,  was  set  on 
fire  and  consumed.  Numbers  of  the  cit- 
izens of  the  adjoining  Lawrence  county, 
in  Ohio,  crossed  the  same  day  and  rallied 
to  the  support  of  the  Virginians  and  the 
defence  of  their  common  region  from  the 
incursions  of  the  enemy. 


GENERAL  WISE'S  MOVEMENTS. 


5f>«J 


To  return  to  scenes  on  the  Kanawha. 
General  Floyd,  after  his  midnight  deser- 
tion of  his  camp  at  Carnifex  Ferry,  re- 
treated from  one  position  to  another, 
presently  establishing  his  command  at 
Meadow  Bluff,  in  Fayette  county,  whither 
he  called  General  Wise,  who,  with  his 
"  Legion,"  held  Dogwood  Gap,  one  of 
the  neighboring  strongholds  of  the  re- 
gion, to  follow  for  his  defence.  The  ex- 
Governor  appears  to  have  had  little 
respect  for  the  ex-Secretary's  orders  and 
strategic  retreats,  and  a  decided  differ- 
ence of  opinion  arose  between  them.  A 
particular  statement  of  these  operations, 
published  in  the  Richmond  Dispatch, 
was  generally  attributed  to  the  pen  of 
Colonel  Henningsen,  of  Wise's  Legion. 
We  take  up  his  narrative,  which  pre- 
sents an  instructive  account  of  the  com- 
position of  the  "Legion,"  and  the 
mode  of  warfare  carried  on  in  these 
mountain  denies,  at  the  point  where 
Wise  was  called  upon  to  break  up 
his  position  at  Camp  Defiance,  on  the 
eastern  slope  of  the  Big  Sewell  Moun- 
tain, having  previously  obeyed  orders  in 
retiring  contrary  to  his  judgment  from 
Dogwood  Gap.  "On  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember General  Wise  addressed  the 
troops  of  his  Legion,  stating  substan- 
tially that  hitherto  he  had  never  retreat- 
ed but  in  obedience  to  superior  orders. 
That  here  he  was  determined  to  make  a 
stand.  That  his  force  consisted  of  only 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  infantry 
and  artillery,  and  that  the  enemy  was 
alleged  to  be  fifteen  thousand  strong. 
That  this  he  did  not  believe,  but  that  his 
men  must  be  prepared  to  fight  two  or 
three  or  several  to  one,  and  even  if  the 
enemy  were  in  the  full  force  stated,  the 
position  admitted  of  successful  defence, 
and  he  was  determined  to  abide  the  issue. 
72 


He  warned  them  that  they  would  prob- 
ably be  attacked  front  and  rear  for  suc- 
cessive days,  and  he  called  on  any 
officer  or  soldier  who  felt  doubtful  of  the 
result,  or  unwilling  to  stand  by  him  in 
this  trial,  to  step  forward,  promising  that 
they  should  be  marched  to  Meadow 
Bluff.  This  speech,  delivered  successively 
to  the  three  regiments  of  infantry  and  to 
the  artillery,  was  received  with  the 
wildest  enthusiasm.  Not  one  solitary 
individual  in  the  Legion  failed  to  res- 
pond, and  the  spirits  of  the  corps  were 
raised  and  maintained  at  the  highest 
fighting  pitch.  The  provisions  and  bag- 
gage wagons  were  withdrawn  into  safe 
positions,  and  the  camp  on  all  sides 
strengthened.  In  this  attitude  the  Le- 
gion remained  till  about  the  20th,  when 
it  was  strengthened  by  the  arrival  of 
Captain  Romer's  artillery  company,  with 
one  gun,  and  by  that  of  one  Virginia, 
one  North  Carolina,  and  three  Georgia 
companies,  which  swelled  the  forces  of 
Wise's  Legion  to  over  two  thousand  men 
About  this  time  General  Lee  arrived  in 
General  Floyd's  camp,  at  Meadow  Bluff, 
and  wrote  to  General  Wise,  advising  him 
to  fall  back,  if  executable,  without  delay. 
Before  acting  on  this  advice  General 
Wise  requested  General  Lee  to  inspect 
the  position  in  person.  On  the  22d 
General  Lee  arrived  at  Camp  Defiance, 
and,  after  a  careful  survey  of  the  ground, 
ordered  General  Wise  to  maintain  his 
position  until  further  orders.  The  enemy 
had  meanwhile  advanced  to  within  three 
or  four  miles,  and  several  skirmishes  had 
taken  place  between  his  outposts  and  the 
remaining  cavalry  of  the  Legion,  under 
Major  Bacon,  formerly  captain  of  mount- 
ed rangers  in  Nicaragua,  and  afterward 
aid  to  General  Garnett,  and  wounded  by 
the  side  of  that  General  when  he  fell. 


570 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


The  rest  of  the  cavalry  was  still  under 
its  gallant  colonel,  J.  L.  Davis,  and 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Clarkson,  south  of 
the  New  River,  where  they  had  pushed 
a  daring  and  successful  foray  up  to  with- 
in twelve  miles  of  Charleston.  One  night 
General  Wise,  with  a  few  picked  com- 
panions, including  the  Richmond  Blues 
and  Mississippi  Rangers,  of  the  2d  regi- 
ment, under  Captain  Imboden,  attempted 
to  feel  and  ambuscade  the  enemy  and 
drive  in  their  outposts,  killing  three  of 
them,  the  General  himself  lying  down  for 
several  hours  in  a  pitiless  shower.  Not- 
withstanding, all  that  could  be  ascertain- 
ed of  the  enemy  was  that  he  was  on  the 
turnpike,  probably  from  five  thousand  to 
six  thousand  strong. 

"  On  the  afternoon  of  the  23d,  while 
the  infantry  and  artillery  of  the  Legion 
were  rehearsing  their  part  on  the  con- 
templated points  of  attack,  the  enemy 
suddenly  appeared,  driving  in  our  pick- 
ets. The  next  morning  the  summit  of 
the  Big  Sewell  was  whitened  with  his 
tents,  and  skirmishing  commenced  and 
continued  till  the  evening.  On  our  side 
two  gun  detachments  of  the  artillery  and 
three  companies  of  the  2d  regiment  of 
the  Legion,  of  which  Colonel  Henningsen 
is  colonel,  but  in  consequence  of  his  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  infantry  and  artillery, 
under  the  immediate  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Frank  Anderson  —  who 
distinguished  himself  by  the  daring  ex- 
ploit of  capturing  Castillo,  in  Nicaragua, 
with  forty-eight  men,  after  Lockridge 
and  Titus  had  failed  with  eight  hundred 
— Captain  Imboden's,  Captain  Lewis's 
and  Captain  Crane's  University  company 
were  the  companies  engaged,  with  one 
six-pounder  and  one  howitzer,  under 
Major  Gibbs  of  South  Carolina,  Captain 
McComas  and  Lieutenant  Pairo  of  Rich- 


mond. The  casualties  were  but  trifling 
on  our  side,  though  we  have  to  regret 
the  death  of  Lieutenant  Howell  of  Mis- 
sissippi (of  Captain  McDonald's  com- 
pany), and  that  of  one  of  Captain  Imbo- 
den's gallant  rangers.  Captain  Lewis 
was  shot  through  the  breast,  but  is  doing 
well.  Three  privates  were  wounded  in 
the  above-named  companies,  one  very 
severely.  The  only  loss  in  the  artillery 
was  Lieutenant  Pairo's  horse,  shot  un- 
der him.  The  enemy  was  obviously  only 
feeling  for  the  flanks  of  our  position,  and 
evidently  could  make  nothing  of  it,  and 
'no  wonder,'  as  Professor Snead  remark- 
ed, '  since  it  has  no  flanks  at  all.'  The 
guns  were  only  advanced  to  avenge 
casualties  which  befell  our  men,  firing  a 
few  rounds  and  then  retiring.  For  in- 
stance, when  a  ranger  fell,  a  six-pound- 
er suddenly  advanced  along  a  ridge 
where  a  gun  could  never  have  been  ex- 
pected, and  drove  the  enemy  from  a 
stable,  laying  out  four  of  them.  In  sight, 
on  another  occasion,  seven  were  dropped 
before  the  howitzer.  A  company  of  the 
enemy's  reconnoitering,  and  commanded 
by  a  mounted  officer,  came  on  a  picket 
of  the  University  company.  The  sentry 
shot  the  mounted  officer  down,  received 
the  volley  of  the  company  and  retired 
unhurt.  Major  Lawson  of  the  2d  regi- 
ment, having  seized  a  rifle  to  surprise 
one  of  the  enemy's  scouts,  was  himself 
surprised  by  another,  who  sent  a  shot 
through  his  coat.  The  major,  however, 
avenged  himself  on  this  interloper  by 
shooting  him  dead." 

At  the  end  of  September,  Wise  was 
recalled  to  Richmond  by  the  Secretary 
of  War,  and  left  his  favorite  Camp  De- 
fiance in  command  of  General  Lee.  Rose- 
crans  meanwhile  had  followed  Floyd, 
and  was  encamped  close  in  his  neighbor- 


RIVAL   CAMPS   ON  THE  KANAWHA. 


571 


hood,  controlling  his  further  movements 
westward.  The  monih  of  October  was 
spent  in  these  various  manoauvres  con- 
fined to  the  region,  so  well  calculated  for 
defence,  at  the  head  of  the  Kanawha 
Valley,  bounded  by  the  New  Gauley 
arid  Kanawha  rivers,  and  protected  by 
various  passes.  Both  sides  had  been  re- 
inforced, and  it  was  evident  that  a  con- 
test must  soon  ensue  for  the  supremacy. 
By  the  end  of  the  month  Floyd  had  con- 
centrated his  force  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  New  River,  within  a  few  miles  of  its 
junction  with  the  Gauley.  He  had  with 
him  five  to  six  thousand,  and  ten  or 
eleven  pieces  of  artillery.  The  command 
of  Rosecrans  was  encamped  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  river,  his  right  resting  on 
the  Kanawha.  It  numbered  about  ten 
thousand  in  the  several  brigades  of  Gen- 
eral Cox,  the  first  occupant  of  the  dis- 
trict, General  Benham,  whose  career  we 
have  pursued  through  the  previous  Vir- 
ginia campaigns,  and  General  Schenck, 
who  had  been  transferred  from  the 
Potomac  to  the  Western  Department. 

On  the  1st  of  November  Floyd  open- 
ed fire  on  the  Union  camp  from  a  battery 
across  the  river,  and  made  some  other 
hostile  demonstrations,  with  but  little 
effect,  however,  as  it  at  once  became 
evident  that  he  could  make  no  impres- 
sion upon  the  force  arrayed  against  him. 
His  position,  nevertheless,  at  the  point 
facing  the  junction  of  the  rivers,  where 
the  main  Union  camp  was  situated,  and 
commanding  the  road  by  which  the  pro- 
vision teams  from  the  North  must  arrive, 
where  he  had  established  a  battery,  was 
sufficiently  annoying.  There  was  a  double 
motive,  therefore,  in  dislodging  him,  and 
if  possible,  effecting  his  capture.  To 
this  the  efforts  of  General  Rosecrans 
were  now  directed,  with  what  result  is 


thus  narrated  by  an  army  correspondent 
at  the  camp  :  "  Again  Floyd,"  says  tbe- 
writer,  dating  his  letter  on  the  16th. 
"  with  his  rebel  host,  has  proved  th' 
coward.  Fearing  to  encounter  the  little 
army  that  General  Rosecrans  was  silent- 
ly sending  against  him,  he  did  not  even 
make  a  stand  at  his  intrenchments,  but, 
seized  with  a  panic,  has  shamefully  run 
to  the  southern  counties.  Ten  days  ago 
he  pushed  his  command  forward  to  New 
River  and  the  Kanawha,  and  establish- 
ing batteries  upon  the  hills  that  over- 
looked our  positions,  commenced  a  sys- 
tem of  attack  upon  us  that  blockaded 
our  only  road  to  Gauley,  and  cut  us  off 
from  our  provision  depot.  It  became 
necessary  to  dislodge  him.  The  Gen- 
eral, anxious  that  he  should  come  as  far 
into  the  hills  as  possible,  made  but  little 
reply  to  his  fire,  except  to  drive  in  his 
skirmishers  :  but  at  last  all  was  pre- 
pared, and  word  was  sent  to  the  different 
brigades  to  be  ready  to  move  at  a  mo- 
ment's warning.  It  was  extremely  de- 
sirable to  turn  Floyd's  position  and  get 
into  his  rear  if  possible,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose Major  Crawford,  of  the  United 
States  Army,  a  member  of  General  Rose- 
crans staff,  was  directed  to  make  an  ex- 
amination of  the  slope  of  the  mountain 
towards  a  deserted  ferry,  known  as 
Townsend's  Ferry,  and  from  which,  after 
crossing  the  river,  and  ascending  the  op- 
posite mountain,  a  road  led  directly  to 
the  town  of  Fayette,  in  the  rear  of 
Floyd's  position.  After  incredible  labor 
a  road  was  made  down  the  mountain,  the 
distance  of  one  mile,  and  over  rocks  and 
down  ravines  Major  Crawford,  with  his 
force  of  pioneers,  passed  several  boats 
and  two  large  floats,  capable  of  contain- 
ing ninety  to  one  hundred  men.  The 
enemy  were  not  watching  the  ferry  on 


572 


WAR   FOR  THE  UNION. 


the  opposite  side,  and  by  Monday  night 
(Nov.  llth)  all  was  ready.  Schenck's 
brigade  was  to  have  crossed  at  this  ferry. 
The  boats  were  in  the  river,  and  the 
movement  about  to  be  made,  when  the 
river  suddenly  rose,  and  in  a  short  time 
became  a  dashing  torrent.  To  attempt 
to  cross  would  have  hazarded  the  lives 
of  the  men.  But  one  thing  was  to  be 
done — as  we  could  not  strike  them  in  the 
rear  we  could  reach  their  flank,  and  the 
order  was  given  to  the  brigade  (Ben- 
ham's)  to  cross  below  the  entrance  of 
New  River  into  the  Kanawha.  Mean- 
time the  1st  Kentuckjr  regiment  had  been 
ordered  across,  under  Major  Leeper,  to 
attack  them  on  the  hill  opposite  to 
Gauley.  This  was  done,  and  the  hill 
was  taken,  with  a  loss  of  four  men  killed, 
five  wounded,  and  six  missing.  Twenty 
of  the  enemy  were  killed  and  wounded. 
Five  miles  down  the  river  General  Ben- 
ham  had  crossed  with  his  entire  brigade, 
and  vas  coming  up  rapidly.  The  enemy 
fell  back  toward  a  line  of  intrenchments 
they  had  constructed  at  Dicker-son's 
farm,  on  the  road  from  Gauley  to  Fay- 
ette.  Fearing  that  they  would  retreat, 
General  Rosecrans  sent  orders  to  Gen- 
eral Benham  to  push  forward  at  once  a 
large  force  to  Cassidy's  Mills,  the  key 
point  of  the  position.  A  road  led  from 
these  mills  directly  to  the  road  running 
from  Fayette  to  Raleigh,  over  which  the 
enemy  must  pass  should  he  determine  to 
retire.  It  was  the  intention  of  General 
Rosecrans  that  this  force  should  have  been 
thrown  upon  the  flank  of  the  retreating 
army,  while  Schenck's  and  Benham's 
brigades  pushed  them  in  the  rear.  By 
some  strange  mismanagement  upon  the 
part  of  General  Benham,  the  force  at 
the  mills  was  ordered  by  him  to  rejoin 
ins  command  by  another  road.  The  en- 


emy, knowing  that  we  would  outflank  him 
by  the  very  road  from  Cassidy's  Mills, 
made  no  stand  at  his  intrenchments,  and 
hastily  retreated.  The  road  was  strewn 
with  tents,  tent-poles,  cooking  utensils, 
and  ammunition,  as  he  lightened  his  wag- 
ons in  his  flight.  Benham  now  pressed 
his  rear  through  Fayette  and  along  the 
Raleigh  road,  and  came  up  with  his  rear- 
guard, about  two  miles  from  the  town. 
He  attacked  this  force,  consisting  of  four 
hundred  cavahy  and  several  regiments 
of  infantry,  killing  Colonel  Croghan, 
who  commanded  the  cavalry,  and  several 
others.  He  brought  up  his  artillery  and 
opened  fire  upon  them  with  effect. 
Again  they  retreated,  closely  pursued 
until  nightfall,  when,  from  the  exhaus- 
tion of  our  men,  who  were  without  food 
or  blankets,  a  halt  was  ordered,  and 
shortly  afterwards  ah  order  from  the 
commanding  general  arrived  directing 
a  return  of  our  forces."* 

The  final  movement  of  General  Ben- 
ham  in  pursuit  of  Floyd  is  thus  described 
in  his  report  to  General  Rosecrans,  dated 
Fayetteville,  November  16th.  "Upon 
the  night  of  the  llth  instant,"  says  he, 
"while  at  a  kind  of  bivouac  at  Loup 
Creek  mouth,  where  I  had  been  with 
part  of  my  command,  by  the  directions 
of  General  Rosecrans,  since  the  5th  and 
6th  instant,  I  received  your  orders  to 
proceed  as  early  as  practicable  with  the 
force  then  at  that  point,  about  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  men,  of  the  10th,  12th, 
and  13th  Ohio  regiments,  to  occupy  Cot- 
ton Hill,  there  having  been  previously 
stationed  by  his  orders,  under  my  direc- 
tions, the  37th  Ohio  regiment  of  seven 
hundred  men  at  Loup  Creek  Forks, 
about  four  miles  up,  and  in  detachments 
up  to  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 

*  Correspondence  of  the  New  York  Herald,  Nov.  29.  1861 


BENHAM'S  PURSUIT  OF  FLOYD. 


573 


Creek  ;  also,  about  three  hundred  and 
twenty  of  the  44th  Ohio  regiment,  and 
four  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  7th  Ohio 
about  one  mile  upon  the  left  fork. 
AJbout  the  time  of  inarching  from  Loup 
Creek,  however,  I  had  directed,  as  he 
had  ordered  me,  about  one  thousand 
men  from  these  last  three  regiments  to 

c_> 

occupy  Cassidy's  Mills,  about  six  miles 
up  from  the  left  fork  toward  this  place, 
and  the  remainder,  being  part  of  the  37th 
regiment,  to  endeavor  to  reach  me  at  Cot- 
ton Hill  by  a  march  to  the  left  of  Cassi- 
dy's Mills  by  Nugent's.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  12th,  in  accordance  with  the 
directions  given,  with  the  first  named 
force,  and  four  mounted  howitzers,  and 
two  rifled  6-pounders,  we  moved  up  the 
left  bank  of  the  Kanawha,  four  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  Loup  Creek  to  Gauley 
Falls ;  thence  to  the  right,  some  five 
miles  over  Cotton  Hill  to  Herschberger's 
by  3  P.  M.,  where  at  Laurel  Creek  we  met 
the  advance  pickets  of  the  enemy  in 
force,  as  it  was  ascertained  afterwards, 
in  a  most  strong  position,  prepared  with 
abattis  ;  and  after  skirmishing  with  them 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  13th  regi- 
ment until  dark,  we  went  into  bivouac  in 
the  open  air,  on  the  escarped  mountain 
road,  with  but  few  fires  and  but  little 
water  ;  myself  and  staff  lying  on  the  bare 
rocks,  with  our  horses  held  below  us. 
Our  loss  in  the  skirmish  was  one  man 
killed  and  four  wounded  ;  that  of  the  en- 
emy two,  at  least,  killed  and  about  seven 
wounded.  The  enemy  were  completely 
driven  from  the  ground  they  occupied, 
but  not  much  farther,  as  a  large  rein- 
forcement was  seen  coming  to  them  (I 
have  since  learned  four  regiments  and  one 
piece  of  artillery  were  sent).  And  with 
only  about  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
forty  men,  for  Colonel  Sieber's  detach- 


ment had  not  fully  joined,  I  did  not  think 
it  would  be  safe  to  draw  on  a  battle  with 
the  whole  rebel  force,  reported  by  your- 
self to  me  to  be  from  four  to  six  thousand 
men,  and  as  I  heard  afterward  with  nine 
to  eleven  guns,  although,  as  I  reported 
to  you  that  night,  I  felt  I  would  hold  my 
position  in  the  mountain  secure  against 
their  force. 

"  During  the  night,  at  about  2  A.M.  of 
the  13th,  it  was  reported  to  me  by  a 
scout  I  had  sent  out  t^  watch  the  rebel 
camp,  that  the  wheels  of  heavy  wagons, 
or  artillery,  were  heard  rumbling  in  the 
direction  of  their  camp,  but  as  this  be- 
came no  fainter,  it  was  uncertain  whether 
they  were  retreating  or  receiving  rein- 
forcements. I  immediately  sent  direc- 
tions to  Colonel  Smith,  of  the  13th  regi- 
ment, to  send  out  two  other  scouts  to  as- 
certain if  the  movement  was  a  retreat, 
but  most  unfortunately,  as  Colonel  Smith 
informed  me  in  the  morning,  he  did  not 
understand  it  as  a  command,  but  merely 
as  a  suggestion,  and  they  were  not  sent 
out.  On  learning  this  at  early  light,  I 
immediately  sent  forward  a  scout  of  ten 
men,  supported  by  two  companies  of  the 
13th  regiment ;  but  the  report  from  these 
men  of  the  retreat  of  the  rebels  did  not 
come  till  after  4  p.  M.,  on  which  I  imme- 
diately gave  the  orders  for  marching  to 
overtake  them.  For  this  I  felt  the  more 
prepared  as  I  had  ordered,  and  expected 
down  to  join  me,  the  force  that  was  at 
Cassidy's  Mills,  having  authorized  the 
aid  who  was  sent  there  to  order  them 
direct  to  Fayette  road,  if  the  enemy  were' 
proven  to  be  retreating  and  it  would  be 
surely  #afe  to  do  so.  But  this  last  order 
was  also  misunderstood,  and  although  a 
portion  of  this  command  of  mine  had  oc- 
cupied Fayette  from  11  A.  M.,  without 
finding  they  had  the  means  to  communi- 


574 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


cate  with  me,  they  were  recalled,  and 
unfortunately  made  the  circuit  around  to 
this  place  again.  At  length,  by  5  P.  M., 
we  moved  forward  from  the  '  Union 
School-House '  to  the  Dickerson  farm, 
which  we  reached  before  seven,  finding 
there  the  evidences  of  a  most  hasty  re- 
treat, in  the  remains  of  large  quantities 
of  tents  and  camp  equipage  destroyed 
by  fire.  At  a  short  distance  beyond  this 
farm  the  command  was  closed  up,  halted, 
and  rested  for  about  four  hours,  and  the 
detachments  of  the  44th  and  7th  joined 
me,  making  my  moving  strength  about 
two  thousand  seven  hundred  men.  With 
this  force,  at  11  p.  M.,  I  moved  forward, 
arriving  about  4  A.  M.  of  the  14th  at 
Hawkins'  Farm,  about  five  miles  beyond 
Fayetteville,  being  delayed  much  by 
scouting  the  roads  in  advance.  On  the 
route  further  evidences  of  the  hasty  re- 
treat were  shown  in  the  tents,  wagons, 
and  large  quantities  of  ammunition  left 
behind.  At  7  o'clock  we  again  moved 
forward  with  the  belief,  which  proved  to 
be  the  fact,  that  part  at  least  of  their 
train  was  encamped  five  miles  from 
Hawkins.  The  advance  was  led  by  Col- 
onel Smith  of  the  13th,  to  whose  pru- 
dence and  caution  during  that  day  we 
owe  it,  that  not  a  single  man  of  ours 
was  killed  or  wounded,  and  scouting 
most  cautiously,  though  of  course  slowly 
forward,  we  met  the  advance  posts  of 
the  enemy,  after  four  miles'  march,  at 
9  A.M.,  where  a  sharp  contest  with  our 
advance  continued  for  nearly  half  an 
hour,  where,  besides  several  other  losses, 
the  rebels  had  mortally  wounded  the 
colonel  of  Floyd's  cavalry  —  Colonel  St. 
George  Croghan  (son  of  the  late  Inspec- 
tor-General Croghan). 

"These  outposts  being  driven  in,  we 
advanced  carefully  about  one  mile  fur- 


ther, where  the  enemy  were  found  posted 
in  considerable  force  behind  a  ridge  cov- 
ering McCoy's  Mills,  A  regiment  of 
cavalry  and  different  regiments  of  infan- 
try are  reported  as  distinctly  seen. 
After  an  interchange  of  fire  between 
these  and  our  advance  for  twenty  min- 
utes, Captain  Schneider's  rifle  artillery 
was  brought  up  with  good  effect,  the  offi- 
cers reporting  that  they  saw  many  fall  at 
their  fire.  As,  however,  I  soon  discov- 
ered a  ridge  that  made  out  from  our  rear 
to  our  right,  that  commanded  at  close 
musket  range  the  left  of  the  enennT,  I 
sent  my  aid  to  direct  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Creighton,  with  the  7th  and  half  of  the 
37th,  under  Major  Ankele,  to  pass  down 
this  ridge  to  attack  their  left.  This 
movement,  I  regret,  was  delayed  frilly 
half  an  hour  by  the  resistance  of  Colonel 
Sieber  to  this  order,  he  at  first  neglect- 
ing or  refusing  to  send  the  number  of 
men  required;  and  demanding  the  right 
to  command  it,  as  reported  by  my  aid. 
When  at  length  this  attack  was  made,  it 
was  entirely  successful  ;  and  with  the 
first  concentrated  volleys  of  this  com- 
mand of  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  uniting  with  the  fire  of  the  13th 
regiment,  the  whole  of  the  enemy  retreat- 
ed in  confusion  with  the  last  of  their 
wagon  train.  Their  position  was  soon, 
though  cautiously  taken  possession  of, 
when  it  was  found  thickly  strewn  with 
blankets,  clothing,  camp  equipage,  etc., 
as  evidences  of  a  precipitate  flight.  A 
short  time  for  rest  was  now  given,  and 
we  then  moved  forward,  with  the  usual 
scouting  parties  in  advance,  through  an 
escarped  road  upon  a  steep  mountain 
side,  to  a  defile  continuing  for  about  four 
miles  between  two  mountains  up  the  Big 
Loup  Creek.  We  found,  about  midway 
of  the  defile,  a  bridge  of  some  size  broken 


GENERAL  BEXHAM'S  REPORT. 


575 


down,  which  delayed  us  nearly  an  hour 
to  repair  ;  yet  still,  as  the  guides  inform- 
ed us  that  there  was  a  long  and  difficult 
hill  for  the  passage  of  wagons  about  two 
miles  in  advance  of  the  bridge,  I  decided 
to  push  forward  in  the  hopes  of  overtak- 
ing it,  although  the  men  had  been  march- 
ing nearly  all  the  night  previous,  as  well 
as  during  the  most  of  that  day,  in,  for  a 
greater  part  of  the  time,  a  drenching 
storm,,  and  over  roads  in  many  places,  to 
a  great  extent,  in  tenacious  mud,  and 
many  of  them,  by  the  failure  of  expected 
trains,  with  less  than  half  their  rations. 
On  reaching  at  4  p.  M.  the  outlet  of  this 
defile  at  Keton's  Farm,  about  fifteen 
miles  from  Fayetteville  and  twenty-one 
miles  from  our  previous  bivouac  near 
Cotton  Hill,  we  found  the  expected  steep 
hill  some  two  miles  distant,  and  their 
wagons  over  it  or  not  in  sight.  And 
therefore  I  concluded  to  bivouac  the  men 
there  with  such  food  as  we  best  could 
obtain,  and  report  the  case,  as  I  did  so, 
to  General  Schenck  at  Fayetteville,  who 
had  assumed  the  direction  by  order  of 
yourself,  suggesting  to  him  to  join  me 
with  his  force  (about  one-half  of  mine), 
that  we  might  attack  or  drive  the  enemy 
in  Raleigh  the  next  day.  The  first  des- 
patch of  General  Schenck  informed  me 
that  he  had  sent  the  26th  regiment  and 
some  mounted  men  to  reinforce  me  ;  a 
second,  received  at  10  P.M.,  informed  me 
that  the  26th  regiment  was  ordered  to 
return,  while  it  directed  me  also  to  return 
as  soon  as  practicable  to  this  place. 

"As  the  men  were  still,  for  more  than 
nine-tenths  of  them,  without  any  shelter, 
in  a  most  drenching  rain  or  succession  of 
violent  thunder-showers,  many  without 
their  blankets  even,  which  had  been 
thrown  off  in  the  ardor  of  the  chase,  and 
as  they  were  still  standing  round  their 


fires,  unable  to  sleep  in  the  rain  upon 
the  open  ground,  the  greater  part  of  the 
command,  though  most  unwilling  to  give 
up  the  pursuit,  felt  that,  if  it  was  so  or- 
dered, it  must  be  best  for  themselves,  after 
their  few  hours'  halt  (it  could  not  be 
called  rest),  to  retrace  their  steps  that 
very  night,  rather  than  remain  standing 
in  the  cold  and  wet  till  morning,  with 
only  the  prospect  before  them  of  their 
return.  We  accordingly  commenced  our 
retreat  soon  after  1  o'clock,  and,  reach- 
ing McCoy's  about  4,  we  rested  till  after 
6  A.M.  of  the  15th,  or  to-day,  when  we 
moved  onward,  and,  with  a  single  rest 
about  midway,  the  command  reached 
this  place  soon  after  noon,  being  still  in 
excellent  spirits — their  main  disappoint- 
ment being  in  not  having  been  permitted 
to  continue  the  pursuit  of  the  rebels.  We 
are  at  this  hour  partly  in  houses,  but  a 
great  number  are  out  in  the  open  air  in 
the  village,  where  it  is  now  snowing  upon 
them  in  their  rest,  which,  added  to  their 
really  great  exposure,  will,  I  fear,  half 
annihilate  their  effective  strength. 

"The  main  facts  and  circumstances  of 
the  expedition  are,  therefore,  that  after 
remaining  about  one  week  upon  Loup 
Creek,  awaiting  the  cooperation  of  an- 
other force,  and  with  my  command  of 
about  three  thousand  men  divided  in  four 
portions,  as  ordered  by  General  Rose- 
crans,  I  at  length  moved  with  one-half 
the  force  to  meet  the  enemy  in  front  to 
the  furthest  point  of  Cotton  Hill.  There, 
in  the  night  after  our  first  engagement 
with  his  outposts,  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
13th,  the  enemy  made  a  most  precipitous 
retreat,  leaving  portions  of  his  baggage, 
wagon-loads  of  ammunition,  tents,  cloth- 
ing, etc.,  on  the  route,  besides  the  evi- 
dences of  the  destruction  of  a  much 
greater  portion  ;  that  from  the  unknown 


576 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


and  difficult  nature  of  the  country,  some 
twenty  hours  had  elapsed  before  his  re- 
treat was  assured,  and  without  which  we 
did  not  feel  it  safe  to  pursue  him  to  his 
works  at  Dickerson's  farm  (since  found 
to  be  of  the  strongest  character  for  field- 
works)  with  my  force  then  less  than  two 
thousand,  and  not  one-half  of  the  least  of 
his  supposed  numbers.  He  was  then 
most  vigorously  followed  up  by  my  com- 
mand through  rain,  and  storm,  and  mud, 
till  overtaken  at  about  eighteen  miles 
from  the  camp  he  left,  and  the  heavy 
force  of  his  rear-guard  was  there  routed, 
and  further  camp  equipage  taken  after 
another  action,  by  which  the  train  was 
still  kept  in  advance  of  us  ;  and  the  pur- 
suit was  still  continued  until,  from  the 
difficult  nature  of  the  defile  beyond,  the 
breaking  of  bridges,  etc.,  our  exhausted 
forces  needed  to  rest  for  the  night,  when 
we  were  recalled  by  the  orders  of  Gen- 
eral Schenck  ;  and  this  was  accomplished 
with  the  loss  of  one  man  killed  and  four 
wounded  on  our  part  in  the  fight  at  Lau- 
rel Creek,  and  none  at  the  affair  at  Mc- 
Coy's Mills,  while  it  is  certain  that  the 
loss  of  the  enemy  was  three  times  that 
amount,  including  that  of  their  chief  col- 
onel of  cavalry  killed.  Floyd  was  pur- 
sued for  thirty  miles  from  his  batteries 
of  Gauley  Bridge,  and  driven,  as  was  as- 
certained, to  Raleigh,  and  on  some  eight 
miles  further  than  our  last  bivouac.  I 
can  only  add  in  conclusion  that,  had  I 
not  been  ordered  to  return,  and  had  the 
forces  which  were  sent  over  the  river 
been  moved  up  to  Keton's  to  support  me, 
as  I  asked  by  a  courier  that  evening 
that  they  should  be,  we  could  have 
moved  forward  to  Raleigh  to-day  as  I 
intended,  and,  as  I  am  well  satisfied, 
captured  that  place  and  depot,  with 
their  entire  train,  and  certainly  routed, 


if  not  captured,   the   whole  of  Floyd's 
force." 

A  word  is  due  to  the  memory  of  Col- 
onel St.  George  Croghan,  who,  like  Gar- 
nett,  was  mortally  wounded  while  de- 
fending the  rear  guard  of  his  retreating 
associates.  He  was  the  son  of  the 
gallant  Colonel  Croghan  renowned  in 
Western  annals,  for  his  heroic  defence 
of  Fort  Sandusky  against  a  combined 
attack  of  British  and  Indians.  His  last 
thoughts  in  death  were  that  he  had  fallen 
with  honor,  "I  saw  him,"  wrote  General 
Benham  in  the  courteous  letter  which  he 
addressed  to  General  Floyd,  acquainting 
him  of  his  fate,  "in  passing,  a  fow 
minutes  after  he  was  wounded,  and  he 
recognized  me,  conversing  freely  but 
with  pain,  and  shaking  my  hand  on 
leaving  him,  he  requested  to  state  that 
'  he  died  the  death  of-a  brave  soldier,'  as 
he  did,  in  every  way  worthy  of  his  gal- 
lant and  noble  father.  I  left  him  in 
charge  of  my  brigade  and  one  other  sur- 
geon, with  hospital  attendants  and  a 
guard,  and  on  my  return  this  morning 
from  my  camp  ground,  the  hospital  stew- 
ard handed  me  a  small  blank  memoran- 
dum book,  in  which  was  a  history  made 
by  his  request,  of  which  I  enclose  you  a 
copy.  He  left  his  address,  etc.,  with  the 
chaplain  of  the  10th  (Colonel  Ly tie's) 
Ohio  regiment,  Rev.  H.  E.  0.  Higgins, 
and  told  me  that  his  family  were  residing 
in  Newburgh,  New  York.  I  will  en- 
deavor to  communicate  with  them  as 
early  as  possible,  and  send  each  little 
memorial  from  him  as  I  shall  be  able  tc 
collect  them,  for  I  yet  cannot  ascertain 
where  most  of  his  property  has  gone,  as 
the  people  of  the  louse  where  he  died 
would  not  attend  to  it.  I  have  sent  his 
remains  toward  F  tyetteville,  where  they 
will  be  interred  if  we  are  not  able  to 


'  ••./,%////. 


GENERAL  ROSE  GRANS'  PROCLAMATION. 


577 


take  them  to  Gauley  ;  though  I  will,  if 
possible,  place  the  body  there  in  a  box 
•  with  salt,  to  preserve  it  for  his  friends. 
It  will  be  subject  to  the  order  from  Gen- 
eral U.S. Rosecrans.  And  now, having  for 
the  third  time  the  opportunity  of  extend- 
ing courtesies  somewhat  of  this  character 
to  your  officers — as  first,  in  returning  the 
baggage,  uniform,  etc.,  of  Colonel  Porter- 
field,  at  Philippa,  and  afterward  of  pre- 
serving the  sword,  effects,  and  body  of 
General  Garnett  at  Carrick's  Ford — I 
trust  your  officers  will  appreciate  the 
desire,  thus  exhibited,  of  mitigating  in 
every  way  the  horrors  of  this  fratricidal 
strife,  as  I  think  you  yourself  will  do  me 
the  justice  to  believe  that  I  most  earn- 
estly wish  it" 

In  December  General  Floyd,  putting 
the  best  face  on  the  matter,  took  leave  of 
his  army  of  Kanawha  in  a  vigorous  pro- 
clamation. He  recalled  the  five  months' 
contest  with  the  enemy,  and  his  suc- 
cessful endeavor  to  obstruct  his  march 
into  the  interior  of  the  State,  in  which 
"hard  contested  battles  and  skirmishes 
were  matters  of  almost  daily  occur- 
rence.'7 He  complimented  his  men  on 
their  cheerful,  uncomplaining  endurance 
of  hardships  and  privations  for  which 
the  government  had  reason  to  be  grate- 
ful, and  closed  by  inviting  them  to  a 
new  field  of  service  in  Kentucky.  So 
ended  the  operations  of  the  season.  As 
an  aggressive  movement  the  advance 
of  Floyd  had  failed  of  success,  while  he 
had  reason  to  congratulate  himself  on  his 
escape  from  capture.  The  Union  army 
was  left  in  full  possession  of  Western 
Virginia. 

General  Rosecrans    also   closed    the 

campaign  with  an  address  to  his  troops, 

in  which,  while  he  complimented  them 

on  the  successes  they  had  achieved,  he 

73 


urged  the  necessity  of  a  serious,  earnest 
prosecution  of  the  work  before  them, 
concealing  neither  its  responsibilities  nor 
difficulties — "  Officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
Department  of  Western  Virginia  :  You 
have  closed  an  arduous  campaign  with 
honor  to  yourselves  and  satisfaction  to 
the  country.  None  but  those  who  have 
been  with  you,  as  I  have,  can  fully 
appreciate  your  trials  and  privations. 
Your  triumph  has  been  threefold— over 
your  own  inexperience,  the  obstacles  of 
nature,  and  the  rebel  forces.  When  our 
gallant  young  commander  was  called 
from  us,  after  the  disaster  of  Bull  Run, 
this  department  was  left  with  less  than 
15,000  men  to  guard  300  miles  of  rail- 
road and  300  miles  of  frontier,  exposed 
to  bushwhackers,  and  the  forces  of  Gen- 
erals Floyd,  Wise  and  Jackson.  The 
north-western  pass  into  it  was  fortified 
and  held,  Cheat  Mountain  secured,  the 
rebel  assaults  there  victoriously  repelled, 
and  the  Kanawha  Yalley  occupied.  A 
march  of  112  miles,  over  bad  roads, 
brought  you  upon  Floyd's  intrenched 
position,  whence  the  rebels  were  dis- 
lodged and  chased  to  Sewell.  Finally, 
your  patience  and  watchings  put  the 
traitor  Floyd  within  your  reach,  and 
though  by  a  precipitate  retreat  he  es- 
caped your  grasp,  you  have  the  substan- 
tial fruits  of  victory.  Western  Virginia 
belongs  to  herself,  and  the  invader  is  ex- 
pelled from  her  soil.  In  the  name  of  our 
Commander-in-Chief,  and  in  my  own,  I 
thank  you.  But  the  country  will  expect 
— your  Commanding  General  expects — 
still  more  from  you.  A  campaign  with- 
out a  defeat,  without  even  a  check,  must 
be  eclipsed  by  deeds  of  greater  lustre. 
To  this  end  I  now  call  upon  you,  for 
your  own  future  honor,  to  devote  your- 
selves with  energy  and  zeal  to  perfect 


578 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


yourselves  in  all  that  pertains  to  drill, 
instruction  and  discipline.  Let  every 
officer  and  every  soldier  be  emulous  to 
teach  and  learn  the  firings,  light  infantry 
drill,  guard  duty,  company  discipline  and 
police.  Your  Commanding  General  pro- 
poses to  procure  for  you  everything  ne- 
cessary to  prepare  you  for  your  coming 
work,  and  will  soon  organize  boards  of 
examiners,  who  will  rid  the  service  of 
the  disgrace,  and  soldiers  of  the  incubus, 
of  incompetent  and  worthless  officers, 
who  hold  the  positions  and  receive  the 
pay  without  having  the  will  or  capacity 
to  perform  the  duties  of  their  positions. 
Remember,  you  are  fighting  for  your 
country,  for  your  flag,  for  your  homes. 


Your  enemies  are  implacable  in  their 
hatred  of  you  ;  there  is  no  measure  of 
falsehood  to1  which  they  have  not  resort- 
ed to  blacken  your  good  name  ;  and 
their  leaders,  Beauregard  and  Jeff.  Davis, 
have  dared,  even  in  solemn  proclama- 
tion, to  calumniate  you,  charging  you 
with  crimes  which  you  abhor.  From 
these  men  you  have  nothing  to  expect. 
You  must  prepare  to  teach  them,  not 
only  lessons  of  magnanimity  and  forbear- 
ance toward  the  unarmed  and  defence- 
less, but  to  thrust  their  calumnies  and 
their  boastings  down  their  own  traitorous 
throats.  Let  not  a  moment  be  lost  in 
your  preparations  for  the  task  before 
you." 


CHAPTER     XXXYII. 


GENERAL     FREMONT'S     MISSOURI     CAMPAIGN. 


AFTER  the  fall  of  Lyon,  the  interest  in 
military  affairs  in  Missouri  centres  in  the 
movements  of  General  Fremont.  It  is 
not  necessary  here  to  repeat  the  circum- 
stances in  his  previous  history  which 
gave  to  his  name  a  peculiar  prestige  in 
the  West,  which  identified  him  with  the 
exploration  and  settlement,  the  conquest 
of  arms  and  civilization  of  the  mighty 
region  stretching  from  the  Missouri  to 
the  Pacific  ;  nor  need  we  refer  to  the 
national  importance  of  a  name  which,  in 
the  preceding  Presidential  election,  had 
been  familiar  in  every  home  and  house- 
hold in  the  land.  The  two  ideas  to 
which  he  had  devoted  his  youth  and  early 
manhood  were  now  incorporated  in  sub- 
stantial realities  of  world-wide  fame. 
When  he  first  threaded  the  passes  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  he  had  looked  from 


their  heights  upon  an  uncultivated  wil- 
derness where  now  flourished  a  golden 
empire.  The  Republican  creed  which 
he  had  been  chosen  to  represent,  the  pro- 
mise of  which  had  been  symbolized  in  the 
freshness  and  purity  of  his  fame,  his 
youth  and  gallantry  in  the  free  mountain 
air  among  free  men — the  social  and  po- 
litical hope  of  the  people — was  now  a  liv- 
ing, active  policy,  invigorating  and  di- 
recting the  energies  of  the  nation.  It  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that 
when  the  arm  of  rebellion  was  raised 
against  the  State,  and  the  Government 
was  looking  everywhere  for  representa- 
tive men  to  sustain  its  authoritj^  Fre- 
mont should  not  be  forgotten.  He  had, 
indeed,  no  established  military  reputa- 
tion as  a  great  commander,  for  he  had 
conducted  no  great  military  operations 


GENERAL  FREMONT. 


579 


in  war  ;  but  as  it  was  very  evident  that 
the  choice  of  our  Major-Generals  was 
very  limited  if  that  qualification  should 
be  insisted  upon,  no  one  felt  disposed  to 
press  the  point  in  view  of  the  many  ad- 
vantages which  he  possessed  by  the  side 
of  the  crowd  of  civilians  of  no  experience 
at  all,  who  stood  eager  for  promotion  on 
the  army  list.  It  was,  in  fact,  consider- 
ed quite  as  a  matter  of  course  that  Fre- 
mont should  be  invited  to  some  distin- 
guished military  command.  It  would 
have  been,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  the 
height  of  political  ingratitude  in  the  ad- 
ministration to  pass  him  by. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  was 
on  a  visit  to  Europe.  We  have,  on  a 
previous  page,  recorded  the  temperate 
and  patriotic  speech  *  in  which,  at  Paris 
in  the  month  of  May,  in  company  with 
the  American  ministers,  newly  arrived  at 
that  cap^al,  he  pledged  himself  to  the 
cause  of  the  Union.  He  had,  in  fact, 
already  been  recalled  to  his  country,  and 
the  short  time  which  elapsed  before  set- 
ting out  on  his  return  was  given  by  him 
to  preparations  for  the  now  imminent 
conflict.  Having  made  large  purchases 
of  arms  in  Belgium  for  the  United  States 
Government,  he  left  England  for  Amer- 
ica, arriving  at  Boston  on  the  27th  of 
June.  Speedily  reporting  himself  at 
Washington,  he  was,  on  the  6th  of  July, 
appointed,  with  the  rank  of  Major-Gen- 
eral, to  the  command  of  a  vast  military 
district,  now  first  constituted  into  a  sep- 
arate organization  as  the  Western  De- 
partment. It  embraced  the  State  of 
Illinois  and  the  States  and  Territories 
west  of  the  Mississippi  and  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  including  New  Mexi- 
co. The  headquarters  of  the  department 
were  at  St.  Louis. 

Ante,  p.  447. 


It  might  have  been  thought  that,  on 
receiving  so  extensive  a  command,  a 
particular  line  of  policy  or  strategy 
would  have  been  marked  out  by  tbe  ad- 
ministration. But  nothing  of  the  kind 
was  prescribed.  It  was  characteristic  of 
the  early  period  of  the  war  that  no  very 
definite  course  of  action  could  be  laid 
down.  The  army  had  yet  to  be  formed, 
and  its  employment  determined  by  future 
events.  There  were  discussions  at  Wash- 
ington on  the  subject,  and  it  was  under- 
stood that  the  great  object  in  view  was 
the  descent  of  the  Mississippi,  and  that, 
for  its  accomplishment,  General  Fremont 
was  to  raise  and  organize  an  army,  and, 
when  he  was  ready  to  descend  the  river, 
inform  the  President  of  the  fact.*  With 
no  more  precise  instructions — with  none 
whatever  in  writing — General  Fremont 
the  da}r  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run, 
having  made  such  arrangements  as  he 
could  in  the  fortnight  for  the  equipment 
of  an  army  corps  of  twenty- three  thousand 
men,  set  off  for  St.  Louis,  which  he  reached 
on  the  25th  of  July.  The  political  and 
military  condition  in  which  he  found  Mis- 
souri on  his  arrival  he  has  himself  thus 
described:  "The  State  was  throughout 
rebellious.  A  rebel  faction  in  every 
county,  at  least  equal  to  the  loyal  popu- 
lation in  numbers,  and  excelling  it  in 
vindictiveness  and  energy.  The  local 
government  was  in  confusion  and  unable 
to  aid.  St.  Louis  itself  was  a  rebel  city, 
and,  as  a  rule,  the  influential  and  wealthy 
citizens  were  friendly  to  secession.  Of 
the  new  levies  of  the  Federal  troops,  few 
were  in  the  field — the  term  of  enlistment 
of  the  three  months'  men  was  just  expir- 
ing— the  troops  in  service  had  not  been 
paid,  were  badly  equipped  and  badly 


*  Statement  of  General  Fremont  to  the  Hon.  Mr.  Wade, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  eto. 


580 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION 


supplied  ;  and  in  addition  to  the  rebel 
parties  which  swarmed  throughout  the 
State,  a  Confederate  array  of  nearly  fifty 
thousand  men  was  already  on  its  south- 
ern frontier.  General  Pope  was  in 
North  Missouri  with  nearly  all  my  dis- 
posable forces ;  General  Lyon  was  at 
Springfield  with  about  seven  thousand 
eight  hundred  men  ;  and  General  Pren- 
tiss  was  holding  Cairo  with  seven  regi- 
ments. General  Lyon's  troops  were,  in 
greater  part,  three  months'  men  whose 
term  of  service  was  ending,  and  all  of 
General  Prentiss'  force  was  in  the  same 
condition." 

The  first  military  movement  of  Gen- 
eral Fremont  was  the  reinforcement,  with- 
in a  few  days  after  his  arrival  in  St. 
Louis,  of  the  threatened  posts  at  Cairo 
and  Bird's  Point.  He  carried  with  him 
for  this  purpose,  in  a  fleet  of  eight  steam- 
boats, thirty-eight  hundred  men.  The 
expedition,  a  few  months  after,  when  the 
operations  of  the  war  were  vastly  multi- 
plied, would  have  attracted  little  at- 
tention ;  it  was  then  paraded  with 
great  effect.  Happily  the  enemy  were, 
as  it  would  appear,  duly  impressed  by 
it,  for  we  now  tremble  as  we  read  that 
General  Prentiss  had  but  twelve  hundred 
men  at  the  time  at  Cairo,  while  General 
Pillow  had  a  force  a  few  miles  below,  at 
New  Madrid,  not  over-estimated,  says 
General  Fremont,  at  twenty  thousand. 
Looking  back  upon  it  by  the  light  of  sub- 
sequent events,  it  was  certainly  one  of 
the  most  critical  moments  of  the  war. 

Cairo,  as  the  most  important  point  in 
danger,  having  thus  been  secured,  Gen- 
eral Fremont  bent  his  efforts  for  the  re- 
lief of  General  Lyon.  Before,  however, 
he  could  equip  the  raw  recruits  hastening 
to  St.  Louis,  the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek 
was  fought,  and  the  small  arm}7"  had  with- 


drawn from  Springfield.  General  Fre- 
mont tells  us  how  time  was  then  gained 
by  the  dissentions  in  the  camp  of  the  en- 
emy to  secure  the  defence  of  the  State, 
which  he  now  undertook  on  the  most 
comprehensive  plan.  His  design  was 
"  to  fortify  Girardeau,  Ironton,  Rolla  and 
Jefferson  City,  with  St.  Louis  as  a  base, 
holding  these  places  with  sufficient  gar- 
risons, and  leaving  the  army  free  for 
operations  in  the  field."  In  accordance 
with  this  intention,  he  laid  out  and  com- 
pleted a  series  of  fortifications  about  St. 
Louis  commanding  the  city  and  its  ap- 
proaches. 

While  provision  was  thus  made  against 
the  approach  of  the  enemy  from  without, 
the  administration  of  his  department 
within  was  conducted  with  determination 
and  energy.  Much  had  been  said  of  the 
losses  which  the  nation  had  sustained  by 
the  hesitation  or  inactivity  of  its  officers 
in  various  branches  of  the  Government. 
General  Fremont,  it  was  soon  apparent, 
was  not  reluctant,  when  he  thought  the 
exigencies  of  his  position  demanded  it,  to 
proceed  on  his  own  responsibility.  One 
of  his  first  acts,  immediately  after  his  ar- 
rival, at  a  time  when  the  few  troops  he 
had  about  him  were  in  danger  of  being 
lost  to  the  service  for  want  of  their  stipu- 
lated pay — and  he  had  no  other  remedy 
at  hand — was  to  compel  the  Treasurer 
of  the  United  States  at  St.  Louis,  by 
force,  to  furnish  the  requisite  funds.  On 
the  14th  of  August  he  proclaimed  martial 
law  in  the  city,  and  suppressed  the  pub- 
lication of  the  War  Bulletin  and  the 
Missourian,  two  newspapers  "shame- 
lessly devoted  to  the  publication  of  trans- 
parently false  statements  respecting  mil- 
itary movements  in  Missouri. "*  On  the 
30th  of  the  month,  by  the  following 

*  St.  Louis  Democrat.  August  15,  1861. 


PROCLAMATION   OF  MARTIAL  LAW. 


581 


proclamation,  he  brought  the  State  under 
martial  law : 

'  Circumstances,  in  my  judgment,  are 
of  sufficient  urgency  to  render  it  neces- 
sary that  the  commanding  General  of 
this  department  should  assume  the  ad- 
ministrative powers  of  the  State.  Its 
disorganized  condition,  helplessness  of 
civil  authority,  and  the  total  insecurity 
of  life  and  devastation  of  property  by 
bands  of  murderers  and  marauders,  who 
infest  nearly  every  county  in  the  State, 
and  avail  themselves  of  public  misfor- 
tunes, in  the  vicinity  of  a  hostile  force, 
to  gratify  private  and  neighborhood  ven- 
geance, and  who  find  an  enemy  wherever 
they  find  plunder,  finally  demand  the 
severest  measures  to  repress  the  daily- 
increasing  crimes  and  outrages,  which 
are  driving  off  the  inhabitants  and  ruin- 
ing the  State.  In  this  condition,  the 
public  safety  and  success  of  our  arms 
require  unity  of  purpose,  without  let  or 
hindrance  to  the  prompt  administration 
of  affairs.  In  order,  therefore,  to  sup- 
press disorders,  maintain  the  public 
peace,  and  give  security  to  the  persons 
and  property  of  loyal  citizens,  I  do  here- 
by extend  and  declare  established  mar- 
tial law  throughout  the  State  of  Missouri. 
The  lines  of  the  army  of  occupation  in  this 
State  are  for  the  present  declared  to  ex- 
tend from  Leavenworth,  by  way  of  posts 
of  Jefferson  City,  Rolla,  and  Iron  ton,  to 
Cape  Girardeau  on  the  Mississippi  river. 
All  persons  who  shall  be  taken  with 
arms  in  their  hands  within  these  lines 
shall  be  tried  by  court-martial,  and  if 
found  guilty,  will  be  shot.  Real  and 
personal  property  of  those  who  shall  take 
up  arms  against  the  United  States,  or 
who  shall  be  directly  proven  to  have 
taken  an  active  part  with  their  enemies 
in  the  fiold,  is  declared  confiscated  to 


public  use.  and  their  slaves,  if  any  they 
have,  are  hereby  declared  free  men.  All 
persons  who  shall  be  proven  to  have  de- 
stroyed, after  the  publication  of  this  or- 
der, railroad  tracks,  bridges,  or  telegraph 
lines,  shall  suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of 
the  law.  All  persons  engaged  in  trea- 
sonable correspondence,  in  giving  or  pro- 
curing aid  to  the  enemy,  in  fermenting 
turmoil,  and  disturbing  public  tranquility, 
by  creating  or  circulating  false  reports 
or  incendiary  documents,  are  warned 
that  they  are  exposing  themselves.  All 
persons  who  have  been  led  away  from 
allegiance  are  required  to  return  to  their 
homes  forthwith.  Any  such  absence, 
without  sufficient  cause,  will  be  held  to 
be  presumptive  evidence  against  them. 
The  object  of  this  declaration  is  to  place 
in  the  hands  of  military  authorities  power 
to  give  instantaneous  effect  to  the  exist- 
ing laws,  and  supply  such  deficiencies  as 
the  conditions  of  the  war  demand  ;  but  it 
is  not  intended  to  suspend  the  ordinary 
tribunals  of  the  country,  where  law  will 
be  administered  by  civil  officers  in  the 
usual  manner,  and  with  their  customary 
authority,  while  the  same  can  be  peace- 
ably administered.  The  commanding 
General  will  labor  vigilantly  for  the  pub- 
lic welfare,  and,  by  his  efforts  for  their 
safety,  hopes  to  obtain  not  only  acquies- 
cence, but  the  active  support  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  country." 

The  terms  of  this  Proclamation  were 
thought  by  many  to  be  too  summary  in 
the  threatened  execution  of  the  in- 
surgents, and  to  exceed  the  authority 
given  by  Congress  in  the  act  for  the  con- 
fiscation of  rebel  property.  The  autho- 
ritative declaration  of  the  freedom  of 
the  slave,  while  it  was  hailed  by  the  in- 
creasing class  of  emancipationists,  was 
pronounced  by  others  an  injudicious  in- 


582 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


terfercnce  with  the  institution,  and  par- 
ticularly prejudicial  to  the  Union  cause 
in  the  yet  unsettled  border  States.  The 
President  himself,  whose  sympathies 
with  a  liberal  policy  of  emancipation, 
admitted  of  no  question,  and  who  had 
shown  himself  friendly  to  the  author  of 
the  Proclamation,  shared  these  opinions, 
as  appears  by  the  private  letter  which 
he  almost  immediately  addressed  to  Gen- 
eral Fremont.  It  was  dated  Washington, 
September  2,  and  read  thus  :  "  My  dear 
Sir :  Two  points  in  your  proclamation 
of  August  30  give  me  some  anxiety. 
First :  Should  you  shoot  a  man,  accord- 
ing to  the  proclamation,  the  Confederates 
would  very  certainly  shoot  our  best  men 
in  their  hands  in  retaliation  :  and  so, 
man  for  man,  indefinitely.  It  is,  there- 
fore, my  order  that  you  allow  no  man  to 
be  shot,  under  the  proclamation,  without 
first  having  my  approbation  or  consent. 
Second:  I  thiuk  there  is  great  danger 
that  the  closing  paragraph,  in  relation  to 
the  confiscation  of  property,  and  the 
liberating  slaves  of  traitorous  owners, 
will  alarm  our  Southern  Union  friends 
and  turn  them  against  us — perhaps  ruin 
our  rather  fair  prospect  for  Kentucky. 
Allow  me,  therefore,  to  ask  that  you 
will,  as  of  your  own  motion,  modify  that 
paragraph  so  as  to  conform  to  thejfo'6^ 
and  fourth  sections  of  the  Act  of  Con- 
gress entitled  '  An  Act  to  Confiscate 
Property  Used  for  Insurrectionary  Pur- 
poses,' approved  August  6,  1861,  and  a 
copy  of  which  I  herewith  send  you. 
This  letter  is  written  in  a  spirit  of  cau- 
tion, and  not  of  censure.  I  send  it  by  a 
special  messenger,  in  order  that  it  may 
certainly  and  speedily  reach  you.  Yours, 
very  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

To  this  direction,  thus  kindly  and  con- 
siderately worded,  General  Fremont  re- 


plied on  receipt  of  the  comi  umication  at 
St.  Louis  on  the  8th.  He  had  not,  he 
said,  troubled  the  President  with  the  de- 
tails of  affairs  in  his  administration, 
which  were  changing  incessantly,  but 
had  left  it  to  time  to  show  that  he  was 
acting  in  consonance  with  his  ideas.  In 
reference  to  the  Proclamation,  he  said. 
"  Between  the  rebel  armies,  the  Pro- 
visional Government  and  home  traitors, 
I  felt  the  position  bad,  and  saw  danger. 
In  the  night  I  decided  upon  the  procla- 
mation and  the  form  of  it.  I  wrote  it 
the  next  morning,  and  printed  it  the 
same  day.  I  did  it  without  consultation 
or  advice  with  any  one,  acting  solely 
with  my  best  judgment  to  serve -the 
country  and  yourself,  and  perfectly  will- 
ing to  receive  the  amount  of  censure 
which  should  be  thought  due  if  I  made  a 
false  movement.  This  is  as  much  a 
movement  in  the  war  as  a  battle,  and  in 
going  into  these  I  shall  have  to  act  ac- 
cording to  my  judgment  of  +he  ground 
before  me,  as  I  did  on  this  accasion.  If 
upon  reflection,  your  better  judgment 
still  decides  that  I  am  wrong  in  the  ar- 
ticle respecting  the  liberation  of  slaves, 
I  shall  have  to  ask  that  you  will  openly 
direct  me  to  make  the  correction.  The 
implied  censure  will  be  received  as  a 
soldier  always  should,  the  reprimand  of 
his  chief.  If  I  were  to  retract  of  my 
own  accord  it  would  imply  that  I  myself 
thought  it  wrong,  and  that  I  had  acted 
without  the  reflection  which  the  gravity 
of  the  point  demanded.  But  I  did  not. 
I  acted  with  full  deliberation,  and  upon 
the  certain  conviction  that  it  was  a 
measure  right  and  necessary—  and  I 
think  so  still." 

In  regard  to  the  treatment  of  the  in- 
surgents, he  explained  that  it  did  not 
refer  to  prisoners  of  war,  but  to  men 


A  MODIFICATION  BY  THE  PRESIDENT. 


583 


rising  in  arms  within  the  lines  of  the 
army,  that  it  was  strictly  according  to 
the  usages  of  war,  that  the  promptitude 
was  needed,  and  he  hoped  he  might  be 
permitted  to  carry  out  the  provision. 

To  this  the  President  replied  in  the 
following  open  letter  or  order  :  "  Wash- 
ington, D.  0.,  September  11,  1861,  Major- 
General  John  C.  Fremont.  Sir  :  Yours  of 
the  8th,  in  answer  to  mine  of  the  2d 
instant,  was  just  received.  Assured  that 
you  upon  the  ground  could  judge  better 
of  the  necessities  of  your  position  than  I 
could  at  this  distance,  on  seeing  }Tour 
proclamation  of  August  30,  I  perceived 
no  general  objection  to  it ;  the  particular 
clause,  however,  in  relation  to  the  con- 
fiscation of  property  and  the  liberation 
of  slaves,  appeared  to  me  to  be  objec- 
tionable in  its  non-conformity  to  the  Act 
of  Congress,  passed  the  6th  of  August 
last,  upon  the  same  subject,  and  hence  I 
wrote  you  expressing  my  wish  that  that 
clause  should  be  modified  accordingly. 
Your  answer,  just  received,  expresses 
the  preference  on  your  part  that  I  should 
make  an  open  order  for  the  modification, 
which  I  very  cheerfully  do.  It  is  there- 
fore ordered,  that  the  said  clause  of  said 
proclamation  be  so  modified,  held  and 
construed  as  to  conform  with  and  not  to 
transcend  the  provisions  on  the  same 
subject,  contained  in  the  Act  of  Congress, 
entitled  '  Aa  Act  to  Confiscate  Property 
used  for  Insurrectionary  Purposes,  ap- 
proved August  6, 1861,'  and  that  said  act 
be  published  at  length  with  this  order.* 
Your  obedient  servant,  A.  LINCOLN." 

The  following  letter  on  this  subject, 
from  the  Hon.  Joseph  Holt  to  General 
James  Speed  of  Kentucky,  accompanied 
by  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Holt 

*  This  important  act  has  been  given  in  a  previous  page 
ia  the  chapter  on  the  Extra  Session  of  Congress.  Ante,  p.  494. 


and  President  Lincoln,  will  further  dis- 
tinctly show  the  attitude  of  the  Govern- 
ment on  this  important  question  at  this 
time.  "  I  hasten  to  place  in  your  hands," 
writes  Mr.  Holt  to  General  Speed  from 
Wash  'ugton,  Septcmberl2, 1861,  "the  en- 
closed correspondence  with  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  The  action  which 
he  has  taken  was  firm  and  decided,  and 
must  prove  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of 
the  Union  in  Kentucky.  The  act  of 
Congress  alluded  to  was  a  necessity  un- 
der the  circumstances,  and  was  fully 
justified  by  the  usages  of  civilized  war- 
fare. The  Government  has  the  same 
right  to  confiscate  slaves  engaged  in  dig- 
ging trenches  or  mounting  guns  for  the 
rebels  that  it  has  to  confiscate  their  arms 
when  captured  during  the  progress  of  the 
war  ;  but,  having  confiscated  them,  Con- 
gress goes  no  further.  Upon  this  law 
the  President  stands  firmly,  and  in  doing 
so,  and  in  disavowing  General  Fremont's 
proclamation,  he  gives  another  of  the 
ever-multiplying  proofs  that  the  war, 
which  is  one  for  national  existence,  does 
not  seek  to  extinguish  or  interfere  with 
slavery  as  established  in  the  States.  If 
this  institution  suffers  detriment  from  the 
events  or  issues  of  the  rebellion,  the  blow 
will  come  from  those  who,  under  the  pre- 
tence of  defending  it,  are  striking  at  the 
life  of  a  Government  under  whose  Con- 
stitution it  has  enjoyed  complete  shelter 
and  protection  for  three-quarters  of  a 
century.  The  occupation  of  Columbus 
by  armed  Tennesseeans,  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Bishop  Polk  and  Pillow,  has 
excited  no  surprise  here  where  the  un- 
scrupulous character  and  ultimate  aims 
of  the  rebel  chieftains  are  well  under- 
stood. So  long  as  Kentucky  maintained 
that  most  illusory  of  all  attitudes — neu- 
trality— and  carefully  guarded  an  ex- 


584 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


tended  and  exposed  position  of  the  fron- 
tier of  the  rebel  government — in  a  word, 
so  long  as  she  subserved  the  purposes  of 
the  conspirators,  seeking  the  overthrow 
Df  the  Eepublic,  and  gave  reason  to  hope 
that  she  would  finally  unite  her  fortunes 
with  them,  she  was  graciously  let  alone  ; 
so  soon,  however,  as  she  declared  her 
loyalty  to  a  Government  to  which  she  is 
indebted  for  all  her  prosperity,  and  to 
which  she  is  united  by  the  most  solemn 
ties  of  duty,  of  affection,  and  of  interest, 
her  soil  is  ruthlessly  invaded,  and,  under 
the  promptings  and  guidance  of  traitors 
in  her  own  bosom,  her  vote  at  the  polls 
is  now  to  be  reversed  by  the  bayonets 
of  Tennesseeans,  and  the  proud  old  Com- 
monwealth reduced  to  the  condition  of  a 
conquered  province  of  that  political  pan- 
demonium called  the  Southern  Confed- 
eracy. Those  who  have  read  the  history 
and  know  the  spirit  of  her  people,  can 
have  no  fears  as  to  the  result  of  this 
audacious  assault  upon  her  honor  and  in- 
dependence. The  Government  here  will 
give  all  possible  support  to  the  State  at 
the  earliest  moment  practicable." 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Holt  to  the  President 
of  the  same  date  read  as  follows  :  "  Dear 
Sir, — The  late  act  of  Congress,  providing 
for  the  confiscation  of  the  estates  of  per- 
sons in  open  rebellion  against  the  Govern- 
ment was,  as  a  necessary  war  measure, 
accepted  and  fully  approved  by  the  loyal 
men  of  the  country.  It  limited  the  pen- 
alty of  confiscation  to  property  actually 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  rebellion 
with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  its 
owners,  and,  instead  of  emancipating 
slaves  thus  employed,  left  their  status  to 
be  determined  either  by  the  Courts  of 
the  United  States  or  by  subsequent  legis- 
lation. The  proclamation,  however,  of 
General  Fremont  under  date  of  the  30th 


of  August,  transcends,  and,  of  course 
violates  the  law  in  both  these  particu- 
lars, and  declares  that  the  property  of 
rebels,  whether  used  in  support  of  the 
rebellion  or  not,  shall  be  confiscated,  and 
if  consisting  in  slaves,  that  they  shall  be 
at  once  manumitted.  The  act  of  Con- 
gress referred  to  was  believed  to  em- 
body the  conservative  policy  of  your 
Administration  upon  this  delicate  and 
perplexing  question,  and  hence  the  loyal 
men  of  the  Border  Slave  States  have  felt 
relieved  of  all  fears  of  any  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  liberate  suddenly  ineour  midst 
a  population  unprepared  for  freedom, 
and  whose  presence  could  not  fail  to 
prove  a  painful  apprehension,  if  not  a 
terror,  to  the  homes  and  families  of  all. 
You  may,  therefore,  well  judge  of  the 
alarm  and  condemnation  with  which  the 
Union-loving  citizens  of  Kentucky — the 
State  with  whose  popular  sentiment  I  am 
best  acquainted — -have  read  this  procla- 
mation. The  hope  is  earnestly  indulged 
by  them,  as  it  is  by  myself,  that  this 
paper  was  issued  under  the  pressure  of 
military  necessity  which  General  Fre- 
mont believed  justified  the  step,  and  that 
in  the  particulars  specified,  it  has  not  yet 
your  approbation,  and  will  not  be  en: 
forced  in  derogation  of  law.  The  magni- 
tude of  the  interest  at  stake,  and  my  ex- 
treme desire  that  by  no  misapprehension 
of  your  sentiments  or  purposes  shall  the 
power  and  fervor  of  the  loyalty  of  Ken- 
tucky be  at  this  moment  abated  or  chill- 
ed, must  be  my  apology  for  the  frank- 
ness with  which  I  have  addressed  you, 
and  for  the  request  I  venture  to  make  of 
an  expression  of  your  views  upon  the 
points  of  General  Fremont's  proclama- 
tion on  which  I  have  commented.  I 
have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully. 


DEEDS   OP   MANUMISSION. 


585 


your  obedient  servant,  J.  HOLT."  To 
this  the  President  replied  the  same  day : 
"  Hon.  Joseph  Holt, — Dear  Sir  :  Yours 
of  this  day  in  relation  to  the  late  pro- 
clamation of  General  Fremont,  is  re- 
ceived. Yesterday  I  addressed  a  letter 
to  him,  by  mail,  on  the  same  subject, 
and  which  is  to  be  made  public  when  he 
receives  it.  I  herewith  send  you  a  copy 
of  that  letter,  which  perhaps  shows  my 
position  as  distinctly  as  any  new  one  I 
could  write.  I  will  thank  you  not  to 
make  it  public  until  General  Fremont 
shall  have  had  time  to  receive  the  orig- 
inal. Your  obedient  servant,  A.  LIN- 
COLN." 

Previously  to  the  receipt  of  the  Pres- 
ident's modification  of  his  proclamation, 
General  Fremont  executed  two  deeds  of 
manumission  of  slaves  of  an  owner  who 
had  been  reported  by  a  military  com- 
mission, sitting  at  St.  Louis,  as  having 
"  taken  active  part  with  the  enemies  of 
the  United  States  in  the  present  insur- 
rectionary movement  against  its  Gov- 
ernment. The  deeds  were  in  the  follow- 
ing terms  :  "  Whereas,  Thomas  L.  Snead, 
of  the  city  and  county  of  St.  Louis,  State 
of  Missouri,  has  been  taking  an  active 
part  with  the  enemies  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  present  insurrectionary 
movement  against  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  ;  now,  therefore,  I 
John  Charles  Fremont,  Major-General 
Commanding  the  Western  Department 
of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  by 
authority  of  law  and  the  power  vested  in 
me,  as  such  Commanding  General,  de- 
clare Hiram  Reed,  heretofore  held  to 
service  or  labor  by  Thomas  L.  Snead,  to 
be  free,  and  forever  discharged  from  the 
bonds  of  servitude,  giving  him  full  right 
and  authority  to  have,  use  and  control 
his  own  labor  or  service,  as  to  him  may 
74 


seem  proper,  without  any  accountability 
whatever  to  said  Thomas  L.  Snead,  or  to 
any  one  to  claim  by,  through,  or  under 
him.  And  this  deed  of  manumission 
shall  be  respected  and  treated  by  all 
persons,  and  in  all  courts  of  justice,  as 
the  full  and  complete  evidence  of  the 
freedom  of  said  Hiram  Reed.  In  testi- 
mony whereof,  this  act  is  done  at  head- 
quarters of  the  Western  Department  of 
the  Army  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
City  of  St.  Louis,  State  of  Missouri,  on 
this  12th  day  of  September,  A.  D.  1861, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  Departmental 
seal  hereto  affixed  by  my  order,  J.  C. 
FREMONT,  Major-General  Commanding. 
Done  at  the  office  of  the  Provost-mar- 
shal, in  the  City  of  St.  Louis,  this  12th 
day  of  September,  A.  D.  1861,  at  9  o'clock 
in  the  evening  of  said  day.  Witness  my 
hand  and  seal  of  office  hereto  affixed, 
J.  McKiNSTRY,  Brigadier-General  and 
Provost-Marshal." 

The  rebel  General  M.  Jeff.  Thompson, 
in  the  south-western  portion  of  the  State, 
issued  a  violent  proclamation  on  occasion 
of  General  Fremont's  declaration  of  mar- 
tial law.  As  an  indication  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  conflict  going  on  in  Missouri, 
nothing  could  be  more  significant  than 
its  taste  and  temper.  It  ran  thus : — 
"Headquarters  First  Military  District,  M. 
S.  G.,  Camp  Hunter,  September  2, 1861. 
To  all  whom  it  may  Concern :  Whereas. 
Major-General  John  C.  Fremont,  com- 
manding the  minions  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
in  the  State  of  Missouri,  has  seen  fit  to 
declare  martial  law  throughout  the  whole 
State,  and  has  threatened  to  shoot  any 
citizen  soldier  found  in  arms  within  cer- 
tain limits,  also  to  confiscate  the  property 
and  free  the  negroes  belonging  to  the 
members  of  the  Missouri  State  Guard, 
therefore  know  ye  that  I,  M.  Jeff. 


586 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Thompson,  Brigadier -General  of  the 
First  Military  District  of  Missouri,  hav- 
ing not  only  the  military  authority  of 
Brigadier-General,  but  certain  police 
powers,  granted  by  Acting  Governor  Tho- 
mas C.  Reynolds,  and  confirmed  afterward 
by  Governor  Jackson,  do  most  solemnly 
promise  that  for  every  member  of  the 
Missouri  State  Guard  or  soldier  of  our 
allies,  the  armies  of  the  Confederate 
States,  who  shall  be  put  to  death  in 
pursuance  of  the  said  order  of  General 
Fremont,  I  will  hang,  draw  and  quarter 
a  minion  of  said  Abraham  Lincoln. 
While  I  am  anxious  that  this  unfortunate 
war  shall  be  conducted,  if  possible,  upon 
the  most  liberal  principles  of  civilized 
warfare — and  every  order  I  have  issued 
has  been  with  that  object — yet  if  this 
rule  is  to  be  adopted  (and  it  must  first 
be  done  by  our  enemies),  I  intend  to  ex- 
ceed General  Fremont  in  his  excesses, 
and  will  make  all  tories  that  come  within 
my  reach  rue  the  day  that  a  different 
policy  was  adopted  by  their  leaders. 
Already  mills,  barns,  warehouses,  and 
other  private  property  have  been  waste- 
fully  and  wantonly  destroyed  by  the  en- 
emy in  this  district,  while  we  have 
taken  nothing  except  articles  strictly 
contraband  or  absolutely  necessary. 
Should  these  things  be  repeated,  I  will 
retaliate  ten-fold,  so  help  me  God !" 

It  was  the  design  of  General  Fremont 
to  give  the  utmost  military  efficiency  to 
his  army,  and  to  further  this  purpose,  and 
at  the  same  time  correct  a  prominent  evil 
of  the  day  in  the  appointment  of  inex- 
perienced officers  to  important  commands, 
he  hit  upon  a  judicious  plan  of  perfecting 
one  regiment  as  a  school  of  instruction, 
to  be  placed  under  the  command  of  Col- 
onel Marshall,  an  officer  of  large  experi- 
ence in  the  United  States  army,  and 


Lieutenant  Cassily,  also  a  gentleman  of 
excellent  qualifications  as  a  commander. 
To  this,  applicants  for  officers'  positions 
were  referred  in  a  circular  from  head- 
quarters. "  Expecting  that  this  regiment," 
was  its  language,  "will  be  used  for  the 
highest  class  of  service,  wherein  distinc- 
tion can  be  won  by  those  only  who  pos- 
sess the  requisite  merit,  it  is  thought  that 
it  will  afford  rare  opportunities  for  gen- 
tlemen who,  like  yourself,  desire  early 
advancement  in  the  service.  The  eye 
of  the  Commanding  General  will  be  upon 
you,  and  your  conduct  will  not  escape 
his  close  observation.  He  designs  to 
make  the  regiment,  in  his  army,  what 
Napoleon  the  Elder  made  the  Old  Guard 
in  the  French  army,  at  once  his  corps  de 
reserve  and  the  source  whence  can  be 
drawn  the  officers  who  will  lead  his 
troops  to  victory.  He  therefore  invites 
3rou  to  join  this  regiment,  that  you  may 
have  an  opportunity  to  serve  your  coun- 
try and  secure  such  promotion  as  your 
merits  will  warrant." 

It  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  design  of 
General  Fremont  from  the  beginning  to 
organize  a  great  expedition  to  proceed 
down  the  Mississippi.  For  this  purpose 
a  fleet  of  gunboats  was  in  preparation  on 
the  river,  arid  the  fortifications  at  St. 
Louis  were  undertaken  that  the  city 
might  be  held  by  a  small  force  when  the 
armv  should  be  set  in  motion. .  It  was 

•/ 

not  the  policy  of  the  enemy,  however, 
to  suffer  this  intention  to  be  carried  out 
without  interruption.  They  were  con- 
stantly making  efforts  for  diverting  any 
forces  which  might  be  raised,  to  the  de- 
fence of  the  State  itself.  The  line  of  the 
Mississippi  they  evidently  thought  was 
to  be  defended  by  counter  attacks  in  the 
interior.  They  were  constantly,  there- 
fore, invading  Missouri  from  Arkansas, 


PLAN   OF  FREMONT'S   CAMPAIGN. 


587 


sending;  forward  Pillow,  Hardee,  and 
Jeff.  Thompson  on  the  south-east,  and 
Ben  McCulloch  and  Price  from  the  south- 
west to  the  centre.  The  latter  proved 
far  the  most  annoying  and  difficult  to 
cope  with  in  the  field.  Their  knowledge 
of  the  country  and  its  inhabitants  gave 
them  the  command  of  a  large  though  ir- 
regular force,  which  appeared  ever  on 
the  point  of  separating,  and  yet,  when 
occasioL  required,  was  always  on  the  ad- 
vance. No  one  understood  better  than 
these  leaders  the  arts  of  desultory  war- 
fare, knew  better  how  to  watch  an  op- 
portunity, or  relieve  themselves  of  disas- 
ter by  a  successful  retreat. 

It  was  very  evident,  after  the  prowess 
they  had  shown  at  Carthage,  Wilson's 
Creek,  and  their  inarch  to  the  Missouri 
and  conquest  of  Lexington,  that  the 
State,  often  as  its  pacification  had  been 
proclaimed,  could  not  be  considered  in 
safety  while  this  adventurous  horde  was 
in  the  field.  Desirable  as  it  might  be 
for  the  progress  of  the  campaign  for 
our  military  leaders  to  turn  their  thoughts 
in  other  directions,  they  could  accomplish 
nothing  while  this  force  was  in  their  rear. 
To  catch  and  overcome  Price  and  his 
marauding  forces,  therefore,  became,  if 
not  the  most  glorious,  certainly  one  of 
the  most  necessary  undertakings  of  the 
war.  To  this  end  Fremont  now  directed 
the  whole  force  at  his  command.  An  in- 
dication of  his  intentions,  which  were,  of 
course,  subject  to  modification  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  march,  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  speculations  of  a  mem- 
ber of  his  staff,  Mr.  William  Dorsheimer, 
who  has  published  a  most  interesting 
account  of  the  brief  and  interrupted  cam- 
paign. "  The  gunboats,"  he  writes,  when 
the  expedition  of  which  we  shall  present- 
ly give  an  account  was  fairly  in  motion, 


early  in  October,  "  cannot  be  finished  for 
two  months  or  more,  and  we  cannot  go 
down  the  Mississippi  until  the  flotilla  is 
ready ;  and  from  the  character  of  the 
country  upon  each  side  of  the  river,  it 
will  be  difficult  to  operate  there  with  o 
large  body  of  men.  In  south-western 
Missouri  we  are  sure  of  fine  weather  till 
the  last  of  November.  The  prairies  are 
high  and  dry,  and  there  are  no  natural 
obstacles  except  such  as  it  will  excite  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  troops  to  overcome 
Therefore  the  General  has  determined  to 
pursue  Price  until  he  catches  him.  He 
can  march  faster  than  we  can  now,  but 
we  shall  soon  be  able  to  move  faster  than 
it  is  possible  for  him  to  do.  The  rebels 
have  no  base  of  operations  from  which  to 
draw  supplies ;  they  depend  entirely 
upon  foraging  ;  and  for  this  reason  Price 
has  to  make  long  halts  wherever  he  finds 
mills,  and  grind  the  flour.  He  is  so  de- 
ficient in  equipage,  also,  that  it  will  be 
impossible  for  him  to  carry  his  troops 
over  great  distances.  But  we  can  safely 
calculate  that  Price  and  Rains  will  not 
leave  the  State ;  their  followers  are  en- 
listed for  six  months,  and  are  already 
becoming  discontented  at  their  continued 
retreat,  and  will  not  go  with  them  be- 
yond the  borders.  This  is  the  uniform 
testimony  of  deserters  and  scouts.  Price 
disposed  of,  either  by  a  defeat  or  the  dis- 
persal of  his  army,  we  are  to  proceed  to 
Bird's  Point  or  into  Arkansas,  according 
to  circumstances.  A  blow  at  Little  Rock 
seems  now  the  wisest,  as  it  is  the  boldest 
plan.  We  can  reach  that  place  by  the 
middle  of  November  ;  and  if  we  obtain 
possession  of  it,  the  position  of  the  enemy 
upon  the  Mississippi  will  be  completely 
turned.  The  communication  of  Pillow, 
Hardee  and  Thompson,  who  draw  their 
supplies  from  Arkansas^  will  be  cut  off ; 


588 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


they  will  be  compelled  to  retreat,  and 
our  flotilla  and  the  reinforcements  can 
descend  the  river  to  assist  in  the  opera- 
tions against  Memphis  and  the  attack 
upon  New  Orleans.  This  campaign  may 
be  difficult,  the  army  will  have  to  en- 
counter hardships  and  perils,  but  unless 
defeated  in  the  field,  the  enterprise  will 
be  successful.  No  hardships  or  perils 
can  daunt  the  spirit  of  the  General,  or 
arrest  the  march  of  the  enthusiastic  army 
his  genius  has  created." 

This  army,  at  the  head  of  which  Gen- 
eral Fremont  took  the  field,  was  com- 
posed of  five  divisions,  respectively  com- 
manded by  Generals  Hunter,  Pope,  Sigel, 
Asbolh  and  McKinstry,  the  entire  force 
numbering,  by  a  careful  estimate,  nearly 
thirty-nine  thousand.  The  men  were, 
of  course,  newly  recruited,  but  they  were 
drawn  from  the  hardy  population  of  the 
north-west,  and  many  of  them  were  na- 
tives of  Germany,  with  more  or  less  ex- 
perience of  military  training  abroad. 
Their  efficiency,  however,  for  an  active 
campaign  was  greatly  impaired  in  some 
important  instances  by  a  want  of  proper 
arms  and  equipments,  and  a  general  de- 
ficiency of  the  means  of  transportation. 
But  these  were  difficulties  which  it  was 
impossible  on  the  instant  to  surmount. 
Indeed  the  General,  in  providing  such 
arms  as  the  men  were  furnished  with, 
had  not  only  exhausted  every  mode  of 
regular  procedure  in  his  calls  upon  the 
Government  and  the  surrounding  States, 
but  he  had  exposed  himself  to  censure 
by  authorizing  contracts  on  his  own  re- 
sponsibility with  dealers  at  the  East.  If 
a  portion  of  the  cavalry  were  without 
sabres,  as  was  alleged  by  the  critics  of 
the  campaign,  it  was  certainly  a  serious 
defect,  but  it  had  to  be  borne  with  for 
the  time  ;  and  though  the  muskets  might 


not  be  the  best,  they  were  the  test 
which  could  be  procured.  As  for  trans- 
portation, the  season  was  favorable  for 
movement,  and  where  other  supplies  fail- 
ed, the  agricultural  population  among 
whom  the  army  was  passing  must  br 
looked  to  for  aid.  The  several  divi- 
sions of  the  army  were  to  move  from 
their  positions  on  the  line  of  the  Missouri 
and  its  vicinity  and  pursue  a  southerly 
route  toward  Springfield.  By  the  middk 
of  October  General  Fremont  and  his  staff, 
with  three  companies  of  the  famous  body 
guard  of  which  so  much  has  been  said, 
and  the  divisions  of  Sigel  and  Asboth, 
were  at  Warsaw,  on  the  Osage,  a  river 
which,  running  parallel  with  the  Missou- 
ri, divides  the  central  from  the  southern 
portion  of  the  State  on  its  western  side. 
There  was  a  delay  here  of  a  few  days, 
which  were  actively  employed  by  the 
skillful  soldiers  in  building  a  bridge,  not 
merely  to  secure  a  rapid  passage  for  the 
army,  which  was  imperfectly  supplied  by 
a  ford  and  ferry,  but  to  provide  a  safe 
means  of  retreat  in  case  of  necessity. 
The  reader  may  form  an  idea  of  the  en- 
ergy demanded  for  this  work,  in  the 
absence  of  the  usual  facilities,  by  the 
description  of  the  scene  and  the  labori- 
ous activity  of  the  men,  in  the  narrative 
of  Mr.  Dorsheimer.  "The  river  here," 
he  says,  under  date  of  October  17th,  "  is 
broad  and  rapid,  and  its  banks  are  im- 
mense bare  cliffs,  rising  one  hundred  feet 
perpendicularly  from  the  water's  edge. 
The  ford  is  crooked,  uncertain,  and  never 
practicable  except  for  horsemen.  The 
ferry  is  an  old  flat-boat  drawn  across  by 
a  rope,  and  the  ascent  up  the  fartLer 
bank  is  steep  and  rocky.  It  will  not  an- 
swer to  leave  in  our  rear  this  river, 
liable  to  be  changed  by  a  night's  rain 
into  a  fierce  torrent,  with  no  other  means 


FREMONT'S  BODY-GUARD. 


589 


of  crossing  it  than  the  ricketty  ferry.    A 

bridge  must  at  oiice  be  built,  strong  and 

firm,  a  safe  road  for  the  army  in  case  of 

disaster.     So  decides  the  General.     And 

as  we  look  upon  the  swift-running  river 

and  its  rocky  shores — cold  and  gloom}' 

in  the  twilight — every  one  agrees  that 

the  General  is  right.     His  decision  has 

since  been  strongly  supported,  for  to-da} 

two  soldiers   of   the   Fremont  Huzzars 

were  drowned  in  trying  to  cross  the  ford, 

and  the  water  is  now  rising  rapidly.  .  .  . 

Bridge  building  is  now  the  sole  purpose 

of  the  army.     There  is  no  saw-mill  here, 

nor  any  lumber.     The  forest  must  be  cut 

down  and  fashioned  into  a  bridge  as  well 

as  the  tools  and  the  skill  at  command 

will  permit.     Details   are   already   told 

off  from  the  sharpshooters,  the  cadets, 

and  even  the  body-guard,  and  the  banks 

of  the  river  now  resound  with  the  quick 

blows  of  their  axes.  #  .fob.  October  2lst. 

Four  days  we  have  been  waiting  for  the 

building  of  the  bridge.     By  night  and 

by  day  the  work  goes  on,  and  now  the 

long  block  shape  is  striding  slowly  across 

the  stream.     In  a  few  hours  it  will  have 

gained  the  opposite  bank,  and  then,  ho ! 

for  Springfield  !" 

Springfield  was  reached  by  the  ad- 
vanced divisions  on  the  28th.  The  dash- 
ing adventure  of  Major  Zagonyi  and  his 
squadron  of  cavalry,  which  led  the  way 
to  its  capture,  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
exploits  of  the  war.  This  officer  already 
onjoyed  considerable  military  distinction. 
An  Hungarian  by  birth,  he  had  fought 
on  the  side  of  his  country  under  General 
Bern,  and  been  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Austrians  while  leading  a  desperate 
charge  of  horse  against  a  superior  force 
of  artillery.  After  two  years  of  cap- 
tivity he  was  released  to  become  an  exile 
in  America.  When  Fremont  was  placed 


in  command  he  was  naturally  attracted 
to   share  his   fortunes.     He   presented 
himself  at  St.  Louis,  and  was  charged 
with  the  duty  of  recruiting  a  company  of 
cavalry  to  act  as   the  General's  Body 
Guard.     There  was  no  lack  of  zeal  or 
readiness  in  the  enlistments.     Two  com- 
panies, picked  youths  of  the  West,  with 
a  sprinkling  of  German  naturalized  cit- 
izens, were  immediately  enrolled,  and  a 
third  was  speedily  added,  composed  al- 
most entirely    of   Kentuckians.     They 
were  clad  in  a  uniform  of  blue  jackets, 
trousers  and  caps,  were  well  equipped 
with  an  extra  armament  of  revolvers,  and 
admirably  mounted   on  blooded    bays. 
Their  means  of  destruction,  recited  by  a 
St.  Louis  journalist,  indeed,  were  truly 
formidable.     Each   man  had  with  him 
two  of  Colt's  six-barrel  navy  revolvers, 
one  five-barrel  rifle  and  a  sabre.     But 
little  time  was  afforded  them  for  instruc- 
tion, but  their  youth,  fine  physique  and 
aptitude  for  war  made  them  ready  stu- 
dents, and  they  were  soon  proficients  in 
the  drill  and  exercises  fitting  them  for 
active  service.     Some  prejudice  was  ex- 
cited against  the  Guard  on  account  of 
its  alleged  foreign  element,  but  this,  be- 
side being  an  unworthy  sentiment,  where 
the  army  was  so  literally  recruited  from 
persons  of  European  birth,  was  unfair  as 
a  matter  of  fact.     There  were,  compara- 
tively, few  foreigners  in  the  Guard,  and 
its  officers  were  all  Americans   except 
three — one    Hollander    and    two  Hun- 
garians— its  founder,  Zagonyi,  and  Lieu- 
tenant   Maythenyi,    who    came    to  the 
United  States  in  his  boyhood. 

The  valor  of  this  band,  thus  consti- 
tuted, was  now  to  be  put  to  the  test. 
While  General  Fremont  was  yet  distant 
Eifty-one  miles  from  Springfield,  he  sent 
forward  a  detachment  of  the  Guard  im- 


59' 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


der  Zagonyi,  about  a  hundred  and  sixty, 
to  cooperate  with  Major  White's  bat- 
talion of  Prairie  Scouts,  who  were  to  join 
them  on  the  way  in  an  attack  upon  the 
town.  It  was  supposed  that  the  place 
was  held  by  a  small  force,  some  three 
hundred,  and  that  its  capture  would  be 
easy.  Zagonyi  set  out  at  half-past  eight 
on  the  evening  of  the  24th  October,  rode 
all  night,  overtook  White  in  the  morning, 
and  added  his  company  to  his  force, 
bringing  the  whole  number  of  his  com- 
mand to  three  hundred.  White  himself, 
on  account  of  illness,  was  compelled  to 
lag  behind  for  rest,  and,  attended  by  a 
small  guard,  follow  after  in  his  carriage, 
with  the  intention  of  joining  his  comrades 
before  their  arrival  at  Springfield. 

Zagonyi  meanwhile  sped  onward  to 
the  town.  As  he  approached  it  on  the 
direct  road  from  the  North,  he  fell  in, 
some  eight  miles  off,  with  a  foraging 
party,  five  of  whom  he  captured,  .while  a 
sixth  escaped  to  carry  the  news  of  his 
coming.  Zagonyi  was  now  informed  by 
a  Union  farmer  that  powerful  reinforce- 
ments had  reached  the  town,  and  that  it 
was  guarded  by  some  two  thousand  de- 
fenders. To  dash  on  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, without  even  the  hope  of 
surprise,  argued  a  degree  of  bravery 
bordering  on  temerity.  But  Zagonyi  was 
not  to  be  disappointed  of  his  game  ;  he 
would  take  the  chances  of  a  sudden  on- 
set, with  the  expectation  of  attacking  the 
camp  with  better  advantage  in  the  rear. 
Accordingly,  when  about  five  miles  from 
Springfield,  he  turned  off  to  the  West  to 
make  his  approach  by  the  Mount  Yer- 
non  road*  Here,  too,  at  the  end  of  his 
round-about  march  of  twelve  miles,  he 
found  the  foe  drawn  up  outside  of  the 
town  to  receive  him. 

The  position  which  they  had  chosen 


for  their  camp  was  a  hill  side,  sloping 
down  on  the  east  to  a  brook.  The  rear 
was  protected  by  a  thick  wood  ;  in  front 
the  ground  was  open,  extending  in  width 
some  three  hundred  yards,  between  a 
broad  road  on  the  north,  and  a  narrow 
lane  on  the  south.  The  wood  was  skirt- 
ed with  infantry,  twelve  hundred  in 
number,  and  a  body  of  horse  four  hun- 
dred strong,  were  stationed  in  advance 
on  the  left,  supported  by  a  grove.  The 
woods  and  fences  on  the  line  of  approach 
were  manned  with  sharp-shooters.  The 
whole  number  of  active  combatants  of 
the  enemy  on  the  ground,  and  its  imme- 
diate vicinity,  a  concentration  of  their 
entire  force  in  the  town,  was  estimated 
at  twenty-two  hundred.  Such  was  the 
position  to  be  stormed,  and  the  odds  to 
be  encountered  by  a  small  band  of  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  for  the 
Prairie  Scouts  did  not  take  part  in  the 
main  assault.  Their  commander,  Major 
White,  was  in  fact  a  prisoner  in  the 
enemy's  hands,  having  ridden  into  their 
lines  in  his  attempt  to  join  Zagonyi,  of 
whose  change  of  route  he  was  ignorant. 
There  was  great  exultation  over  his  cap- 
ture, and  the  leader  of  the  party  would 
have  sacrificed  him  in  expiation  of  his 
brother's  death,  had  not  a  young  officer, 
Captain  Wiston,  interfered  and  saved  his 
life. 

The  Guard  now  suddenly,  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  came  upon  the 
formidable  parallelogram,  in  which  the 
foe  had  every  advantage  of  defence. 
Zagonyi,  at  the  head  of  his  men,  with  the 
simple  order  to  follow  his  movements, 
led  the  way  through  the  narrow  lane 
across  the  brook  to  the  foot  of  the  hill— 
a  most  perilous  passage  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  yards,  clogged  with  the  wound- 
ed and  the  dying,  men  and  horses  falling 


arrs  CHARGE. 


591 


under  the  fire  of  the  sharp-shooters  from 
the  forests  and  the  heights.  There  was 
inevitable  confusion  in  this  hurried  pas- 
sage. The  Prairie  Scouts  under  Captain 
Fairbanks,  had  hardly  entered  it  when, 
an  order  unauthorized  by  Zagonyi  was 
given,  bidding  them  to  take  the  lane  be- 
hind the  wood.  So  they  turned  off  from 
the  fiery  pathway,  to  render  such  ser- 
vice as  fell  in  their  way  in  the  rear 
and  flank.  Captain  Naughton,  of  Major 
White's  Squadron,  coming  on  after,  led 
his  Irish  Dragoons,  fifty  in  number,  into 
the  hottest  of  the  fight,  with  heavy  loss. 
He  was  shot  in  the  shoulder  and  dis- 
mounted. Lieutenant  Connolly  was  mor- 
tally wounded.  The  remnant  then  re- 
tired with  the  exception  of  five,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  joining  Zagonyi. 

There  was  much  confusion  in  the  utter 
impossibility,  under  the  circumstances, 
of  conveying  prompt  directions  to  the 
officers  in  a  brave  but  disastrous  attempt 
oc  Captain  Foley,  of  the  Guard,  to  make 
a  dank  attack  at  the  edge  of  the  wood. 
Some  of  his  men  dismounted  and  re- 
moved a  portion  of  the  fence  under 
heavy  fire,  several  of  them  falling,  when 
the  company  was  called  off  to  plunge 
through  the  carnage  to  the  end  of  the 
lane,  where  Zagonyi  was  rallying  his 
little  band  for  one  steady,  impetuous 
charge.  Dividing  his  force  into  two 
parts,  one  under  Maythenyi  was  direct- 
ed against  the  cavalry  on  the  right, 
which  broke  and  fled  under  the  furious 
assault,  when  he  himself  leading  the 
other,  charged  upon  the  slope  of  the  hill 
upon  the  line  of  infantry.  That,  too, 
was  instantly  dispersed.  The  fugitive 
cavalry  was  pursued  with  fearful  slaught- 
er, and  the  Guard,  with  wild  energy, 
rode  onward  into  the  town,  and,  in  re- 
peated charges,  scoured  the  streets  of  the 


rebel  soldiery.  Zagonyi  then  raised  the 
United  States  flag  on  the  Court  House, 
and  rallied  his  scattered  force,  of  which 
but  seventy  then  answered  to  his  call. 
In  their  exhausted  condition  they  thought 
it  unsafe  to  attempt  to  hold  the  place, 
and  retired  for  the  night  to  a  position  on 
the  Northern  road  near  Bolivar,  whither 
he  was  followed  by  Captain  Fairbanks' 
squadron  of  Prairie  Scouts.  He  left  in 
the  town  a  guard  of  twenty  dismounted 
men  and  a  corporal. 

The  eloquent  narrative  of  Mr.  Dors- 
heimer,  already  cited,  supplies  several 
animated  personal  incidents  of  this  me- 
morable encounter.  We  take  up  his 
description  towards  the  close,  where 
Zagonyi  makes  his  final  charge  upon  the 
enemy  on  the  hill  side:  "Up  to  this 
time  no  Guardsman  has  struck  a  blow, 
but  blue  coats  and  bay  horses  lie  thick 
along  the  bloody  lane.  Their  time  has 
come.  Lieutenant  Maythenyi,  with  thirty 
men,  is  ordered  to  attack  the  cavalry. 
With  sabres  flashing  over  their  heads, 
the  little  band  of  heroes  spring  towards 
their  tremendous  foe.  Right  upon  the 
centre  they  charge.  The  dense  mass 
opens,  the  blue  coats  force  their  way  in, 
and  the  whole  rebel  squadron  scatter  in 
disgraceful  flight  through  the  corn-fields 
in  the  rear.  The  bays  follow  them, 
sabring  the  fugitives.  Days  after  the 
enemy's  horses  lay  thick  among  the  un- 
cut corn.  Zagonyi  holds  his  main  body 
until  Maythenyi  disappears  in  the  cloud 
of  rebel  cavaliy  ;  then  his  voice  rises 
through  the  air, — 'In  open  order, — 
charge !'  The  line  opens  out  to  give 
play  to  their  sword-arm.  Steeds  respond 
to  the  ardor  of  their  riders,  and,  quick  as 
thought,  with  thrilling  cheers,  the  noble 
hearts  rush  into  the  leaden  torrent  which 
pours  down  the  incline.  With  unabated 


592 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNIOX. 


fire  the  gallant  fellows  press  through. 
Their  fierce  onset  is  not  even  checked. 
The  foe  do  no;  wait  for  them — they 
waver,  break  and  fly.  The  Guardsmen 
spur  into  the  midst  of  the  rout,  and  their 
fast-falling  swords  work  a  terrible  re- 
venge. Some  of  the  boldest  of  the  South- 
rons retreat  into  the  woods,  and  con- 
tinue a  murderous  fire  from  behind  trees 
and  thickets.  Seven  Guard  horses  fall 
upon  a  space  not  more  than  twenty  feet 
square.  As  his  steed  sinks  under  him, 
one  of  the  officers  is  caught  around  the 
shoulders  by  a  grape-vine,  and  hangs 
dangling  in  the  air  until  he  is  cut  down 
by  his  friends.  The  rebel  foot  are  flying 
in  furious  haste  from  the  field.  Some 
take  refuge  in  the  fair-ground,  some 
hurry  into  the  corn-field,  but  the  greater 
part  run  along  the  edge  of  the  wood, 
swarm  over  the  fence  into  the  road,  and 
hasten  to  the  village.  The  Guardsmen 
follow.  Zagonyi  leads  them.  Over  the 
loudest  roar  of  battle  rings  his  clarion 
voice — '  Come  on,  Old  Kentuck !  I'm 
with  you !'  And  the  flash  of  his  sword- 
blade  tells  his  men  where  to  go.  As  he 
approaches  a  barn,  a  man  steps  from  be- 
hind the  door,  and  lowers  his  rifle  ;  but 
before  it  has  reached  the  level,  Zagonyi's 
sabre-point  descends  into  his  head,  and 
his  life-blood  leaps  to  the  very  top  of  the 
huge  barn-door. 

"The  conflict  now  rages  through  the 
village — in  the  public  square,  and  along 
the  streets.  Up  and  down  the  Guards 
ride  in  squads  of  three  or  four,  and 
wherever  they  see  a  group  of  the  enemy 
charge  upon  and  scatter  them.  .It  is 
hand  to  hand.  No  one  but  has  a  share 
in  the  fray.  There  was  at  least  one 
soldier  in  the  Southern  ranks.  A  young 
officer,  superbly  mounted,  charges  alone 
upon  a  large  body  of  the  Guard.  He 


passes  through  the  line  unscathed,  killing 
one  man.  He  wheels,  charges  back,  and 
again  breaks  through,  killing  another 
man.  A  third  time  he  rushes  upon  the 
Federal  line,  a  score  of  sabre-points  con- 
front him,  but  he  pushes  on  till  be 
reaches  Zagonyi — he  presses  his  pistol 
so  close  to  the  Major's  side,  that  he  feels 
it,  and  draws  convulsively  back,  the 
bullet  passes  through  the  front  of  Za- 
goityi's  coat,  who  at  the  instant  runs  the 
daring  rebel  through  the  body,  he  falls, 
and  the  men  thinking  their  commander 
hurt,  kills  him  with  a  half-a-dozen 
wounds.  '  He  was  a  brave  man,'  said 
Zagonyi  afterwards,  '  and  I  did  wish  to 
make  him  prisoner.7 

"  Meanwhile  it  has  grown  dark.  The 
foe  have  left  the  village,  and  the  battle 
has  ceased.  The  assembly  is  sounded, 
and  the  Guard  gathers  in  the  Plaza. 
Not  more  than  eighty  mounted  men  ap- 
pear :  the  rest  are  killed,  wounded  or 
unhorsed.  At  this  time  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  incidents  of  the  affair  took 
place.  Just  before  the  charge,  Zagonyi 
directed  one  of  his  buglers,  a  French- 
man, to  sound  a  signal.  The  bugler  did 
not  seem  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  or- 
der, but  darted  off  with  Lieutenant  May- 
thenyi.  A  few  moments  afterwards  he 
was  observed  in  another  part  of  the  field 
vigorously  pursuing  the  flying  infantry. 
His  active  form  was  always  seen  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight.  When  the  line  was 
formed  in  the  Plaza,  Zagonyi  noticed 
the  bugler,  and  approaching  him,  said, 
'  In  the  midst  of  the  battle  you  disobey- 
ed my  order.  You  are  unworthy  to  be 
a  member  of  the  Guard.  I  dismiss  you.' 
The  bugler  showed  his  bugle  to  his  in- 
dignant commander — the  mouth-piece  of 
the  instrument  was  shot  away.  He  said, 
4  The  mouth  was  shoot  off.  I  could  not 


MAJOR  WHITE'S  ESCAPE. 


593 


bugle  viz  mon  bugle,  and  so  I  bugle  viz 
mon  pistol  and  sabre.'  It  is  unnecessary 
to  add,  the  brave  Frenchman  was  not 
dismissed. 

"  I  must  not  forget  to  mention  Sergeant 
Hunter,  of  the  Kentucky  company.  His 
soldierly  figure  never  failed  to  attract 
the  eye  in  the  ranks  of  the  Guard.  He 
had  served  in  the  regular  cavalry,  and 
the  Body-Guard  had  profited  greatly 
from  his  skill  as  a  drill-master.  He  lost 
three  horses  in  the  fight.  As  soon  as 
one  was  killed,  he  caught  another  from 
the  rebels  ;  the  third  horse  taken  by  him 
in  this  way  he  rode  into  St.  Louis.  The 
Sergeant  slew  five  men.  '  I  won't  speak 
of  those  I  shot,'  said  he,  '  another  may 
have  hit  them  ;  but  those  I  touched  with 
my  sabre  I  am  sure  of,  because  I  felt 
them.'  At  the  beginning  of  the  charge 
he  came  to  the  extreme  right,  and  took 
position  next  to  Zagonyi,  whom  he  fol- 
lowed closely  through  the  battle.  The 
Major  seeing  him,  said,  '  Why  are  you 
here,  Sergeant  Hunter  ?  Your  place  is 
with  your  company  on  the  left.'  '  I  kind 
o'  wanted  to  be  in  the  front,'  was  the 
answer.  '  What  could  i  say  to  such  a 
man  ?'  exclaimed  Zagonyi,  speaking  of 
the  matter  afterwards.  There  was  hard- 
ly a  horse  or  rider  among  the  survivors 
that  did  not  bring  away  some  mark  of 
the  fray.  I  saw  one  animal  with  no  less 
than  seven  wounds  —  none  of  them 
serious.  Scabbards  were  bent,  clothes 
and  caps  pierced,  pistols  injured.  I  saw 
one  pistol  from  which  the  sight  had  been 
cut  as  neatly  as  it  could  have  been  done 
by  machinery.  A  piece  of  board,  a  few 
inches  long,  was  cut  from  a  fence  in  the 
field,  in  which  there  were  thirty-one 
shot-holes." 

Major  White,  meanwhile,  had  been 
carefully  guarded  by  the  enemy.  During 
75 


the  engagement  he  had  been  placed  on 
the  hill-side,  exposed  in  the  front  rank 
to  the  fire  of -his  friends,  and  his  horse 
was  shot  under  him.  He  was  all  the 
time  in  charge  of  his  preserver,  Captain 
Wroton,  who,  when  the  flight  occurred, 
conducted  him  to  a  farm-house  ten  miles 
distant.  The  host  fortunately  happening 
to  be  a  Union  man,  was  induced  to  assist 
in  a  plan  of  escape.  He  sent  his  son  for 
aid,  and  when  Wroton  and  his  squad  of 
guards  were  asleep,  a  friendly  party  of 
Unionists  of  the  county  came  in  and  cap- 
tured the  whole,  carrying  them  off  in  tri- 
umph to  Springfield.  Major  White  thus 
found  himself  in  command  of  the  town  at 
the  head  of  a  garrison  of  twenty-four 
men  ;  the  enemy,  too  much  intimidated 
to  re-enter,  had  left  the  corporal's  guard 
in  quiet  possession  during  the  night. 
Shrewdly  availing  himself  of  the  rebel 
panic,  he  stationed  twenty-two  of  his 
paltry  force  as  pickets,  and  in  this  im- 
posing attitude  received  a  flag  of  truce 
from  the  rebels  asking  permission  to  bury 
their  dead.  To  this  he  ceremoniously 
replied  that  he  must  consult  General 
Sigel,  thus  inducing  the  belief  of  the  pre- 
sence of  that  officer  in  the  neighborhood, 
while  he  was,  in  reality,  forty  miles 
away.  In  a  conveniently  short  time,  a 
written  communication,  purporting  to 
come  from  General  Sigel,  was  forwarded 
granting  the  request,  and  a  detachment 
of  the  pickets  were  stationed  to  preside 
over  the  necessary  arrangements. 

The  loss  of  the  Guard,  as  reported  by 
Zagonyi,  was  fifteen  killed,  twenty-seven 
wounded,  and  ten  missing — about  one- 
third  of  his  command  in  the  action.  The 
Prairie  Scouts  lost  thirty-one  out  of  a 
hundred  and  thirty.  The  loss  cf  the  en- 
emy in  killed  was  estimated,  from  the 
statements  of  citizens,  scouts,  and  pris- 


594 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


oners,  at  cne  hundred  and  six.  The 
number  of  wounded  could  not  be  ascer- 
tained. Twenty-seven  prisoners  were 
taken,  about  four  thousand  dollars  in 
gold,  and  about  sixty  stand  of  arms. 
Zagonyi's  report  of  this  affair  to  General 
Fremont,  dated  "Five  miles  South  of 
Bolivar,  Mo.,  October  26th  — 1  A.M.," 
was  in  these  words  :  "I  report,  respect- 
fully, that  yesterday  afternoon  at  4 
o'clock,  I  met  in  Springfield  from  2,000 
to  2,200r  of  the  rebels  in  their  camp, 
formed  in  line  of  battle.  They  gave  me 
a  very  warm  reception — warmer  than  I 
expected.  But  your  Guard,  with  one 
feeling,  made  a  charge,  and  in  less  than 
three  minutes  the  2,000  or  2,200  rebels 
were  routed  by  150  men  of  the  Body- 
Guard.  We  cleared  out  the  city  per- 
fectly from  every  rebel,  and  raised  the 
Union  flag  on  the  Court-House.  It  get- 
ting too  dark,  I  concluded  to  leave  the 
city,  not  being  able  to  keep  it  with  150 
men.  Major  White's  men  did  not  parti- 
cipate in  the  charge.  Allow  me,  Gen- 
eral, to  make  you  acquainted  with  the 
behavior  of  the  soldiers  and  officers.  I 
have  seen  charges  ;  but  such  brilliant 
unanimity  and  bravery  I  have  never 
seen,  and  did  not  expect  it.  Their  war- 
cry,  '  Fremont  and  the  Union,'  broke 
forth  like  thunder." 

The  closing  days  of  General  Fremont's 
administration  were  also  cheered  by  a 
victory  hardly  less  brilliant,  and  decid- 
edly more  important,  in  the  south-east- 
ern region  of  the  State.  There,  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  Frederick- 
town,  the  capital  of  Madison  county,  in 
the  heart  of  the  rich  mining  district,  on 
the  21st  of  October,  the  forces  pf  the 
rebels,  some  thirty-five  hundred  in  num- 
ber, led  by  General  Jeff.  Thompson,  were 
met  by  a  body  of  four  thousand  of  the  na-  | 


tional  troops,  and  defeated  with  great  loss. 
The  Union  force  was  made  up  from  two 
separate  columns — one  from  the  direction 
of  St.  Louis  under  Colonel  Carlin,  com- 
prising parts  of  three  Illinois  regiments,  a 
Wisconsin  regiment,  Colonel  Baker's  In- 
diana cavalry,  and  Major  Scofield's  bat- 
tery ;  the  other  from  Cape  Girardeau, 
under  Colonel  Plummer,  consisting  of 
two  Illinois  and  one  Missouri  regiments, 
a  section  of  a  battery,  and  two  compa- 
nies of  cavalry.  Both  divisions  entered 
Fredericktown  in  the  forenoon,  when 
Colonel  Plummer,  taking  command  of  the 
joint  force,  immediately  proceeded  in  pur- 
suit of  the  enemy,  who  had  left  the  place 
the  day  before.  Their  position  was  pre- 
sently discovered  about  a  mile  from  the 
town  on  the  Greenville  road.  Colonel 
Plummer  brought  his  troops  into  action 
at  once,  and  after  a  sharp  contest  of  two 
hours  and  a  half,  the  enemy  were  defeat- 
ed with  heavy  loss.  Colonel  Lowe,  one 
of  their  officers,  fell  in  the  early  part  of 
the  battle.  His  death  was  counterbal- 
anced by  the  loss  of  Major  Gavitt  and 
Captain  Highman  of  the  Indiana  cavalry, 
who  were  killed* in  a  gallant  charge  on  a 
rebel  battery.  One  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  of  the  enemy's  dead  were  buried, 
Captain  Plummer  tells  us  in  his  report 
on  the  field,  before  his  departure,  and 
other  bodies  were  found.  Eighty  pris- 
oners of  the  rebels  were  taken,  of  whom 
thirty-eight  were  wounded.  The  Union 
loss  was  six  killed  and  sixty  wounded. 
One  iron  12-pounder  field-piece  was 
taken  vfrom  the  enemy. 

A  correspondent  of  the  St.  Lorn* 
Democrat,  an  eye-witness  of  the  scene, 
gives  an  account  of  the  rebel  killed  and 
wounded  on  the  battle-ground,  a  piteous 
illustration  of  the  irregular  forces  hurried 
to  the  field  by  the  insurgents.  "  One- 


BATTLE  AT  FREDERICKTOWN,  MO. 


595 


third  were  boys  from  fifteen  to  eighteen 
years  old  —  mere  striplings  with  the 
down  on  their  faces,  who  could  not  have 
been  disciplined,  and  who  could  have 
had  no  adequate  idea  of  military  duty  or 
the  horrors  of  a  battle.  One  of  these, 
who  had  been  shot  through  the  thigh, 
and  was  suffering  intensely,  cried  like  a 
child,  as  he  was,  and  most  piteously  be- 
wailed his  unfortunate  condition.  Then 
their  guns.  They  no  doubt  had  some 
good  muskets,  but  of  the  forty  or  fifty 
pieces  that  had  been  picked  up  on  the 
battle-field,  not  a  single  one  could  be 
called  respectable.  More  than  half  of 
them  were  old  flint-lock  squirrel  guns 
that  were  next  to  useless  in  a  battle. 
Two  brothers  lay  behind  a  fence  ;  one 
of  them  was  shot  dead,  and  the  other,  a 
mere  boy,  concluding  discretion  was  the 
better  part  of  valor,  played  dead  and 
allowed  himself  to  be  taken  prisoner. 
Of  the  dead,  not  a  single  one  that  I  saw 
was  dressed  in  any  kind  of  a  uniform,  the 
clothing  being  generally  home-made  and 
butternut-colored.  Old,  torn,  fragment- 
ary hats  were  lying  in  every  direction, 
with  here  and  there  a  nut-brown,  thread- 
bare coat.  I  confess  that  in  looking  over 
the  field  and  reflecting  on  the  condition 
of  these  people,  I  felt  for  them  the  deep- 
est pity  and  commiseration.  Even  Col- 
onel Lowe  himself  had  but  a  sash  to  dis- 
tinguish him  from  a  civilian." 

The  military  qualities  of  these  men, 
however,  were  not  to  be  judged  altogether 
by  their  clothes.  They  showed  courage 
and  perseverance  ;  for,  disastrous  as  the 
day  was  to  them,  the  battle  was  well 
contested.-  Colonel  Plummer  pursued 
the  enemy  the  next  day  some  distance, 
but  did  not  find  them  disposed  to  make 
a  stand.  "  The  soldiers,"  he  adds  in  his 
report,  "after  their  return  to  Frederick- 


town,  believing  the  citizens,  who  nearly 
all  sympathized  with  the  enemy,  had  co- 
operated with  them  in  their  endeavor  to 
lead  us  into  an  ambuscade,  became  exas- 
perated, and  some  few  acts  of  violence 
ensued.  Six  or  seven  buildings  were 
burned.  I  exerted  myself  with  many 
of  the  officers  to  put  a  stop  to  the  incen- 
diarism, and  finally  succeeded.  I  will 
not  attempt  to  justify  such  acts  of  vio- 
lence, but  if  anything  could  palliate 
them,  it  would  be  the  deserted  homes 
and  desolated  fields  of  our  Union  friends, 
which  I  witnessed  upon  the  march."* 

Animated  by  these  foretastes  of  victo- 
ry, the  army  now  moved  rapidly  on  to 
Springfield.  Sigel,  who  had  led  the  way 
from  the  commencement,  overcoming  by 
his  energy  and  good  military  manage- 
ment all  the  difficulties  of  the  long  march 
arising  from  imperfect  transportation  and 
supplies,  was  the  first  to  enter  the  town 
the  second  day  after  Zagonyi's  engage- 
ment, the  morning  of  Sunday  the  28th, 
and  in  the  afternoon  he  was  followed  by 
General  Fremont,  with  his  staff  officers 
and  guard.  Two  days  after,  Asboth  came 
in  with  his  division ;  then  McKinstry, 
on  the  31st,  having  marched  with  his 
well-appointed  command — the  best  sup- 
plied in  the  army  with  the  means  of 
transportation — seventy  miles  in  three 
days.  Pope's  division,  close  at  hand, 
came  in  two  or  three  days  after.  Hun- 
ter was  yet  distant  somewhere  toward 
the  Osage. 

Every  preparation  was  making  by 
General  Fremont  for  an  engagement. 
The  rebel  Price,  who,  with  McCulloch, 
it  was  supposed,  mustered  some  thirty 
thousand  men,  had  been  reported  in  the 
south-western  corner  of  the  State,  at 


*  Colonel  J.  B.  Plummer  to  General  TJ.  S.  Grant,  Cape 
Girardeau,  Oct.  31,  1861. 


596 


WAE  FOR  THE  UNION. 


Neosho,  then  at  Cassville,  was  now  con- 
fidently believed  to  be  approaching 
Springfield.  But  just  at  this  crisis,  when 
a  battle  was  daily  expected,  an  order 
from  General  Scott  was  delivered  to  Fre- 
mont in  his  camp  at  Springfield,  relieving 
him  of  his  command,  and  directing  him 
to  transfer  it  to  General  Hunter.  The 
blow  had  been  some  time  impending. 
Rumors  of  jealousies  and  dissatisfaction 
with  the  Department  had  for  weeks  filled 
the  newspapers.  Vague  charges  of  ex- 
travagance and  irregularity,  even  of  van- 
ity and  incompetence,  had  been  freely 
circulated,  to  all  of  which  additional 
weight  was  given  by  a  flying  tour  of  in- 
spection in  Missouri,  in  the  middle  of 
October,  while  the  army  was  on  its 
march,  by  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  accompanied  by  General  Thomas, 
Adjutant-General  at  Washington.  The 
report  of  General  Thomas,  presented  on 
his  return  to  the  Secretary,  which  got 
before  the  public  in  the  newspapers,  was 
decidedly  unfavorable  to  Fremont.  It 
charged  him  with  various  assumptions  of 
authority,  with  making  military  appoint- 
ments in  an  irregular  manner,  with  incur- 
ring unnecessary  expenses,  with  giving 
out  contracts  illegally,  with  having  pro- 
cured worthless  fire-arms  in  Europe,  with 
neglecting  reinforcements  to  Lyon  and 
Mulligan.  Serious  charges  and  specifica- 
tions were  also  brought  by  Colonel  Fran- 
cis P.  Blair,  Jr.,  between  whom  and 
General  Fremont  the  most  unfriendly 
relations  existed.  Whatever  explana- 
tions there  might  be  to  modify  these  dis- 
paraging statements,  or  lessen  the  force 
of  the  unsparing  military  criticism,  could 
not  be  so  readily  forthcoming  as  the 
charges,  particularly  as  the  subject  of 
them  was  engaged  in  an  active  campaign  in 
face  of  the  enemy.  The  time  came  after- 


wards for  reply  and  discussion,  when  the 
accusations  were  frankly  met  by  General 
Fremont,  and  the  whole  matter  was 
brought  before  a  Committee  of  Congress  ; 
but  there  was  only  one  course  at  the  time 
—to  be  silent  and  submissive. 

This  was  magnanimously  pursued  by 
General  Fremont.  Without  a  word  of 
rebuke  or  disaffection,  he  gave  the  neces- 
sary directions  for  the  change  of  com- 
mand, and  issued  this  simple  farewell 
order  to  his  troops: — "Headquarters 
Western  Department,  Springfield,  Mo., 
November  2,  1861.  — Soldiers  of  the 
Mississippi  Army  :  Agreeably  to  orders 
received  this  day,  I  take  leave  of  you. 
Although  our  army  has  been  of  sudden 
growth,  we  have  grown  up  together,  and 
I  have  become  familiar  with  the  brave 
and  generous  spirits  which  you  bring  to 
the  defence  of  your  country,  and  which 
makes  me  anticipate  for  you  a  brilliant 
career.  Continue  as  you  have  begun, 
and  give  to  my  successor  the  same  cor- 
dial and  enthusiastic  support  with  which 
you  have  encouraged  me.  Emulate  the 
splendid  example  which  you  have  already 
before  you,  and  let  me  remain,  as  I  am, 
proud  of  the  noble  army  which  I  have 
thus  far  labored  to  bring  together.  Sol- 
diers, I  regret  to  leave  you  sincerely.  I 
thank  you  for  the  regard  and  confidence 
you  have  invariably  shown  me.  I  deep- 
ly regret  that  I  shall  not  have  the  honor 
to  lead  you  to  the  victory  which  you  are 
just  about  to  win,  but  I  shall  claim  the 
right  to  share  with  you  in  the  joy  of 
every  triumph,  and  trust  always  to  be 
personally  remembered  by  my  compan- 
ions in  arms." 

Many  of  the  soldiers  who  had  taken 
up  arms  out  of  personal  regard  for  the 
General,  were  not  disposed  to  acquiesce 
quite  so  philosophically  in  this  unusual 


AN  ENGAGEMENT  INTERCEPTED. 


597 


experiment  of  arresting  an  army  with 
every  nerve  strung,  fully  intent  upon  a 
victorious  conflict  with  the  enemy.  Their 
disappointment,  however,  though  loudly 
expressed,  was  not  encouraged,  nor  suf- 
fered to  interfere  with  the  discipline  of 
the  camp.  The  officers  were  still  decid- 
ed in  their  expressions  of  the  necessity 
of  a  battle,  which  the  General  himself, 
from  the  expressions  in  his  Order,  evi- 
dently thought  desirable,  if  not  inevita- 
ble. The  theory  seems  to  have  been 
this.  Price,  the  most  troublesome,  as  he 
is  the  most  crafty  and  elusive  of  military 
agitators,  is  inclined  to  give  battle.  Our 
force  is  well  prepared  to'  meet  him,  and 
now  is  the  opportunity.  If  we  do  not 
seize  the  golden  moment  he  will  escape, 
and,  as  the  event  proved,  remain  to  har- 
ass the  State  and  perplex  future  armies. 
Fremont  and  his  officers  were,  we  be- 
lieve, unanimous  on  this  point — to  strike, 
and  strike  at  once.  Indeed  the  urgency 
appeared  so  great  that,  General  Hunter 
not  having  yet  arrived  to  undertake  his 
command,  Fremont  was  pressed  and 
consented  to  lead  his  troops  in  the  immi- 
nent engagement.  He  accordingly  issued 
an  order  of  battle  on  'the  3d,  in  which  he 
assigned  the  positions  of  the  several  divi- 
sions— Asboth  on  the  right  wing,  Sigel 
on  the  left,  McKinstry  to  the  centre,  and 
Pope  in  reserve,  with  directions  for  their 
line  of  march  to  the  old  ground  of  Gen- 
eral Lyon's  engagement  at  Wilson's 
Creek,  where  the  enemy  was  reported  to 
be  again  encamped.  The  movement  was 
to  be  made  at  6  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing. All  was  anxious  preparation  that 
night  for  the  coming  battle,  when  about 
midnight  General  Hunter  presented  him- 
self in  the  midst  of  the  assembled  Gener- 
als in  council,  received  the  command, 
and  indefinitely  postponed  the  engage- 


ment. The  next  day,  instead  of  mov- 
ing southerly  to  the  encounter  with  Price, 
General  Fremont,  accompanied  by  the 
officers  of  his  staff,  his  noble  Body-Guard, 
and  a  band  of  about  fifty  Delaware  In- 
dians, who  had  been  attracted  to  his 
camp  by  recollections  of  his  old  journey 
of  exploration,  pursued  their  way  toward 
St.  Louis. 

Mr.  Dorsheimer  thus  narrates  the  last 
incidents  of  the  interrupted  campaign- 
as  the  Major-General  retires  with  his 
simple  escort  from  the  army  which  had 
been  raised  with  such  effort,  and  which 
he  was  leading,  as  all  hoped,  to  victory. 
"  At  9  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  4th 
of  November,  we  were  in  the  saddle,  and 
our  little  column  was  in  marching  order. 
The  Delawares  led,  then  came  our  band, 
the  General  and  his  staff  followed,  the 
Body-Guard  came  next,  and  the  sharp- 
shooters in  wagons  brought  up  the  rear. 
In  this  order  we  proceeded  through  the 
village.  The  Benton  Cadets  were  drawn 
up  in  line  in  front  of  their  camp,  and  sa- 
luted us  as  we  passed,  but  none  of  the 
other  regiments  were  paraded.  The 
band  had  been  directed  to  play  lively 
airs,  and  we  marched  out  to  merry  music. 
The  troops  did  not  seem  to  know  that 
the  General  was  to  leave  ;  but  when  they 
heard  the  band,  they  ran  out  of  their 
camps  and  flocked  into  the  streets  ;  there 
was  no  order  in  their  coming  ;  they  came 
without  arms,  many  of  them  without  their 
coats  and  bareheaded,  and  filled  the  road. 
The  crowd  was  so  dense  that  with  diffi- 
culty the  General  rode  through  the 
throng.  The  farewell  was  most  touching. 
There  was  little  cheering,  but  an  expres- 
sion of  sorrow  on  every  face.  Some 
pressed  forward  to  take  his  hand  ;  others 
cried,  '  God  bless  you,  General !'  '  Your 
enemies  are  not  in  the  camp  !'  '  Come 


598 


WAR  FOE  THE   UNION. 


back  and  lead  us  to  battle  ;  we  will  fight 
for  you  !'  The  General  rode  on  perfect- 
ly calm,  a  pleasant  smile  on  his  face, 
telling  the  men  he  was  doing  his  duty, 
and  they  must  do  theirs.  We  travelled 
with  great  rapidity  and  circumspection  ; 
for  there  was  some  reason  to  suppose 
that  parties  of  the  enemy  had  been 
thrown  to  the  north  of  Springfield,  in 
which  case  we  might  have  been  interfer- 
ed with. 

"  Sedalia,  November  *lih.  We  are 
waiting  for  the  train  which  is  to  take  us 
to  St.  Louis.  Our  journey  here  has  been 
made  very  quickly.  Monday  we  march- 
ed twenty  -  five  miles.  Tuesday  we 
started  at  dawn,  and  made  thirty  miles, 
encamping  twenty-five  miles  south  of  the 
Osage.  Wednesday  we  were  in  the  sad- 
dle at  6  o'clock,  crossed  the  Osage  in  the 
afternoon,  and  halted  ten  miles  north  of 
that  river,  the  day's  journey  being  thir- 
ty-five miles.  We  pitched  our  tents 
upon  a  high,  flat  prairie,  covered  with 
long  dry  grass.  In  the  evening  the  Del- 
awares  signified  that,  if  the  General 
would  consent  to  it,  they  would  perform 
a  war-dance.  Permission  was  easily  ob- 
tained, and,  after  the  Indian  braves  had 
finished  their  toilet,  they  approached  in 
formal  procession,  arrayed  in  all  the  glory 
and  terror  of  war-paint.  A  huge  fire  had 
been  built.  The  inhabitants  of  our  little 
camp  quickly  gathered,  officers,  soldiers 
of  the  guard,  and  sharpshooters,  negroes 
and  teamsters.  The  Indians  ranged 
themselves  on  one  side  of  the  fire,  and 
the  rest  of  us  completed  the  circle.  The 
dancing  was  done  by  some  half-dozen 
young  Indians,  to  the  monotonous  beat- 
ing of  two  small  drums  and  a  guttural 
accompaniment  which  the  dancers  sang, 
the  other  Indians  joining  in  the  chorus. 
The  performance  was  divided  into  two 


parts,  and  the  whole  was  intended  to  ex- 
press the  passions  which  war  excites  in  the 
Indian  nature — the  joy  which  they  feel 
at  the  prospect  of  a  fight — their  contempt 
for  their  enemies — their  frenzy  at  sight 
of  the  foe — the  conflict — the  operations 
of  tomahawking  and  scalping  their  op- 
ponents— and,  finally,  the  triumph  of 
victory.  The  performances  occupied  over 
two  hours.  Fall-Leaf  presided  with  an 
air  of  becoming  gravity,  smoking  an 
enormous  stone  pipe  with  a  long  reed 
stem.  After  rendering  thanks  in  proper 
form,  Fall-Leaf  was  told  that,  by  way  of 
return  to  their  civility,  and  in  special 
honor  to  the  Delawares,  the  negroes 
would  dance  one  of  their  national  dances. 
Two  agile  darkies  came  forward,  and 
went  through  with  a  regular  break-down, 
to  the  evident  entertainment  of  the  red 
men.  Afterwards  an  Irishman  leaped 
into  the  ring  and  began  an  Irish  horn- 
pipe. He  was  the  best  dancer  of  all,  and 
his  complicated  steps  and  astonishing 
tours-de-force  completely  upset  the  grav- 
ity of  the  Indians,  and  they  burst  into 
loud  laughter.  It  was  midnight  before 
the  camp  was  composed  to  its  last  night's 
sleep.  This  mornnig  we  started  an  hour 
before  day,  and  marched  to  this  place, 
twenty  miles,  by  noon.  Thus  ended 
the  expedition  of  General  Fremont  to 
Springfield." 

On  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  Novem- 
ber General  Fremont  was  welcomed  to 
St.  Louis  by  a  deputation  of  the  citizens, 
who  presented  him  with  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions, warmly  expressive  of  their  con- 
fidence in  the  integrity  and  patriotism 
of  his  conduct  under  many  "  paralyzing 
circumstances."  In  reply,  he  said,  "  Gen- 
tlemen, I  wish  to  say  to  you  that  your 
kind  and  affectionate — I  may  even  say 
affectionate — reception  of  me  moves  my 


SPEECH   OF   GENERAL  FREMONT. 


599 


heart.    It  cheers  me  and  strengthens  my 
confidence — rny  confidence,  already  some- 
what wavering — in  our  republican  insti- 
tutions.    I  felt  all   day   as  we   passed 
through  the  country — I  feel  emphatically 
to-night — that  the  faithful  servant  of  the 
people,  honestly  laboring  in  the  public 
cause,  will  not  be  allowed  to  suffer  un- 
deserved, and  I  feel  stronger.     Since  I 
left  you  a  few  weeks-  ago,  many  accusa- 
tions have  been  rained  on  my  defenceless 
head — defenceless,  because  ray  face  was 
turned  to  the  public  enemy.    What  I  see 
and  hear  to-night,  the  address  you  have 
just  read  to  me,  and  the  approving  mul- 
titude below,   show  me  that  I  was  not 
wrong  in  leaving  my  defence  with  you. 
In  regard   to   the   baser  charges  made 
against  me  I  will  say  nothing  now.    You 
do  not  require  it,  and  to  speak  of  them 
would  jar  upon  the  generous  feelings  with 
which  you  come  here  to-night.     Others 
have    been    already   answered    by  my 
brave  soldiers  at  Springfield  ;  and  others 
of  gross  incompetency  and  a  weak  and 
aimless  administration,  to  all  of  these  I 
will  adopt  your  address,  and  the  shouts 
of  the  grand  multitude  assembled  below, 
as  my  answer.     And  for  all  this,  gentle- 
men, to  you  and  to  them,  I  renew  my 
thanks   with  all  my   heart,    which,   to- 
night, is  roused  to  full  sensibility  by  the 
hearty  and   unqualified    expression   of 
your    confidence    and    approbation    so 
valuable  and  grateful  to  me  in  my  actual 
position.     I  shall  soon  have  occasion,  for 
I  shall  make  occasion,  to  answer  all  these 
charges  more  definitely.     Until  then,  I 
will  rely  upon  this  evening  for  my  de- 
fence." 

The  staff  of  General  Fremont,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Act  of  Congress  of 
the  previous  session,  was  presently  dis- 
charged. It  consisted  of  Colonel  J.  H. 


Eaton,  Assistant- Adjutant  General,  Col- 
onel A.  Tracy,  Acting  Chief  Commissary, 
Colonel  J.  C.  Woods,  Director  of  Trans- 
portation, and  the  following  Aids-de- 
camp :  Colonel  Hudson,  Colonel  Shanks, 
Colonel  Owen  Lovejoy,  the  well-known 
member  of  Congress  from  Illinois,  Major 
F.  J.  White,  the  leader  of  the  dashing 
march  on  Lexington,  Major  W.  Dors- 
heimer,  whose  narrative  of  the  campaign 
we  have  frequently  cited,  Major  W. 
Savage,  Captain  J.  E.  Howard,  Captain 
L.  Haskell,  R.  W.  Raymond,  Lieutenant 
F.  Clarke,  Lieutenant  E.  N.  Hallowell, 
Captain  A.  Sacchi  and  Lieutenant  A. 
Odoni,  the  last  two,  soldiers  of  Garibaldi's 
campaigns,  who  had  come  from  Italy  to 
take  part  in  the  war. 

The  day  previously  to  the  surrender 
of  his  command,  General  Fremont  com- 
pleted a  negotiation  with  General  Price, 
through  the  agency  of  commissioners,  for 
the  purpose  of  protecting  peaceable  cit- 
izens of  Missouri,  arid  for  the  exchange 
of  prisoners  of  war.  The  following  joint 
Proclamation  embodied  this  agreement : 
"  To  the  Peaceably -disposed  Citizens  of 
tlie  State  of  Missouri,  greeting,  Whereas, 
A  solemn  agreement  has  been  entered 
into  by  Major-Generate  Fremont  and 
Price,  respectively  commanding  antago- 
nistic forces  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  to 
the  effect,  that  in  future  arrests  or  forci- 
ble interference  by  armed  or  unarmed 
parties  of  citizens  within  the  limits  of 
said  State  for  the  mere  entertainment  or 
expression  of  political  opinions,  shall 
hereafter  cease  ;  that  families  now  broken 
up  for  such  causes  may  be  reunited,  and 
that  the  war  now  progressing  shall  be 
exclusively  confined  to  armies  in  the 
field  ;  therefore,  be  it  known  to  all  whom 
it  may  concern — 1.  No  arrests  whatever 
on  account  of  political  opinions,  or  for 


600 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


merely  private  expression  of  the  same, 
shall  hereafter  be  made  within  the  limits 
of  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  all  persons 
who  may  have  been  arrested,  and  are 
now  held  to  answer  upon  such  charges 
only,  shall  be  forthwith  released.  But  it 
is  expressly  declared  that  nothing  in  this 
proclamation  shall  be  construed  to  bar 
or  interfere  with  any  of  the  usual  and 
regular  proceedings  of  the  established 
courts  and  statutes  and  orders  made  and 
provided  for  such  offences.  2.  All  peace- 
ably-disposed citizens  who  may  have 
been  driven  from  their  homes  because  of 
their  political  opinions,  or  who  may  have 
left  them  from  fear  of  force  and  violence, 
are  hereby  advised  and  permitted  to 
return,  upon  the  faith  of  our  positive  as- 
surances that  while  so  returning  they 
shall  receive  protection  from  both  armies 
in  the  field,  whenever  it  can  be  given. 
3.  All  bodies  of  armed  men,  acting  with- 
out the  authority  or  recognition  of  the 
Major-General  before  named,  and  not 
legitimately  connected  with  the  armies  in 
the  field,  are  hereby  ordered  at  once  to 
disband.  4.  Any  violation  of  either  of  the 
foregoing  articles  shall  subject  the  offend- 
er to  the  penalty  of  military  law,  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  offence.  In 
testimony  whereof,  the  aforesaid  John 
Charles  Fremont,  at  Springfield,  Mo.,  on 
the  first  dajr  of  November,  A.  D.  1861, 
and  Major-General  Sterling  Price,  at 

,  on  this  day  of  November, 

A.  D.  1861,  have  hereunto  set  their  hands, 
and  hereby  mutually  pledge  their  earnest 
efforts  to  the  enforcement  of  the  above 
articles  of  agreement,  according  to  their 
full  tenor  and  effect,  to  the  best  of  their 
ability. 

"Secondly.  Brigadier-General  R.  Cur- 
tis, or  the  officer  in  command  at  Benton 
barracks,  is  hereby  authorized  and  em- 


powered to  represent  Major-General  Fre- 
mont ;  and  Colonel  D.  H.  Armstrong. 
Hon.  J.  Richard  Barrett,  and  Colonel 
Robert  M.  Remck,  or  either  of  them,  are 
hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  re- 
present Major-General  Price  ;  and  the 
parties  so  named  are  hereby  authorized, 
whenever  applied  to  for  that  purpose,  to 
negotiate  for  the  exchange  of  any  and  all 
persons  who  may  hereafter  be  taken 
prisoners  of  war  and  released  on  parole  ; 
such  exchanges  to  be  made  upon  the 
plan  heretofore  approved  and  acted 
upon,  to  wit:  grade  for  grade,  or  two 
officers  of  lower  grade  as  an  equivalent 
in  rank  for  one  of  a  higher  grade,  as 
shall  be  thought  just  and  equitable.  This 
done  and  agreed  at  Springfield,  Missouri, 
this  first  day  of  November,  1861.  By 
order  of  Major-General  Fremont.  J.  H. 
EATON,  A.  A.  A.  G.  "  Major-General 
Sterling  Price.  By  HENRY  W.  WIL- 
LIAMS, D.  ROBERT  BARCLAY,  Commis- 
sioners." 

The  Proclamation  was  signed  by  Gen- 
eral Price  at  Cassville  on  the  5th  of 
November,  but  was  not  suffered,  how- 
ever, to  be  operative.  General  Hunter 
thinking  its  provisions  impolitic  under 
the  circumstances  of  the  war,  imme- 
diately after  taking  command  of  the 
army,  addressed,  on  the  7th,  a  letter 
to  General  Price,  stating  that  he  could 
"  in  no  manner  recognize  the  agreement, 
or  any  of  its  provisions,  whether  implied 
or  direct,  and  that  he  could  neither 
issue,  nor  allow  the  joint  Proclamation 
to  be  issued."  In  communicating  this 
letter  to  Adjutant- General  Thomas,  Gen- 
eral Hunter  gave  the  following  as  the 
grounds  of  his  repudiation  of  the  con- 
vention. "  It  would  be,  in  my  judg- 
ment, impolitic  in  the  highest  degree  to 
have  ratified  General  Fremont's  nego- 


THE  FREMONT  AND  PRICE  CONVENTION. 


601 


tiations,  for  the  following,  among  many 
other,  obvious  reasons  :  The  second  stip- 
ulation, if  acceded  to,  would  render  the 
enforcement  of  martial  law  in  Missouri, 
or  any  part  of  it,  impossible,  and  would 
give  absolute  liberty  to  the  propagand- 
ists of  treason  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  State.  The  third  stipula- 
tion, confining  operations  exclusively  to 
'  armies  in  the  field,'  would  practically 
annul  the  Confiscation  Act  passed  during 
the  last  session  of  Congress,  and  would 
furnish  perfect  immunity  to  those  dis- 
banded soldiers  of  Price's  command  who 
have  now  returned  to  their  homes,  but 
with  the  intention,  and  under  a  pledge, 
of  rejoining  the  rebel  forces  whenever 
called  upon ;  and,  lastly,  because  the 
fourth  stipulation  would  blot  out  of  ex- 
istence the  loyal  men  of  the  Missouri 
Home  Guard,  who  have  not,  it  is  alleged, 
been  recognised  by  act  of  Congress,  and 
who,  it  would  be  claimed,  are  therefore 
'  not  legitimately  connected  with  the 
armies  in  the  field.'  There  are  many 
more  objections  quite  as  powerful  and 
obvious,  which  might  be  urged  against 
ratifying  this  agreement — its  address  '  to 
all  peaceably-disposed  citizens  of  the 
State  of  Missouri,'  fairly  allowing  the  in- 
ference to  be  drawn,  that  citizens  of  the 
United  States  (the  loyal  and  true  men 
of  Missouri)  are  not  included  in  its  bene- 
fits. In  fact,  the  agreement  would  seem 
to  me,  if  ratified,  a  concession  of  all  the 
principles  for  which  the  rebel  leaders 


are  contending,  and  a  practical  libera- 
tion, for  use  in  other  and  more  imme- 
diately important  localities,  of  all  their 
forces  now  kept  employed  in  this  portion 
of  the  State." 

General  Hunter,  after  remaining  a  few 
days  at  Springfield,  in  accordance  with 
an  order  from  the  President,  retreated 
in  the  direction  of  St.  Louis.  The  army, 
formed  in  so  short  a  time  by  the  exer- 
tions of  Fremont,  and  hurried  forward 
with  extraordinary  effort,  retraced  its 
steps  to  the  Missouri,  and  awaited  the 
call  of  the  new  head  of  the  Department, 
General  Halleck,  again  to  follow  under 
less  advantageous  circumstances,  at  a 
less  propitious  period  of  the  year,  the 
still  advancing,  still  retreating,  ever  re- 
newed, ever  dispersing  rebel  army  of 
Price.  When  the  Statement  of  Fremont, 
in  reply  to  the  charges  of  General  Thomas' 
Eeport  was  published,  in  the  ensuing 
March,  it  was  received  with  favor  and 
respect,  and  while  the  force  of  its  expla- 
nations was  freely  admitted — for  every 
ingenuous  mind  rejoices  when  a  load  of 
obloquy  is  removed  from  the  fair  fame 
of  a  man  like  Fremont — it  was  yet  felt 
that  the  best  vindication  of  his  hurried 
military  manoeuvres,  and  the  policy  of 
his  interrupted  campaign,  was  the  almost 
identical  repetition  of  the  movement  in 
the  recent  entry  of  the  Union  troops 
into  Springfield,  and  the  pursuit,  ac- 
cording to  the  original  programme  of  the 
still  fugitive  Price  into  Arkansas. 


76 


CHAPTER     XXXVIII. 


MILITARY  AND  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS  AT  SANTA  ROSAS  ISLAND  AND  THE  PASSES  OP 
THE  MISSISSIPPI,  SEPTEMBER -NOVEMBER,  1861. 


AFTER  the  reinforcement,  in  April,  of 
the  little  garrison  with  which  Lieutenant 
Slemmer  gallantly  seized  and  held  Fort 
Pickens,  that  important  position,  under 
the  energetic  command  of  Colonel  Har- 
vey Brown,  for  many  months  continued 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  public,  ex- 
pectation being  at  one  time  excited  by 
the  prospect  of  the  recovery  of  the  aban- 
doned ground  on  the  mainland  at  Pen- 
sacola,  at  another  by  the  danger  to  the 
fort  itself  from  attack  by  the  insurgents. 
A  description  of  a  visit  to  these  scenes 
in  April,  by  Mr.  Russell,  the  correspond- 
ent of  the  London  Times,  affords  us  the 
unusual  opportunity  of  an  intelligent 
view  of  what  was  going  on  in  both  camps 
at  the  same  time.  Accompanied  by  sev- 
eral friends,  he  ran  down  in  a  small 
schooner  from  Mobile,  was  admitted,  by 
the  courtesy  of  the  United  States  officers 
off  Pensacola,  to  pass  the  blockade,  and 
after  a  day  spent  with  the  Confederates 
among  their  defences  on  the  mainland, 
had  the  privilege  of  a  leisurely  inspection 
of  Fort  Pickens  and  Santa  Rosas  Island. 
He  found  General  Braxton  Bragg  in 
command  of  the  Confederates.  A  native 
of  a  Southern  State,  this  officer  had  been 
educated  at  West  Point,  and  had  served 
for  many  years  with  distinction  in  the 
United  States  army.  He  is  thus  intro- 
duced to  us  in  the  vivid  and  entertaining 
narrative  of  Mr.  Russell,  who,  on  land- 
ing, has  been  received  with  due  hospital- 
ity by  a  mess  of  New  Orleans  officers 
established  in  the  pleasant  quarters  about 


the  Navy  Yard.  "An  aide-de-camp 
from  General  Bragg  entered  as  we  were 
sitting  at  table,  and  invited  me  to  attend 
him  to  the  General's  quarters.  The 
road,  as  I  found,  was  very  long  and  very 
disagreeable,  owing  to  the  depth  of  the 
sand,  into  which  the  foot  sank  at  every 
step  up  to  the  ankle.  Passing  the  front  of 
an  extended  row  of  the  clean,  airy,  pretty 
villas  inside  the  Navy  Yard,  we  passed 
the  gate  on  exhibiting  our  passes,  and 
proceeded  by  the  sea-beach,  one  side  of 
which  is  lined  with  houses,  a  few  yards 
from  the  surf.  These  houses  are  all  oc- 
cupied by  troops,  or  are  used  as  bar- 
rooms or  magazines.  At  intervals  a  few 
guns  have  been  placed  along  the  beach, 
covered  by  sand-bags,  parapets  and  tra- 
verses. As  we  toiled  along  in  the  sand 
the  aide  hailed  a  cart,  pressed  it  into  the 
service,  and  we  continued  our  journey 
less  painfully.  Suddenly  a  tall,  straight- 
backed  man  in  a  blue  frock-coat,  with  a 
star  on  the  epaulette  strap,  a  smart  kepi, 
and  trousers  with  gold  stripe,  and  large 
brass  spurs,  rode  past  on  a  high-stepping, 
powerful  charger,  followed  by  an  order- 
ly. 'There  is  General  Bragg,' said  his 
-aide.  The  General  turned  round,  reined 
up,  and  I  was  presented  as  I  sat  in  my 
state  chariot.  The  commander  of  the 
Confederated  States  army  at  Pensacola 
is  about  forty-two  years  of  age,  of  a 
spare  and  powerful  frame  ;  his  face  is 
dark,  and  marked  with  deep  lines,  his 
mouth  large,  and  squarely  set  in  deter- 
mined jaws,  and  his  eyes,  sagacious,  pen- 


GENERAL  BRAXTON  BRAGG. 


603 


etrating,  and  not  by  any  means  unkind- 
ly, look  out  at  you  from  beetle-brows 
which  run  straight  across  and  spring  into 
a  thick  tuft  of  black  hair,  which  is  thick- 
est over  the  nose,  where  naturally  it 
usually  leaves  an  intervening  space.  His 
hair  is  dark,  and  he  wears  such  regula- 
tion whiskers  as  were  the  delight  of  our 
generals  a  few  years  ago.  His  manner 
is  quick  and  frank,  and  his  smile  is  very 
pleasing  and  agreeable.  The  General 
would  not  hear  of  my  continuing  my 
journey  to  his  quarters  in  a  cart,  and  his 
orderly  brought  up  an  ambulance,  drawn 
by  a  smart  pair  of  mules,  in  which  I 
completed  it  satisfactorily.  The  end  of 
the  journey  through  the  sandy  plain  was 
at  hand,  for  in  an  enclosure  of  a  high 
wall  there  stood  a  well-shaded  mansion, 
amid  trees  of  live-oak  and  sycamore, 
with  sentries  at  the  gate  arid  horses  held 
by  orderlies  under  the  portico.  General 
Bragg  received  me  at  the  top  of  the 
steps  which  lead  to  the  verandah,  and, 
after  a  few  earnest  and  complimentary 
words,  conducted  me  to  his  office,  where 
he  spoke  of  the  contest  in  which  he  was 
to  play  so  important  a  part  in  terms  of 
unaffected  earnestness.  Why  else  had 
he  left  his  estates  ?  After  the  Mexican 
war  he  had  retired  from  the  United 
States  artillery  ;  but  when  his  State  was 
menaced  he  was  obliged  to  defend  her. 
He  was  satisfied  the  North  meant  noth- 
ing but  subjugation.  All  he  wanted  was 
peace.  Slavery  was  an  institution  for 
which  he  was  not  responsible  ;  but  his 
property  was  guaranteed  to  him  by  law, 
and  it  consisted  of  slaves.  Why  did  the 
enemy  take  off  slaves  from  Tortugas  to 
work  for  them  at  Pickens?  Because 
whites  could  not  do  their  work.  It  was 
quite  impossible  to  deny  his  earnestness, 
sincerity  and  zeal  as  he  spoke,  and  one 


could  only  wonder  at  the  difference 
made  by  the  'stand-point7  from  which 
the  question  is  reviewed.  .  .  .  Before  I 
left  General  Bragg  he  was  good  enough 
to  say  he  would  send  down  one  of  his 
aides-de-camp  and  horses  early  in  the 
morning  to  give  me  a  look  at  the  works." 
The  tour  of  the  works  next  day  affords 
us  an  interesting  glimpse  of  the  enemy's 
camp.  "  I  do  not  think,"  writes  Mr. 
Russell,  "  that  any  number  of  words  can 
give  a  good  idea  of  a  long  line  of  detach- 
ed batteries.  I  went  through  them  all, 
and  I  certainly  found  stronger  reasons 
than  ever  for  distrusting  the  extraordin- 
ary statements  which  appear  in  the 
American  journals  in  reference  to  milita- 
ry matters,  particularly  on  their  own 
side  of  the  question.  Instead  of  hundreds 
of  guns,  there  are  only  ten.  They  are 
mostly  of  small  calibre,  and  the  gun-car- 
riages are  old  or  unsound,  or  new  and 
rudely  made.  There  are  only  five 
'  heavy'  guns  in  all  the  works  ;  but  the 
mortar  batteries,  three  in  number,  of 
which  one  is  unfinished,  will  prove  very 
damaging,  although  they  will  only  con- 
tain nine  or  ten  mortars.  The  batteries 
« 

are  all  sand -bag  and  earthworks,  with 
the  exception  of  Fort  Barrancas.  They 
are  made  after  all  sorts  of  ways,  and  are 
of  very  different  degrees  of  efficiency. 
In  some  the  magazines  will  come  to  speedy 
destruction  ;  in  others  they  are  well 
made.  Some  are  of  the  finest  white  sand, 
and  will  blind  the  gunners  or  be  blown 
away  with  shells  ;  others  are  cramped 
and  hardly  traversed  ;  others,  again,  are 
very  spacious  and  well  constructed.  The 
embrasures  are  usually  made  of  sand- 
bags, covered  with  raw  hides  to  save  the 
cotton-bags  from  the  effect  of  the  fire  of 
their  own  guns.  I  was  amused  to  ob- 
serve that  most  of  these  works  had  gal- 


604 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


leries  in  the  rear,  generally  in  connection 
with  the  magazine  passages,  which  the 
constructors  called  'rat-holes,'  and  which 
are  intended  as  shelter  to  the  men  at  the 
guns  in  case  of  shells  falling  inside  the 
battery.  They  may  prove  to  have  a 
very  different  result,  and  are  certainly 
not  so  desirable,  in  a  military  point  of 
view,  as  good  traverses.  A  rush  for  the 
1  rat-hole'  will  not  be  very  dignified  or 
improving  to  the  morale  every  time  a 
bomb  hurtles  over  them  ;  and  assuredly 
the  damage  to  the  magazines  will  be 
enormous  if  the  fire  from  Pickens  is  ac- 
curate and  well-sustained.  Several  of 
the  batteries  were  not  finished,  and  the 
men  who  ought  to  have  been  working 
were  lying  under  the  shade  of  trees, 
sleeping  or  smoking — long-limbed,  long- 
bearded  fellows  in  flannel  shirts  and 
slouched  hats,  uniformless  in  all,  save 
bright,  well-kept  arms  and  resolute  pur- 
pose. We  went  along  slowly,  from  one 
battery  to  the  other.  I  visited  nine  alto- 
gether, not  including  Fort  Barrancas,  and 
there  are  three  others,  among  which  is 
Fort  McRae.  Perhaps  there  may  be 
fifty  guns  of  all  sorts  in  position  for 
about  three  miles,  along  a  line  extending 
135  degrees  round  Fort  Pickens,  the 
average  distance  being  about  one  and 
one-third  miles.  The  mortar  batteries 
are  well  placed  among  brushwood,  quite 
out  of  view  of  the  fort,  at  distances  vary- 
ing from  2,500  to  2,800  yards,  and  the 
mortars  are  generally  of  calibres  corres- 
ponding nearly  with  our  10-inch  pieces. 
Several  of  the  gun-batteries  are  put  on 
the  level  of  the  beach  ;  others  have  more 
command,  and  one  is  particularly  well- 
placed,  close  to  the  White  Lighthouse,  on 
a  high  plateau  which  dominates  the 
sandy  strip  that  runs  out  to  Fort  McRae. 
Of  the  latter  I  have  already  spoken. 


Fort  Barrancas  is  an  old  fort — I  believe 
of  Spanish  construction,  with  a  very 
meagre  trace — a  plain  curtain-face  to- 
ward the  sea,  protected  by  a  dry  ditch 
and  an  outwork,  in  which,  however,  there 
are  no  guns.  There  is  a  drawbridge  in 
the  rear  of  the  work,  which  is  a  simple 
parallelogram,  showing  twelve  guns 
mounted  en  barbette  on  the  sea-face.  The 
walls  are  of  brick,  and  the  guns  are  pro- 
tected by  thick  merlons  of  sand-bags. 
The  sole  advantage  of  the  fort  is  in  its 
position  ;  it  almost  looks  down  into  the 
casemates  of  Pickens  opposite  at  its 
weakest  point,  and  it  has  a  fair  command 
of  the  sea  entrance,  but  the  guns  are 
weak,  and  there  are  only  three  pieces 
mounted  which  can  do  much  mischief. 
While  I  was  looking  round,  there  was  an 
entertaining  dispute  going  on  between 
two  men,  whom  I  believe  to  have  been 
officers,  as  to  the  work  to  be  done,  and  1 
heard  the  inferior  intimate  pretty  broad- 
ly his  conviction  that  his  chief  did  not 
know  his  own  business  in  reference  to 
some  orders  he  was  conveying.  The 
amount  of  ammunition  which  I  saw  did 
not  appear  to  me  to  be  at  all  sufficient 
for  one  day's  moderate  firing,  and  many 
of  the  shot  were  roughly  cast  and  had 
deep  flanges  from  the  moulds  in  their 
sides,  and  very  destructive  to  the  guns 
as  well  as  to  accuracy.  In  the  rear  of 
these  batteries,  among  the  pine  woods 
and  in  deep  brush,  are  three  irregular 
camps,  which,  to  the  best  of  my  belief, 
could  not  contain  more  than  2,700  men. 
There  are  probably  3,000  in  and  about 
the  batteries,  the  Navy  Yard  and  the 
suburbs,  and  there  are  also,  I  am  inform- 
ed, 1500  at  Pensacola  ;  but  I  doubt  ex- 
ceedingly that  there  are  as  many  as 
8,000  men,  all  told,  of  effective  strength 
under  the  command  of  General  Bragg. 


INTERIOR  OF  FORT  PICKENS. 


605 


It  would  be  a  mistake  to  despise  these 
irregulars.  One  of  the  Mississippi  regi- 
ments out  in  camp  was  evidently  com- 
posed of  men  who  liked  campaigning,  and 
who  looked  as  though  they  would  like 
fighting.  They  had  no  particular  uni- 
forms— the  remark  will  often  be  made — 
but  they  had  pugnacious  physiognomies 
and  the  physical  means  of  carrying  their 
inclinations  into  effect,  and  every  man 
of  them  was,  I  am  informed,  familiar  with 
the  use  of  arms." 

Having  made  the  circuit  of  the  works 
and  gathered  his  impressions  of  the  char- 
acter of  their  defenders,  Mr.  Russell  pre- 
sented himself  on  the  landing  at  Fort 
Pickens,  where  he  was  received  by  Cap- 
tain Yodges  and  Captain  Berry,  two  offi- 
cers at  the  station.  His  observations  of 
the  fort  and  its  capabilities  for  defensive 
and  offensive  action  were  amply  confirm- 
ed by  subsequent  events.  He  thus  de- 
scribes the  place.  "  The  way  from  the 
jetty  to  the  entrance  of  the  fort  is  in  the 
universal  deep  sand  of  this  part  of  the 
world  ;  the  distance  from  the  landing- 
place  to  the  gateway  is  not  much  more 
than  two  hundred  yards,  and  the  ap- 
proach to  the  portal  is  quite  unprotected. 
There  is  a  high  ramp  and  glacis  on  the 
land  side,  but  the  face  and  part  of  the 
curtain  in  which  the  gate  is  situate  are 
open,  as  it  was  not  considered  likely  that 
it  would  ever  be  attacked  by  Americans. 
The  sharp  angle  of  the  bastion  on  this 
face  is  so  weak  that  men  are  now  engag- 
ed in  throwing  up  an  extempore  glacis 
to  cover  the  base  of  the  wall  and  the 
casemates  from  fire.  The  ditch  is  very 
broad,  and  the  scarp  and  counterscarp 
are  riveted  with  brickwork.  The  cur- 
vette  has  been  cleared  out,  and  in  doing 
so,  as  a  proof  of  the  agreeable  character 
of  the  locality,  I  may  observe  upwards 


of  sixty  rattlesnakes  were  killed  by  the 
workmen.     An  abattis   has  been  made 
along  the  edge  of  this  part  of  the  ditch — 
a   rough   inclined   fence   of  stakes   and 
boughs  of  trees.     '  Yes,  sir  ;  at  one  time 
when  those  terrible  fire-eating  gentlemen 
at  the  other  side  were  full  of  threats,  and 
coming   to   take   the   place   every  day, 
there  were  only  seventy  men  in  this  fort, 
and  Lieutenant  Slemmer  threw  up  this 
abattis  to  delay  his  assailants,  if  it  were 
only  for  a  few  minutes,  and  to  give  his 
men  breathing  time  to  use  their  small 
arms.'    The  casemates  here  are  all  blind- 
ed, and  the   hospital   is   situate  in  the 
bomb-proofs  inside.  The  gate  was  closed  ; 
at  a  talismanic  knock  it  was  opened,  and 
from  the  external  silence  we  passed  into 
a  scene  full  of  activity  and  life,  through 
the  dark  gallery  which  served  at  first  as 
a  framework  to  the  picture.    The  parade 
of  the  fort  was  full  of  men,  and  as  a  coup 
d'oeil,  it  was  obvious  that  great  efforts 
had  been  made  to  prepare  Fort  Pickens 
for  a  desperate  defence.     In  the  parade 
were  several  tents  of  what  is  called  Sib- 
ley's   pattern,  like   our  bell   tents,  but 
without  the  lower  side-wall,  and  provid- 
ed with  a  ventilating  top,  which  can  be 
elevated  or  depressed  at  pleasure.     The 
parade-ground  has  been  judiciously  filled 
with  deep  holes,  like  inverted  cones,  in 
which  shells  will  be  comparatively  inno- 
cuous ;   and  warned  by  Sumter,  every- 
thing has   been   removed   which    could 
prove  in  the  least  degree   combustible. 
The  officer  on  duty  led  me  straight  across 
to  the  opposite  angle  of  the  fort.    As  the 
rear  of  the  casemates  and  bomb-proofs 
along   this   side   will   be   exposed  to  a 
plunging  fire  from  the  opposite  side,  a 
very  ingenious  screen  has  been  construct- 
:d,  by  placing  useless  gun-platforms  and 
parts  of  carriages  at  an  angle  against  the 


606 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


wall,  and  piling  them  up  with  sand  and 
earth  for  several  feet  in  thickness.  A 
passage  is  thus  left  between  the  base  of 
the  wall  and  that  of  the.  screen,  through 
which  a  man  can  walk  with  ease.  Turn- 
ing into  this  passage,  we  entered  a  lofty 
bomb-proof,  which  was  the  bedroom  of 
the  commanding  officer,  and  passed 
through  into  the  casemate  which  serves 
as  his  headquarters. 

"  Colonel  Harvey  Brown  received  me 
with  every  expression  of  politeness  and 
courtesy.  He  is  a  tall,  spare,  soldierly- 
looking  man,  with  a  face  indicative  of 
great  resolution  and  energy,  as  well  as 
of  sagacity  and  kindness  ;  and  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Union  was  probably  one  of 
the  reasons  of  his  removal  from  the  com- 
mand of  Fort  Hamilton,  New  York,  to 
the  charge  of  this  very  important  fort. 
He  has  been  long  in  the  service,  and  he 
belonged  to  the  first  class  of  graduates 
who  passed  at  West  Point  after  its  estab- 
lishment in  1818.  After  a  short  and  very 
interesting  conversation,  he  proceeded  to 
show  me  the  works,  and  we  mounted 
upon  the  parapet,  accompanied  by  Cap- 
tain Berry,  and  went  over  all  the  de- 
fences. Fort  Pickens  has  a  regular  bas- 
tioned  trace,  in  outline  an  oblique  and 
rather  narrow  parallelogram,  with  the 
obtuse  angles  facing  the  sea  at  one  side 
and  the  land  at  the  other.  The  acute 
angle  at  which  the  bastion  toward  the 
enemy's  batteries  is  situate,  is  the  weak- 
est part  of  the  work  ;  but  it  was  built 
for  sea  defence,  as  I  have  already  ob- 
served, and  the  trace  was  prolonged  to 
obtain  the  greatest  amount  of  fire  on  the 
sea  approaches.  The  crest  of  the  para- 
pet is  covered  with  very  solid  and  well- 
made  merlons  of  heavy  sand-bags,  but 
one  face  and  the  gorge  of  the  bastion  are 
exposed  to  an  enfilading  fire  from  Fort 


McRae,  which  the  Colonel  said  he  in- 
tended to  guard  against  if  he  got  time. 
All  the  guns  seemed  in  good  order,  the 
carriages  being  well  constructed,  but 
they  are  mostly  of  what  are  considered 
small  calibres  now-a-davs,  being  32- 

v         '  O 

pounders,  with  some  42-pounders  and 
24-pounders.  There  are,  however,  four 
heavy  columbiads,  which  command  the 
enemy's  works  on  several  points  very 
completely.  It  struck  me  that  the  bas- 
tion guns  were  rather  crowded.  But, 
even  in  its  present  state,  the  defensive 
preparations  are  most  creditable  to  the 
officers,  who  have  had  only  three  weeks 
to  do  the  immense  amount  of  work  be- 
fore us.  The  brick  copings  have  been 
removed  from  the  parapets,  and  strong 
sand-bag  traverses  have  been  construct- 
ed to  cover  the  gunners,  in  addition  to 
the  '  rat-holes '  at  the  bastions.  More 
heavy  guns  are  expected,  which,  with 
the  aid  of  a  few  more  mortars,  will  ena- 
ble the  garrison  to  hold  their  own  against 
everything  but  a  regular  siege  on  the 
land  side,  and  so  long  as  the  fleet  covers 
the  narrow  neck  of  the  island  with  its 
guns,  it  is  not  possible  for  the  Confeder- 
ates to  effect  a  lodgment.  If  Fort  Mc- 
Eae  was  strong  and  heavily  armed,  it 
could  inflict  great  damage  on  Pickens  ; 
but  it  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other, 
and  the  United  States  officers  are  confi- 
dent that  they  will  speedily  render  it 
quite  untenable.  The  touches  a  feu  of 
the  fort  may  be  put  down  at  forty,  in- 
cluding the  available  pieces  in  the  case- 
mates, which  sweep  the  ditch  and  the 
faces  of  the  curtains.  The  walls  are  of 
the  hardest  brick,  of  nine  feet  thickness 
in  many  places,  and  the  crest  of  the  par- 
apets on  which  the  merlons  and  traverses 
rest  are  of  turf.  From  the  walls  there 
is  a  splendid  view  of  the  whole  position, 


COLONEL  HARYEY  BROWN. 


607 


and  I  found  my  companions  were  per- 
fe(;tl}T  well  acquainted  with  the  strength 
and  locus  of  the  greater  part  of  the  en- 
emy's works.  Of  course  I  held  my 
peace,  but  I  was  amused  at  their  accur- 
acy '  There  are  the  quarters  of  our 
friend,  General  Bragg.'  'There  is  one 
of  their  best  batteries  just  beside  the 
lighthouse.'  The  tall  chimney  of  the 
Warrington  Navy  Yard  was  smoking 
away  lustily.  The  Colonel  called  my 
attention  to  it.  '  Do  you  see  that,  sir  ? 
They  are  casting  shot  there.  The  sole 
reason  for  their  "  forbearance "  is  that 
Navy  Yard.  They  know  full  well  that 
if  they  open  a  gun  upon  us,  we  will  lay 
that  yard  and  all  the  work  in  ruins.' " 

To  the  personal  notice  of  Colonel  Har- 
vey Brown  in  this  paragraph,  we  may 
add  that  he  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey, 
and  that,  after  graduating  at  West 
Point,  he  became  1st  Lieutenant  of  Ar- 
tillery in  1821,  was,  in  the  Florida  war 
in  1836,  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  a  regiment 
of  mounted  Creek  Volunteers,  was  bre- 
vetted  Major  for  his  services,  and  in  the 
Mexican  war  gained  distinguished  credit 
in  the  columns  of  General  Taylor  and 
General  Scott  at  Monterey,  Contreras, 
Churubusco,  and  Belen.  He  reached  the 
rank  of  Major  in  1851,  and  Colonel  in 
1858.  His  selection  by  the  Government 
for  the  delicate  and  responsible  duty  of 
reinforcing  Fort  Pickens  and  taking  the 
command  on  his  arrival,  was  fully  justi- 
fied by  the  ability  with  which  these  ser- 
vices were  performed  by  him.  In  the 
early  perils  of  the  war  for  the  Union 
the  country  relied,  and  not  in  vain,  upon 
her  manly  defender  at  Fort  Pickens. 

Months  passed  on  while  the  defences 
were  being  strengthened  on  both  sides  ; 
the  defects  noticed  by  Mr.  Russell  were 
ronaired  ;  the  blockading  squadron  grew 


more  effective  with  experience  ;  heavier 
guns  were  brought  to  the  fort ;  new  re- 
inforcements came — the  notable  regiment 
of  Wilson's  Zouaves,  enlisted  in  the  City 
of  New  York,  on  their  arrival  at  the  end 
of  June,  increasing  the  force  on  the  island 
to  about  2,400  men — and  the  public  be- 
gan to  be  impatient  at  the  hesitation  or 
forbearance  of  the  Government  in  not 
arresting  the  increasing  line  of  batteries 
on  the  shore,  and  driving  the  insurgents 
from  their  position.  "As  a  specimen  of 
the  perfect  sangfroid,  and  if  I  may  be 
allowed  the  term,  the  peacefulness  of 
this  disgusting  war,"  wrote,  on  the  25th 
of  June,  a  correspondent  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Press,  from  the  deck  of  the 
Niagara,  one  of  the  blockading  fleet, 
"  Colonel  Brown,  who  has  declared  his 
determination  to  open  fire  the  first  op- 
portunity the  rebels  might  show  him, 
received  a  polite  note  from  General 
Bragg,  the  representative  of  the  pseudo 
government,  requesting  that  he  would 
not  commence  fire,  or  take  it  as  an  open- 
ing of  hostilities,  if  by  chance  one  of  his 
guns  should  be  discharged,  as  it  might 
be  from  some  accidental  cause,  but  wait 
for  a  repetition." 

The  delay,  however,  was  doubtless 
well  understood  at  the  fort,  and  had  its 
sufficient  reasons  of  policy,  were  it  only 
to  keep  employed  a  large  force  of  the 
enemy,  who  might  be  far  more  trouble- 
some to  the  National  cause  elsewhere. 
In  due  time  Pensacola  was  abandoned 
by  General  Bragg  and  his  army.  Mean- 
while the  seemingly  slow  progress  of 
hostilities  in  the  bay  was  diversified  by 
more  than  one  incident  of  brilliant  ad- 
venture. The  destruction  of  the  dry 
dock,  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  by  a 
party  from  the  fort,  was  one  of  these. 
The  enemy  had  unmoored  this  ponderous 


608 


WAR  FOR  THJi  UNiON. 


structure  at  its  station,  and  caused  it  to 
be  floated  into  the  channel,  where  it  was 
sunk  as  an  obstruction  to  the  passage  of 
any  vessels  into  the  bay.  This  remain- 
ed there  for  some  time,  when  it  becom- 
ing apparent  that  it  was  about  to  be 
removed  to  a  more  effective  position, 
Colonel  Brown  resolved  effectually  to 
dispose  of  it.  Sunday,  the  1st  of  Sep- 
tember, was  passed  in  preparation  for 
the  work,  the  carrying  out  of  which  was 
entrusted  to  Lieutenant  Shipley  with  a 
select  boat's  crew.  Ammunition  was 
got  ready  and  the  guns  manned,  to 
bombard  the  forts  on  the  shore  should 
opposition  be  offered  to  the  enter- 
prise. A  correspondent  from  Camp 
Brown,  outside  of  the  fort,  gives  an  ac- 
count of  the  scene  which  ensued.  "  Night 
came,  cloudless  ;  the  heavens  lit  up  by 
hosts  of  stars.  The  opposite  shore  was 
plainly  visible,  and  the  enterprise  seem- 
ed too  hazardous,  as  in  the  planning  of 
it  a  darker  night  had  been  looked  for. 
Upon  consultation  it  was  thought  best  to 
wait  till  the  following  night.  All  day 
Monday  a  strong  breeze  blew  from  off 
the  Gulf ;  rain  was  expected  but  none 
fell.  Night  came,  and  the  sky  was 
cloudy.  A  few  minutes  after  tattoo  (nine 
o'clock)  Lieutenant  Shipley  left  the  beach 
in  front  of  the  fort  in  a  boat,  with  eleven 
picked  men,  rowing  noiselessly  for  the 
dry  dock.  The  boat  reached  the  dock 
without  being  challenged,  was  made  fast, 
when  the  men  sprang  up  prepared  to 
encounter  and  overcome  the  sentries, 
who  had  often  been  seen  stationed  upon 
it  at  night ;  none  were  found,  however, 
and  they  proceeded  to  accomplish  their 
work.  Combustible  materials  of  various 
kinds  had  been  prepared  and  brought 
along,  together  with  three  large  Colum- 
biad  shells.  These  were  placed  in  the 


boilers.  The  combustibles,  properly  ar- 
ranged, word  was  given  for  the  men  to 
go  aboard  the  boat.  Lieutenant  Shipley 
remaining  to  apply  the  match,  which 
done,  he  quickly  followed  in  their  wake. 
Scarcely  had  a  distance  of  twenty  yards 
from  the  doomed  structure  been  gained 
by  the  gallant  little  band,  when  the 
flames  burst  forth,  followed  almost  imme- 
diately by  the  explosion  of  the  shells, 
which  filled  the  air  in  a  shower  of  frag- 
ments around  the  retreating  boat,  but 
fortunately  injuring  none  of  the  crew. 
As  the  first  streak  of  flame  mounted  up- 
wards, the  '  long  roll '  sounded  at  the 
Navy  Yard,  but  not  a  shot  was  fired,  and 
the  boat  reached  the  shore  in  safety. 
Meanwhile  the  whole  sky  was  illuminated 
by  the  tall  spires  of  flame  which  shot  up- 
ward from  the  burning  dock.  All  night 
long  the  fierce  element  sped  on  its  work 
of  destruction,  and  when  morning  dawn- 
ed, a  shapeless  mass  of  ruins  floating 
upon  the  water  was  all  that  remained  of 
the  dry  dock,  which  cost  the  Govern- 
ment upwards  of  a  million  and  a  half  of 
dollars,  but  which  the  '  ntad  demon  of  re- 
bellion' wrested  from  its  grasp."  * 

The  destruction  of  the  Dry  Dock  was 
succeeded  by  a  daring  achievement  un- 
der the  enemy's  guns,  by  a  select  party 
from  the  United  States  ship  Colorado,  of 
the  blockading  squadron,  which  recalls 
to  us  similar  feats  of  prowess,  in  the  bril- 
liant adventures  in  the  port  of  Tripoli 
of  Bainbridge,  Decatur  and  Somers.  The 
circumstances  of  this  affair  are  thus  nar- 
rated in  the  official  report  of  Flag-officer 
William  Mervine,  dated  from  his  ship 
the  Colorado,  off  Port  Pickens,  Septem- 
ber 15,  1861.  Addressing  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  he  writes :  "I  have  the 


*  Fort  Pickens'  correspondence  of  the  New  York  Herald, 
September  14,  1861. 


BURNING  OP  THE   SCHOONER  JUDAH. 


609 


honor  to  inform  you  that  a  boat  expe- 
dition was  fitted  out  from  this  ship  on 
the  night  of  the  13th  instant,  consisting 
of  the  first  launch,  first,  second  and  third 
cutters,  under  the  commands  of  Lieuten- 
ants Russell,  Sprotson,  Blake  and  Mid- 
shipman Steece,  respectively,  assisted 
by  Captain  Reynolds,  of  the  marine 
corps,  Assistant-Surgeon  Kennedy,  As- 
sistant-Engineer White,  Gunner  Bore- 
ton,  and  Midshipmen  Forrest  and  Hig- 
ginson.  The  whole  force  detailed  con- 
sisted of  about  one  hundred  men,  officers, 
sailors  and  marines.  The  object  of  the 
expedition  was  the  destruction  of  a 
schooner  which  lay  off  the  Pensacola 
Navy  Yard,  supposed  to  be  fitting  out 
as  a  privateer,  and  the  spiking  of  a  gun 
in  battery  at  the  south-east  end  of  the 
yard.  The  movements  of  the  schooner 
had  been  assiduously  watched  for  several 
days  and  nights,  and  I  deemed  it  so  mo- 
rally certain  that  she  was  intended  for  a 
privateer,  that  I  determined  the  attempt 
should  be  made  to  destroy  her,  even  in 
face  of  the  fearful  odds  which  would  have 
to  be  encountered.  Lieutenant  Russell 
had  charge  of  the  expedition,  and  with 
Lieutenant  Blake,  was  to  attack  the  ves- 
sel, while  Lieutenant  Sprotson  and  Mid- 
shipman Steece  spiked  the  gun.  The 
attack  was  made  on  the  morning  of  the 
14th  instant,  at  half-past  three  o'clock. 
The  schooner,  named  the  Judah,  was 
found  moored  to  the  wharf,  under  the 
protection  of  a  battery  and  one  field- 
piece,  and  to  be  armed  with  a  pivot  and 
two  broadside  guns.  Her  crew  were  on 
her  and  prepared  to  receive  our  forces, 
pouring  in  a  volley  of  musketry  as  the 
boats  neared  the  vessel.  A  desperate 
resistance  was  made  from  the  deck  of 
the  schooner,  but  her  men  were  driven 
off  on  to  the  wharf  by  our  boarders, 
77 


where  they  rallied  and  were  joined  by 
the  guard,  and  kept  up  a  continual  fire 
upon  our  men.  In  the  meantime  the 
vessel  was  set  on  fire  in  several  places. 
That  which  finally  consumed  her  was 
lighted  in  the  cabin  by  Assistant-En- 
gineer White  and  a  coal-heaver  Patrick 
Driscoll,  who  went  as  a  volunteer.  She 
burned  to  the  water's  edge,  and  has  since, 
while  burning,  been  set  free  from  her 
moorings,  and  has  drifted  down  opposite 
Fort  Barrancas,  where  she  has  sunk.  Of 
the  party  assigned  to  the  spiking  of  the 
gun,  only  Lieutenant  Sprotson  and  Gun- 
ner Boreton  were  able,  after  consider- 
able search,  to  find  it,  the  party  becom- 
ing separated  in  the  darkness.  No 
opposition  being  made  to  their  landing  ; 
Steece,  with  his  command,  had  gone  to 
the  aid  of  those  on  the  schooner,  where 
he  performed  valuable  service.  Yery 
fortunately  only  one  man  was  found  in 
charge  of  the  gun,  and  he  immediately 
levelled  his  piece  at  Lieutenant  Sprotson, 
but  was  shot  down  by  Gunner  Boreton 
before  he  could  obtain  certain  aim,  both 
pieces  exploding  simultaneously.  The 
gun,  which  was  found  to  be  a  10-inch 
columbiad,  was  immediately  spiked,  and 
bringing  off  its  tompion  as  a  trophy,  these 
two  officers  returned  to  their  boat  The 
work  proposed  having  been  thus  well 
and  thoroughly  done  in  the  short  space 
of  fifteen  minutes,  and  the  whole  force 
in  the  yard  (reported  by  deserters  to  be 
over  one  thousand  strong)  being  aroused, 
our  boats  pulled  away,  and  rallying  at 
a  short  distance  from  the  shore,  fired  six 
charges  of  canister  from  their  howitzers 
into  the  yard,  with  what  result  it  is  im- 
possible to  say.  Three  of  the  enemy  are 
known  to  have  been  killed,  and  our 
officers  are  confident  the  number  is  much 
larger.  The  boats  then  returned  to  the 


610 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


ship,  arriving  there  about  daylight.  But, 
sir,  I  am  grieved  to  report  that  this  bril- 
liant affair  was  not  unattended  with  loss 
on  our  side.  I  have  to  report  as  killed 
by  shots  from  the  cross-trees  of  the 
schooner,  while  the  boats  were  ap- 
proaching, Boatswain's  Mate  Charles  H. 
Lamphere,  and  John  R.  Herring,  sea- 
man, and  captain  of  howitzer  (two  of  the 
best  men  in  our  ship),  and  marine  John 
Smith  (the  first  man  to  board  the  schoon- 
er, and  who  behaved  most  gallantly), 
who  was,  by  a  sad  mistake,  having  lost 
his  distinguishing  mark,  killed  by  one  of 
our  own  men.  We  have  wounded,  prob- 
ably mortally,  seaman  R.  Clark  and  E.  K. 
Osborne  ;  severely,  nine  other  seamen. 
Captain  Reynolds  received  a  severe  con- 
tusion on  his  shoulder,  and  Midshipman 
Higginson  had  the  end  of  his  thumb  shot 
off.  Lieutenants  Russell  and  Blake  had 
narrow  escapes,  the  flesh  of  each  being 
grazed  by  one  or  more  musket  balls.  It 
is  not  an  easy  task  to  select  individual 
instances  of  bravery  or  daring  where  all 
behaved  so  gallantly.  The  officers  unite 
in  giving  great  credit  to  the  coolness  and 
bravery  with  which  they  were  supported 
by  the  men,  and  the  latter  have  learned 
to  look  with  new  pride  and  confidence 
on  the  former.  The  marines,  especially, 
seemed  to  have  sustained  the  reputation 
borne  by  their  branch  of  the  service,  as 
they  receive  encomiums  from  all  sides. 
Assistant-Surgeon  Kennedy  rendered 
valuable  assistance  in  the  care  of  the 
wounded.  Assistant  -  Engineer  White 
brought  down  from  the  cross-trees  of  the 
schooner  a  man  who  had  been  seen  to 
fire  upon  the  boats,  killing  him  in- 
stantly." 

The  next  incident  of  moment  at  Santa 
Rosa,  was  an  attack  of  the  enemy  in  a 
sudden  descent  upon  the  island.  Early 


on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  October  a 
well-planned  assault  from  the  mainland 
was  made  upon  the  camp  of  Colonel  Wil- 
son's 6th  regiment  New  York  Volun- 
teers. A  body  of  some  fifteen  hundred 
men,  consisting  of  detachments  from  va- 
rious regiments  and  companies  of  the 
Confederates  about  Pensacola,  in  which 
the  Georgia  and  Mississippi  riflemen 
were  well  represented,  crossed  on  the 
night  of  the  eighth  in  two  steamers  and 
a  barge,  and  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing were  safely  landed  on  Santa  Rosa 
Island,  at  a  point  about  four  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  fort.  They  were  com- 
manded by  General  Anderson,  formerly 
Captain  of  the  United  States  Dragoons. 
The  object  was  to  attack  and  destroy  the 
encampment  of  the  volunteers,  cut  off 
the  retreat  to  the  fort,  spike  the  guns  of 
the  two  batteries  near  Pickens,  and  prob- 
ably, if  opportunity  served,  though  they 
could  hardty  have  had  much  hope  of 
success  in  this,  assail  the  fort  itself.  The 
Zouave  camp  was  three  miles  below  the 
place  where  the  landing  was  made,  at  a 
spot  where  the  island  was  about  half  a 
mile  wide.  Along  the  coast  extended  a 
succession  of  three  or  four  sand  ridges, 
bounding  the  beach  on  either  side.  The 
ground  was  generally  low  and  swampy. 
The  landing  being  effected,  General 
Anderson  divided  his  force  into  three 
parts — one  led  by  himself,  to  proceed 
down  the  centre  of  the  island,  and  make 
the  main  attack,  while  the  others  advanced 
along  the  shore  to  the  right  and  left, 
with  the  intention  of  flanking  the  camp 
and  cutting  off  the  retreat  of  its  occu- 
pants. The  advance  picket  was  slain, 
pierced  by  three  balls,  the  Sergeant  of 
the  guard  met  with  a  like  fate,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  picket  fled  to  carry  the 
alarm  to  the  camp.  It  was  now  about 


ATTACK   ON   COLONEL  WILSON'S   CAMP. 


611 


three  o'clock,  and  the  soldiers  off  duty 
were  in  profound  slumber.  The  men 
were  hardly  aroused  when  the  enemy 
were  upon  them.  Their  tents  were  en- 
tered and  plundered,  and  many  of  them 
were  fired.  The  Zouaves,  however,  im- 
mediately rallied,  and  a  skirmishing  fire 
was  kept  up  with  the  invaders.  The  regi- 
mental colors  were  carried  out  in  safety 
from  a  burning  tent.  Word  was  now 
brought  to  the  fort  of  the  attack,  when 
Colonel  Brown  ordered  the  roll  to  be 
beaten,  manned  his  guns,  and  sent  forth 
his  second  in  command,  Major  Vodges, 
with  two  companies  of  regulars  to  the 
rescue.  Unhappily  this  officer  in  some 
way  became  entangled  with  the  enemy  in 
the  obscurity  of  the  night,  was  taken 
prisoner,  but  his  force  was  at  once  res- 
cued from  their  position  by  the  next  in 
command,  Captain  Hildt,  who  turned 
them  with  effect  upon  the  enemy.  Mean- 
while two  more  companies,  sent  forth 
from  the  fort,  under  Major  Arnold,  came 
up,  and,  the  enemy  retreating,  continued 
the  pursuit.  The  Zouaves,  also,  assisted 
by  the  officers  of  the  fort,  followed  on. 
The  invading  force  was  thus  driven  back 
in  fearful  disorder  and  consequent  loss 
from  the  well-directed  attacks  of  a  foe 
skillfully  taking  advantage  of  the  protect- 
ing sand  hills,  and  familiar  inequalities 
of  the  ground,  to  their  landing  place, 
where,  embarking  to  their  boats  they 
were  further  pursued  by  the  rifle  shots 
of  the  regulars,  thrown  among  their  solid 
masses. 

"  When  it  is  considered,"  says  Col- 
onel Brown  in  his  report,  "  that  less 
than  two  hundred  regulars,  with  some 
fifty  volunteers,  pursued  five  times  their 
number  four  miles  and  expelled  them, 
under  a  heavy  fire  from  the  island  they 
had  desecrated,  it  will,  I  trust,  be  con- 


sidered an  evidence  of  their  having  gal- 
lantly performed  their  duty.  The  plan 
of  attack  of  the  enemy  was  judicious, 
and,  if  executed  with  ordinary  ability, 
might  have  been  attended  with  serious 
loss  ;  but  he  failed  in  all  save  the  burn- 
ing of  one-half  the  tents  of  the  6th  regi- 
ment, which  being  covered  with  bushes, 
were  very  combustible,  and  in  rifling  the 
trunks  of  the  officers.  He  did  not  reach 
within  five  hundred  yards  of  the  bat- 
teries, the  guns  of  which  he  was  to  spike, 
nor  within  a  mile  of  the  fort  he  was  to 
enter  pell-mell,  the  fugitives  retreating 
before  his  victorious  arms.  I  have  now 
in  my  possession  nine  spikes  taken  from 
the  bodies  of  the  dead,  designed  for  our 
guns." 

The  loss  of  the  regulars  in  this  af- 
fair was  four  killed  and  twenty  slightly 
wounded,  and  of  the  Zouaves  ten  killed 
and  six  wounded.  Eight  of  the  regulars 
and  sixteen  of  the  volunteers  were  miss- 
ing, doubtless  taken  prisoners.  The 
Pensacola  Observer  reported  of  the  Con- 
federates twenty-one  killed,  thirty-eight 
wounded,  and  twenty-two  prisoners. 
Three  physicians  were  taken  prisoners 
and  released  by  Colonel  Brown  the  fol- 
lowing day. 

A  letter  from  Colonel  Wilson  to  Gen- 
eral Arthur^  dated  Fort  Pickens,  October 
14,  1861,  furnishes  a  familiar  account  of 
the  attack.  "  On  the  morning  of  the 
9th,"  he  writes,  "at  half-past  3  o'clock 
the  enemy  attacked  us  in  three  columns, 
commencing  by  attacking,  with  small 
parties  of  twenty  or  thirty  men,  every 
sentinel.  Two  companies  charged  the 
picket  tent,  the  three  bodies,  numbering 
in  all  2,000  men,  simultaneously  firing 
volleys  of  musketry  into  the  hospital  and 
guard-house.  We  were  out  and  formed 
in  quick  time.  The  sentinels,  the  guard, 


612 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


and  officers  came  running  in.  They  had 
fought  retreating  until  overpowered,  kill- 
ing quite  a  number  of  them.  Several  of 
our  pickets  were  killed  and  wounded. 
Private  W.  Scott  deliberately  waited 
until  one  column  was  within  ten  feet  of 
him,  and  then  shot  the  commanding  offi- 
cer, Captain  Bradford.  In  an  instant 
after,  we  were  formed,  fronting,  as  I  sup- 
posed, the  enemy.  It  was  so  dark  that  I 
could  not  discern  a  man  ten  feet  off. 
We  were  fired  into  from  three  sides.  I 
had  just  sent  out  Captain  Hazelton  with 
his  company  to  the  front  as  skirmishers, 
and  Captain  Duffy,  with  twenty  men,  to 
the  left  flank,  to  endeavor  to  find  out  the 
whereabouts  of  the  enemy  and  draw 
their  fire,  when  bang !  we  got  it  from  all 
sides !  By  companies  and  file  I  wheeled 
my  men  into  line  to  the  left,  and  return- 
ed the  fire.  At  this  moment  a  blaze 
arose — the  tents  were  all  on  fire  ;  the 
quartermaster's  and  commission  store  or 
building  was  also  on  fire — all  at  one  time. 
The  distance  from  the  camp  to  the  com- 
mission building  is  an  eighth  of  a  mile. 
We  could  then  see  our  enemy,  for  the 
first  time,  in  dense  masses  in  the  centre 
of  our  camp,  and  extended  along  the 
ridge.  Companies  were  seen  moving 
along  the  ridges  endeavoring  to  surround 
us.  A  large  body  of  men  were  also 
drawn  up  fronting  the  camp,  firing  into 
our  camp  and  us,  setting  fire  to  every- 
thing. We  retired  behind  the  first  ridge 
towards  the  sea,  halted  and  faced  the 
enemy.  I  had  but  sixty  men  with  me. 
I  sent  out  for  the  rest  of  my  officers  and 
men,  but  could  not  find  them.  Strag- 
glers came  in  and  reported  that  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Creighton,  Captains  Hazel- 
ton,  Huberer,  Hotrel,  and  Lieutenant 
Silloway  had  retired  towards  the  fort. 
On  hearing  this,  I  said  to  my  few  men : 


'  We  will  be  cut  off ;  they  are  trying  to 
surround  us  ;  we  are  too  few  to  fight  so 
many ;'  and  they  gradually,  being  in 
good  order,  moved  towards  the  beach  on 
to  the  first  battery,  where  wo  halted  and 
rested  a  few  moments.  We  then,  as  day- 
light appeared,  inarched  in  chase  of  the 
enemy.  Until  this  time  I  heard  no  news 
of  my  men  or  of  the  regulars.  I  then 
learned  from  Major  Towen  that  several 
companies  were  in  chase  of  the  enemy. 
We  hurried  up  some  seven  miles,  and 
arrived  a  few  moments  too  late  at  the 
place  where  the  enemy  were  getting 
slaughtered  by  our  men  while  they  were 
endeavoring  to  embark.  There  were 
three  steamboats  and  three  barges.  The 
enemy  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  about 
500  men.  General  Anderson  led  them 
on.  Their  war-cry  was  :  '  Death  to  Wil- 
son !  No  quarter  to  Wilson's  Zouaves  !' 
Five  thousand  dollars  was  the  reward 
for  him  dead  or  alive.  All  our  loss  is 
about  twenty  killed,  fifteen  wounded,  and 
twenty  prisoners.  Our  new  clothes  are 
all  destroyed.  I  have  lost  everything  I 
had  ;  my  men  also.  They  burned  us 
out  completely.  Our  papers  and  books 

are  burned They  are  exhibiting 

my  hair  and  head  in  Pensacola.  The 
reward  is  already  claimed  j  also  an  old 
flag  which  I  nailed  to  a  flag-staff  on  the 
4th  of  July,  which  has  been  hanging 
there  ever  since  ;  nothing  left,  however, 
but  the  stars.  The  ladies  have  cut  it  up 
in  pieces  and  have  it  pinned  on  their 
bosoms  as  a  trophy.  Every  one  in  Pen- 
sacola has  my  sword  and  uniform.  I 
must  have  had  a  large  quantity  of  hair, 
plenty  of  swords  and  uniforms.  They 
say  if  I  was  to  be  taken  alive,  I  was  to 
be  put  in  a  cage  and  exhibited."  Col- 
onel Wilson's  estimate  of  the  killed  and 
wounded  of  the  enemy  differs,  it  will  be 


CORRESPONDENCE  OF  COL.  BROWN  AND  GEN.  BRAGG. 


613 


observed,  from  that  of  the  Confederates 
themselves — not,  however,  out  of  pro- 
portion to  the  usual  discrepancies  in  the 
first  narratives  of  this  kind  throughout 
the  war. 

The  day  following  the  attack  upon  the 
forces  on  the  island,  Colonel  Brown — his 
thoughts  evidently  bent  on  retaliation — 
addressed  the  following  communication 
to  General  Bragg.  "  I  observe  this 
morning,'7  said  he,  "  for  the  first  time,  a 
yellow  flag  hoisted  over  a  large  building 
directly  in  front  of  my  batteries.  I  also 
understand  that  officers'  wives  and  chil- 
dren are  in  the  neighboring  buildings. 
I  do  not  make  war  on  the  sick,  women, 
or  children.  The  buildings  will  neces- 
sarily be  exposed  to  my  fire  should  there 
be  a  bombardment,  and  they  are  besides 
subject,  under  this  flag,  to  be  used  as  a 
protection  to  any  of  your  troops  that 
may  take  shelter  behind  or  before  them. 
I  therefore  give  you  this  notice — that 
the  sick,  women,  and  children  may  be 
removed,  so  that  if  fired  on,  the  respon- 
sibility may  rest  where  it  belongs." 

To  this  the  Confederate  commander 
sent  the  next  day,  the  10th,  the  following 
reply  :  "  I  received  late  last  night  your 
communication  of  that  date  with  profound 
astonishment.  The  building  on  which 
you  had,  for  the  first  time,  observed  the 
yellow  flag,  has  been  well  known  to  you 
and  to  all  your  command,  as  well  as  to 
the  United  States  Navy,  as  the  military 
hospital  of  this  station,  and  you  could  not 
help  knowing  that  it  is  now  used  for  that 
purpose.  Dealing  with  one  who  had  been 
an  old  brother  soldier  of  high  reputation, 
I  had  hoped  that  our  intercourse  and 
conduct  in  the  hostile  attitude  in  which 
we  are  placed  would  be  marked  by  all 
the  courtesies  and  amenities  of  civilized 
warfare.  But  it  seems  from  your  com- 


munication that  you  claim  the  right  to 
violate  the  hospital  flag,  because  it  may 
be  abused.  Admit  this  principle,  and  we 
revert  to  a  state  of  barbarism.  The  sick, 
the  women  and  children,  and  prisoners 
must  become  objects  of  vengeance,  the 
white  flag  must  be  abolished,  'Beauty 
and  Booty/  'Rape  and  Rapine,'  must 
follow  in  the  track  of  a  victorious  com- 
mander. I  decline  your  invitation  to 
make  these  the  subjects  of  war.  Your 
hospital  flag  has  been,  and  shall  be  re- 
spected. In  the  affair  of  Tuesday  night, 
your  hospital,  with  its  inmates,  was  in 
our  possession  for  at  least  one  hour,  and 
as  far  as  I  can  learn,  my  orders  to  scru- 
pulously respect  both  were  rigidly  en- 
forced. Our  hospital  and  the  two 
adjacent  buildings  occupied  by  medical 
officers  will  continue  to  be  used  for  legit- 
imate purposes.  Nothing  has  or  will  be 
done  to  attract  your  fire.  If,  under  these 
circumstances,  you  should  put  your 
threat  into  execution,  which  would  only 
be  in  accordance  with  the  acts  of  some 
of  your  brother  commanders  of  little  ex- 
perience in  the  custom  of  war,  I  shall 
take  care  that  the  fact  shall  be  made 
known,  that  it  may  receive,  as  it  will 
deserve,  the  execration  of  the  civilized 
world." 

Three  days  after  the  assault  of  the 
enemy  at  Santa  Rosa  Island,  a  spirited 
attack  of  a  like  desperate  character  was 
made  upon  the  blockading  vessels  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Mississippi.  By  orders 
of  Commodore  McKean,  the  chief  officer 
of  the  squadron  at  Pensacola,  the  United 
States  steamer  Richmond,  14  guns,  the 
sloops-of-war  Preble  and  Vincennes,  and 
the  steam-tender  Water  Witch,  carrying 
a  single  gun,  were  stationed  at  the  head 
of  the  passes  of  the  Mississippi,  where 
they  were  engaged  in  erecting  a  land 


614 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


battery  at  a  point  which  commanded  the 
entire  navigation  of  the  river.  While  in 
chis  position,  on  a  very  dark  night,  they 
were  suddenly  assailed  by  a  formidable 
flotilla  which  had  been  fitted  out  at  New 
Orleans,  and  was  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Hollins,  formerly  an 
officer  of  the  United  States  navy,  cele- 
brated for  his  bombardment  of  Grey- 
town,  in  Nicaragua.  The  enemy's  fleets, 
gathered  at  the  forts  above  the  Passes 
waiting  the  opportunity  for  attack,  con- 
sisted of  the  Manassas,  a  completely  cov- 
ered iron-plated  propeller,  altered  from 
a  heavy  tug-boat,  armed  with  a  64- 
pounder  Dahlgren  gun  and  a  formidable 
projecting  borer  or  ram ;  Commodore 
Hollins'  flag-ship  the  steamer  Calhoun. 
with  a  single  24-pounder  Dahlgren  ;  the 
steamers  Ivy,  McRea,  and  Jackson,  all 
powerfully  armed,  with  a  supplement- 
ary force  of  towboats  and  barges,  the 
latter  laden  with  combustibles  to  be  set 
on  fire  and  driven  against  the  Union 
vessels.  With  this  preparation  the  at- 
tack was  made.  It  is  thus  described  by 
flag-officer  Captain  John  Pope,  whose 
vessel,  the  Eichmond,  was  first  assailed. 
"At  3:45  A.  M.,  October  12,  1861," 
says  he,  in  his  report  to  Commodore 
McKean  the  day  after  the  affair,  "  while 
the  watch  on  deck  were  employed  in 
taking  coal  from  the  schooner  Joseph  H. 
Toone,  a  ram  was  discovered  in  close 
proximity  to  this  ship.  By  the  time  the 
alarm  could  be  given,  she  had  struck  the 
ship  abreast  of  the  port  fore  channels, 
tearing  the  schooner  from  her  fasts  and 
forcing  a  hole  through  the  ship's  side. 
Passing  aft,  the  ram  endeavored  to 
effect  a  breach  in  the  stern,  but  failed. 
Three  planks  on  the  ship's  side  were 
stove  in  about  two  feet  below  the  water- 
line,  making  a  hole  about  five  inches  in 


circumference.  At  the  first  alarm  the 
crew  promptly  and  coolly  repaired  to 
their  quarters,  and  as  the  ram  passed 
abreast  of  the  ship,  the  entire  port  bat- 
tery was  discharged  at  her,  with  what 
effect  it  is  impossible  to  discover,  owing 
to  the  darkness.  A  red  light  was  shown 
as  a  signal  of  '  danger,7  and  the  squadron 
was  under  way  in  a  very  few  minutes, 
having  slipped  the  cables.  I  ordered  the 
Preble  and  Vincennes  to  proceed  down 
the  South-west  Pass,  while  I  covered 
their  retreat,  which  they  did  at  4:50  A.M. 
At  this  time  three  large  fire-rafts,  stretch- 
ing across  the  river,  were  rapidly  near- 
ing  us,  while  several  large  steamers  and 
a  bark-rigged  propeller  were  seen  astern 
of  them.  The  squadron  proceeded  down 
the  river  in  the  following  order  :  1 .  Pre- 
ble ;  2.  Yincennes ;  3.  Richmond ;  4. 
Water  Witch,  with  the-  prize  schooner 
Frolic  in  tow.  When  abreast  of  the 
Pilot  Settlement,  the  pilot  informed  me 
that  he  did  not  consider  it  safe  to  ven- 
ture to  turn  this  ship  in  the  river,  but 
that  he  believed  he  could  pass  over  the 
bar.  I  accordingly  attempted  to  cross 
over  the  bar  with  the  squadron,  but  in 
the  passage  the  Yincennes  and  the  Rich- 
mond grounded,  while  the  Preble  went 
over  clear.  This  occurred  about  8 
o'clock,  and  the  enemy,  who  were  now 
down  the  river  with  five  steamers,  com- 
menced firing  at  us,  while  we  returned 
the  fire  from  our  port  battery  and  rifled 
gun  on  the  poop,  our  shot,  however,  fall- 
ing short  of  the  enemy,  while  their  shell 
burst  on  all  sides  of  us,  and  several  pass- 
ed directly  over  the  ship.  At  9:30  com- 
mander Handy  of  the  Yincennes,  mistak- 
ing my  signal  to  the  ships  outside  the 
bar  to  'get  under  way,'  for  a  signal  to 
him  to  'abandon  his  ship,'  came  on 
board  the  Richmond  with  all  his  officers 


CAPTAIN  HOLLINS'  ATTACK   ON  THE  FLEET. 


615 


and  a  large  number  of  his  crew,  the  re- 
mainder having  gone  on  board  the  Water 
Witch.  Captain  Handy,  before  leaving 
his  ship,  had  placed  a  lighted  slow-match 
at  the  magazine.  Having  waited  a  rea- 
sonable time  for  an  explosion,  I  directed 
Captain  Handy  to  return  to  his  ship  with 
his  crew,  to  start  the  water,  and  if  neces- 
sary, at  his  own  request,  to  throw  over- 
board his  small  guns  for  the  purpose  of 
lightening  his  ship,  and  to  carry  off  his 
kedge  with  a  cable  to  heave  off  by.  At 
10  A.  M.  'the  enemy  ceased  firing  and 
withdrew  up  the  river.  During  the  en- 
gagement a  shell  entered  our  port  quar- 
ter port,  and  one  of  the  boats  was  stove 
by  another  shell." 

The  ram  also  sunk  one  of  the  large 
cutters  of  the  Richmond,  and  a  shot  from 
the  enemy  stove  the  gig.  The  coal 
schooner  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
The  damage  to  the  side  of  the  Richmond 
was  at  once  temporarily  repaired.  Hap- 
pily for  her  further  relief  and  protection, 
the  army  transport  McClellan,  bringing 
several  rifle  guns  and  a  supply  of  ammu- 
nition from  Fort  Pickens  for  the  ship, 
came  up  early  in  the  afternoon.  These 
reinforcements  were  received  on  board, 
when  the  McClellan  gave  her  assistance 
to  get  the  Richmond  off  the  bar.  This 
was  successfully  accomplished  on  the 
morning  of  the  13th,  and  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day  the  Yincennes,  the  guns 
of  which  had  been  thrown  overboard  on 
Commander  Handy's  return  to  the  ship, 
was  also  got  afloat,  when  the  entire  fleet 
was  carried  without  further  injury  down 
the  Pass.  Not  a  single  life  was  lost  from 
the  rebel  attack. 

The  first  report  of  this  affair  reached 
4he  North  by  way  of  Richmond,  in  the 
following  despatch  from  the  Confederate 
commander  :  "  Fort  Jackson,  October 


12,  1861.  Last  night  I  attacked  the 
blockaders  with  my  little  fleet.  I  suc- 
ceeded, after  a  very  short  struggle,  in 
driving  them  all  aground  on  the  South- 
west Pass  bar,  except  the  Preble,  which 
I  sunk.  I  captured  a  prize  from  them, 
and  after  they  were  fast  in  the  sand,  I 
peppered  them  well.  There  were  no 
casualties  on  our  side.  It  was  a  com- 
plete success.  HOLLINS."  This  was 
much  commented  upon  at  the  time  in  the 
newspapers  for  its  alleged  exaggeration, 
and  the  phrase  "peppered  them  well" 
passed  into  the  slang  currency  of  the 
day,  but  a  knowledge  of  the  whole  affair 
showed  that  Captain  Hollins,  in  spite  of 
his  false  impression  concerning  the  Pre- 
ble had  some  ground  for  exultation.  His 
attack,  as  the  precursor  of  the  memorable 
career  of  the  Virginia  or  Merrimac,  is 
of  historic  interest,  while  as  a  surprise 
his  movement  was  daring,  and  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  successful,  at  least  in  inflict- 
ing considerable  damage,  and  in  break- 
ing up  for  a  time  the  occupation  of  the 
river  by  a  land  battery,  though,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  following  interesting  nar- 
rative of  the  affair,  published  in  the  New 
Orleans  Crescent,  the  Manassas  by  no 
means  escaped  without  injury. 

"  On  Friday  night,  the  llth  October, 
about  12  o'clock,"  says  this  writer,  "the 
little  fleet  left  the  forts  in  the  following 
order  :  The  Manassas  leading  the  way, 
with  orders  to  go  right  in  among  the 
fleet,  and  run  down  the  first  vessel  she 
could  get  at,  sending  up  a  rocket  at  the 
instant  she  made  an  attack.  Then  came 
the  Tuscarora  and  the  tow-boat  Watson, 
with  the  five  barges  in  tow  ;  these  had 
orders  to  set  fire  to  the  barges  the  mo- 
ment they  saw  the  rocket  from  the  Man- 
assas, After  these  were  the  Calhoun, 
Ivy,  McRae,  and  Jackson.  The  last  was 


616 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


the  launch,  bringing  up  the  rear.  The 
tow-boat  Watson  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant  Aylette.  The  night 
was  intensely  dark,  and  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  see  twenty  yards  ahead. 
The  Manassas  put  on  a  heavy  head  of 
steam  and  dashed  on  in  the  direction 
where  it  was  thought  the  enemy  were 
lying.  Suddenly  a  large  ship  was  dis- 
covered only  about  a  length  ahead,  and 
before  Lieutenant  Warley  could  have 
time  to  fire  the  signal  rocket,  into  her 
they  went  with  an  awful  crash.  An  ap- 
palling shriek  was  heard  on  board  of  the 
doomed  ship,  and  the  iron  steamer  was 
borne  off  by  the  current,  and  found  her- 
self in  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  fleet. 
The  signal  rocket  was  fired,  the  enemy 
beat  to  quarters,  and  a  perfect  storm  of 
iron  hail  was  falling  upon  and  around  the 
Manassas,  the  machinery  of  which  it  was 
soon  discovered  by  the  commander,  had 
in  some  manner  become  deranged.  This 
was  most  inopportune  and  perilous  ;  and 
the  Richmond,  soon  observing  that  some- 
thing was  wrong,  began  playing  upon  her 
with  all  the  power  of  her  guns.  Lieuten- 
ant Warley  found  that  only  one  engine 
would  work,  and  with  that  he  began 
working  his  way  out  of  reach  toward 
shore  ;  but  the  shot  fell  thick  and  fast 
around  and  upon  the  '  old  turtle,'  and 
her  fate  seemed  hanging  on  a  hair,  when 
the  brave  little  Tuscarora  and  the  Wat- 
son came  up  with  five  barges  on  fire, 
and  soon  cut  them  adrift  on  the  stream. 
Commodore  Hollins  did  not  know  what 
had  been  the  result  of  the  firing,  neither 
did  the  rest  of  the  commanding  officers. 
It  was  too  dark  to  make  observations,  and 
he  did  not  wish  to  risk  signals.  So  day- 
light was  waited  for  impatiently.  It 
came  at  last,  and  presented  the  following 
picture :  The  enemy,  some  miles  down, 


heeling  it  for  the  open  sea  by  way  of 
the  South-west  Pass,  with  one  of  their 
ships  sunk  on  the  middle  ground.  The 
Manassas  close  in  shore,  among  the  wil- 
lows, concealed  as  well  as  possible ;  the 
Watson  and  the  Tuscarora  aground  on 
the  bank  not  far  off.  The  Tuscarora  was 
soon  pulled  off  by  the  rest,  and  the  fleet 
commenced  a  pursuit  of  the  retreating 
enemy.  They  soon  came  within  range, 
and  a  heavy  cannonade  began.  The 
sunken  ship  seemed  to  be  in  a  very  bad 
fix,  as  she  was  nearly  on  her  beam  ends. 
The  Richmond  drew  up  on  the  outside 
and  protected  her  with  her  full  broad- 
sMe.  The  other  vessels  of  the  enemy 
soon  u;ot  aground,  but  near  by,  and  in  a 
great  measure  protected  by  the  Rich- 
mond's guns.  Our  fleet  pitched  shot  and 
shell  into  them  with  vengeance,  and  our 
informant  tells  us  that  "he  saw  at  least 
two  shots  hit  the  Richmond  which  were 
fired  from  the  Tuscarora,  and  two  or 
three  from  the  Ivy.  The  shots  from 
the  Yankees  were  all  badly  aimed,  and 
not  one  touched  any  of  our  vessels, 
though  over  five  hundred  passed  all 
around  them.  After  continuing  the  can- 
nonade until  about  eight  o'clock,  Commo- 
dore Hollins  concluded  that  the  sport  did 
not  pay  for  the  powder,  and  feeling  that 
he  had  won  glory  enough  for  one  day, 
and  that  the  enemy  were  in  a  fix  thaf  it 
would  take  them  some  time  to  get  out  of, 
he  ordered  his  fleet  back  to  town.  The 
Manassas  struck  the  vessel  she  ran  into 
near  the  bow,  and  cut  into  her  upwards 
of  twenty  feet,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
fact  that  splinters,  copper  and  nails  were 
found  in  the  cracks  of  the  iron  on  her 
sides  to^  at  least  that  distance.  She 
drew  off  from  the  collision  without  trou- 
ble, though  she  undoubtedly  twisted  her 
prow  badly  when  swayed  to  one  side  by 


BOMBARDMENT   OF  THE  FORTS  AT  PENSACOLA. 


617 


the  current,  for  it  was  found  broken  and 
bent  to  one  side.  The  balls  which  struck 
her  bounded  off  without  effecting  any 
damage,  except  in  one  case,  when  a  ball 
hit  on  the  bluff  of  the  bow  and  made  an 
ugly,  though  not  serious,  dent  in  the 
iron.  It  is  said  that  the  balls  from  the 
Richmond's  broadside  fell  upon  her  like 
hail  upon  a  house-top  for  a  while,  but  to- 
day nothing  of  this  can  be  seen  excepting 
the  dent  above  mentioned.  The  accident 
which  happened  to  her  machinery  disa- 
bled her  propeller,  and  she  was,  conse- 
quently, almost  unmanageable,  yet  it  was 
not  of  a  nature  to  require  more  than  a 
day  or  two  to  repair.  She  went  into 
dock  yesterday  afternoon  at  Algiers.  If 
that  accident  had  not  occurred,  she  un- 
doubtedly would  have  sunk  the  whole  of 
the  enemy's  fleet." 

To  return  to  the  harbor  of  Pensacola. 
The  defiance  of  the  enemy  in  the  attack 
upon  Santa  Rosa  Island,  with  the  pros- 
pect of  its  being  repeated  if  opportunit}' 
should  offer,  determined  Colonel  Brown 
to  break  his  long-enforced  silence,  and 
if  possible,  administer  a  lesson  to  the  as- 
sailants which  would  make  them  chary 
of  such  projects  in  the  future.  The  reso- 
lute old  soldier  burned  to  avenge  the  in- 
sult to  his  flag.  "That  Fort  Pickens," 
he  wrote  to  the  War  Department  at 
Washington,  "  has  been  beleaguered  by 
the  rebels  for  the  last  nine  months,  and 
that  it  was  daily  threatened  with  the  fate 
of  Sumter,  is  a  fact  notorious  to  the 
whole  world.  Since  its  occupancy  by 
Lieutenant  Slemmer  the  rebels  have 
been  surrounding  it  with  batteries,  and 
daily  arming  them  with  the  heaviest  and 
most  efficient  guns  known  to  our  service 
• — guns  stolen  from  the  United  States — 
until  they  considered  this  fort  as  virtually 
their  own,  its  occupancy  being  only  a 
78 


question  of  time.  I  have  been  m  com- 
mand since  the  16th  of  April,  and  dur 
ing  the  whole  of  that  time  their  force  has 
averaged,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  from 
eight  to  ten  times  the  number  of  mine. 
The  position  in  which  I  have  thus  been 
placed  has  been  sufficiently  trying,  and 
I  have  at  three  separate  times  intended 
to  free  myself  from  it  by  opening  my 
batteries  on  them,  but  imperious  circum- 
stances, over  which  I  had  no  control, 
have  unexpectedly  in  each  instance  pre- 
vented." *  At  length  he  resolved  upon 
action.  Having  taken  council  with  the 
flag-officer  of  the  squadron  off  the  har- 
bor, Commodore  McKean,  and  finding 
him  of  the  same  mind  in  the  matter,  it 
was  determined,  with  the  aid  of  the  ships 
at  the  station,  to  open  fire  from  the  fort 
on  the  morning  of  the  22d  of  November. 
The  vessels  thus  called  into  the  service 
were  the  flag-ship,  the  steam  frigate  Ni- 
agara and  the  sloop  of  war  Richmond, 
which  had  of  late  been  engaged  in  the 
night  attack  of  the  Confederate  Captain 
Hollins  on  the  Mississippi.  Two  steam- 
ers, it  seems,  were  in  the  habit  of  plying 
between  Pensacola  and  the  Navy  Yard, 
bringing  down  supplies  to  the  latter 
place,  and  when  these  had  made  their 
appearance  as  usual  at  the  yard,  Colonel 
Brown,  a  few  minutes  before  ten  on  the 
day  appointed,  fired  his  first  gun,  a  sig- 
nal for  the  ships  to  come  into  action. 
They  quickly  obeyed  the  summons,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  engagement  was  gen- 
eral. The  line  of  forts  and  batteries  to 
which  Fort  Pickens  and  the  ships  were 
now  opposed  extended  four  miles  round 
the  bay  from  the  Navy  Yard,  on  the 
north-east,  to  fort  McRae  on  the  south- 
west. Central  to  their  semi-circular  out- 
line, at  a  distance  from  the  several  works 


*  Dispatch,  Fort  Pickens,  November  25,  1861. 


618 


WAR  FOR  THE   UNION. 


varying  from  two  thousand  one  hundred 
to  two  thousand  nine  hundred  yards,  at 
the  extremity  of  Santa  Rosa  Island  stood 
Fort  Pickens.  Supposing  the  outline  of 
the  hostile  batteries  to  be  that  of  a  bent 
bow,  Pickens  was  at  the  apex  of  the 
string  to  which  the  archer  draws  his  ar- 
row. On  that  arc,  on  the  enemy's  ground, 
were  now  erected,  beside  the  old  works 
of  Forts  Barrancas  and  McCrea,  no  less 
than  fourteen  separate  batteries,  mount- 
ing from  one  to  four  guns  each,  many 
of  them  ten-inch  columbiads,  and  some 
twelve  and  thirteen-inch  sea-coast  mor- 
tars. These  powerful  fortifications  were 
defended  by  some  eight  thousand  men, 
while  Captain  Brown  had  under  his  com- 
mand at  Fort  Pickens  but  one-sixth  of 
that  number.  The  story  of  the  engage- 
ment which  ensued  is  best  told  in  the 
official  report  of  Captain  Brown  to  the 
Department,  dated  on  the  25th,  two 
days  after  the  action.  "  At  the  same 
time  of  my  opening,"  he  writes,  "  Flag- 
Officer  McKean,  in  the  Niagara,  and 
Captain  Elliston  in  the  Richmond,  took 
position  as  near  to  Fort  McRae  as  the 
depth  of  the  water  would  permit,  but 
which,  unfortunately,  was  not  sufficiently 
deep  to  give  full  effect  to  their  powerful 
batteries.  They,  however,  kept  up  a 
spirited  fire  on  the  fort  and  adjacent 
batteries  during  the  whole  day.  My  fire 
was  incessant  from  the  time  of  opening 
until  it  was  too  dark  to  see,  at  the  rate 
of  a  shot  for  each  gun  every  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes,  the  fire  of  the  enemy 
being  somewhat  slower.  By  noon  the 
guns  of  Fort  McRae  were  all  silenced  but 
one,  and  three  hours  before  sunset  this 
fort  and  the  adjoining  battery  ceased 
fire.  I  directed  the  guns  of  batteries 
Lincoln,  Cameron  and  Totten  principally 
on  the  batteries  adjacent  to  the  Navy 


Yard  •  those  of  battery  Scott  to  Fort 
McRae  and  the  lighthouse  batteries,  and 
those  of  the  fort  to  all.  We  reduced 
very  perceptibly  the  fire  of  Barrancas, 
entirely  silenced  that  in  the  Navy  Yard, 
and  in  one  or  two  of  the  other  batteries 
the  efficiency  of  our  fire,  at  the  close  of 
the  day  not  being  the  least  impaired. 
The  next  morning  I  again  opened  about 
the  same  hour,  the  navy,  unfortunately, 
owing  to  a  reduction  in  the  depth  of 
water,  caused  by  a  change  of  wind,  not 
being  able  to  get  so  near  as  yesterday, 
consequently  the  distance  was  too  great 
to  be  effectual.  My  fire  this  day  was 
less  rapid,  and,  I  think,  more  efficient 
than  that  of  yesterday.  Fort  McRae,  so 
effectually  silenced  yesterday,  did  not 
fire  again  to-day.  We  silenced  entirely 
one  or  two  guns,  and  had  one  of  ours 
disabled  by  a  shot  coming  through  the 
embrasure.  About  3  o'clock  fire  was 
communicated  to  one  of  the  houses  in 
Warrington,  and  shortly  afterwards  to 
the  church  steeple,  the  church  and  the 
whole  village  being  immediately  in  rear 
of  some  of  the  rebel  batteries,  they  ap- 
parently having  placed  them  purposely 
directly  in  front  of  the  largest  and  most 
valuable  buildings.  The  fire  rapidly 
communicated  to  other  buildings  along 
the  street  until  probably  two-thirds  of 
it  was  consumed  ;  and  about  the  same 
time  fire  was  discovered  issuing  from  the 
back  part  of  the  Navy  yard,  probably  in 
Wolcott,  a  village  to  the  north  and  im- 
mediately adjoining  the  yard,  as  War- 
rington does  on  the  west.  Finally  it 
penetrated  to  the  yard,  and  as  it  con- 
tinued to  burn  brightly  all  night,  I  con- 
cluded that  either  in  it  or  in  Wolcott 
many  buildings  were  destroyed.  Yery 
heavy  damage  was  done  also  to  the 
buildings  of  the  yard  by  the  avalanche 


ACTION   OF  THE  FLEET. 


619 


of  shot,  shell  and  splinters  showered  un- 
ceasingly on  them  for  two  days,  and  be- 
ing nearly  fire-proof,  being  built  of 
brick  and  covered  with  slate,  I  could 
not  succeed  in  firing  them,  my  hot  shot 
nor  shells  not  having  any  power  of 
igniting  them.  The  steamer  Time,  which 
was  at  the  wharf  at  the  time,  was  aban- 
doned on  the  first  day  and  exposed  to 
our  fire,  which  probably  entirely  dis- 
abled her.  The  fire  was  again  continued 
till  dark,  and  with  mortars  occasionally, 
until  2  o'clock  the  next  morning,  when 
the  combat  ceased.  This  fort,  at  its 
conclusion,  though  it  has  received  a  great 
many  shot  and  shell,  is,  in  every  respect, 
save  the  disabling  of  one  gun  carriage 
and  the  loss  of  service  of  six  men,  as 
efficient  as  it  was  at  the  commencement 
of  the  combat ;  but  the  ends  I  proposed 
in  commencing  having  been  attained, 
except  one,  which  I  find  to  be  impracti- 
cable with  my  present  means,  I  do  not 
deem  advisable  further  to  continue  it 
unless  the  enemy  think  proper  to  do  so, 
when  I  shall  meet  him  with  alacrity. 
The  attack  on  '  Billy  Wilson's'  camp,  the 
attempted  attack  on  my  batteries,  and 
the  insult  to  our  glorious  flag  have  been 
fully  and  fearfully  avenged.  I  have  no 
means  of  knowing  the  loss  of  the  enemy, 
and  have  no  disposition  to  guess  at  it. 
The  firing  on  his  batteries  •  was  very 
heavy,  well-directed  and  continuous  for 
two  days,  and  could  hardly  fail  of  hav- 
ing important  results.  Our  loss  would 
have  been  heavy  but  for  the  foresight 
which,  with  great  labor,  caused  us  to 
erect  elaborate  means  of  protection,  and 
which  saved  many  lives.  I  lost  one  pri- 
vate killed,  one  sergeant,  one  corporal 
and  four  men  (privates)  wounded,  only 
one  severely." 

To  this  light  bill  of  casualties,  unhap- 


pily, was  added  a  disaster,  one  of  many 
such,  growing  out  of  carelessness  or  in- 
experience during  the  war,  in  the  ex- 
plosion of  a  shell  after  the  bombardment 
had  terminated.  To  prevent  such  an 
accident  Colonel  Brown  had  ordered  all 
the  shot  and  shell  of  the  enemy  to  be 
collected,  and  as  this  was  being  done  the 
thing  happened  which  he  was  endeavor- 
ing to  avoid.  One  of  the  men  was  reck- 
lessly bent  upon  emptying  one  shell  by 
knocking  it  against  another,  when  the 
concussion  produced  an  explosion.  It 
was  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd,  and  five 
men  were  instantly  killed  and  seven 
wounded.  The  fatal  result  of  this  acci- 
dent showed  how  carefully  the  com- 
mander had  shielded  his  men  during  the 
action  from  the  effect  of  these  death- 
dealing  missives. 

The  Niagara  was  employed  both  days 
in  the  bombardment,  but  necessarily, 
from  the  shallow  water,  at  such  long 
range  that  her  guns,  though  by  no  means 
ineffective,  were  unable  to  accomplish  as 
much  as  might  have  been  expected  from 
the  laborious  and  skillful  handling  of  her 
picked  crew.  An  84-pound  rifle  which 
she  carried,  however,  told  with  good 
effect.  The  enemy  had  more  powerful 
guns,  the  shots  from  which  passed  be- 
yond the  ship,  and  in  two  instances 
penetrated  her  side.  Not  a  man,  how- 
ever, was  injured.  The  companion  of 
the  Niagara,  the  Richmond,  was  less  for- 
tunate. As  her  draft  was  lighter,  she 
was  enabled  to  approach  nearer  the 
shore.  Whilst  receiving  the  fire  of  one 
of  the  batteries,  the  captain  of  one  of  her 
guns  was  killed  at  his  post  in  the  act  of 
firing,  and  seven  men  wounded  by  the 
same  discharge.  This  happened  the  first 
day,  and  being  also  seriously  disabled 
by  a  shot  at  the  water-line,  she  was  not 


620 


WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 


again  in  the  action.     A  vast  quantity  of 
ammunition  was  expended  in  this  affair. 
The   Niagara   fired    two    hundred   and 
twenty-five   shell,  a   number   of  which 
were  loaded  with  sand  for  breaching  the 
fort.     A  passage  from  a  letter  of  one  of 
the  officers  will  give  the  reader  an  idea 
of  the  scene  on  board  this  noble  ship 
during  the  engagement.     He  is  reciting 
the  incidents  of  the  second  day:  "All 
hands  had  a  good  warm  breakfast,  at 
9  o'clock  we  went  to  prayers.     At  half- 
past  nine   signals  were   made   to   Fort 
Pickens,  and  at  ten  we  weighed  anchor, 
and  steamed  in  nearly  to  our  position. 
As  soon  as  we  approached  the  new  bat- 
tery in  the  wood   disclosed  itself,  and 
although  it  burst  shell  very  near  us  it 
could  not  do  us  much  harm.     The  other 
battery  in  the  wood  now  consists  of  two 
pieces.      Fort    Pickens    opened   fire   a 
little  after  ten.     We  came  to  anchor  at 
forty  minutes   past  ten,  and  fired   the 
first  gun  at  a  quarter  to  eleven.    At  this 
time  all  the  batteries  were  hard  at  work. 
There  were  between  forty  and  fifty  guns 
playing  into  Fort  Pickens.     As  we  ex- 
pected,  masked  batteries  had  disclosed 
themselves   all   along  the   beach.     Our 
firing  was  very  slow,  owing  to  our  in- 
ability to  reach  them,  except  with  the 
rifled  gun.     The  wind,  which  was  quite 
strong,  was  directly  against  us,  and  very 
much  in  favor  of  the  rebels.  The  charges 
of  powder  were  increased  from  fifteen  to 
seventeen  pounds,  arid  still  our  shots  fell 
short.     About  a  dozen  of  their  shell  ex- 
ploded quite  near  enough  for  comfort. 
The    men    took    matters   quite    coolly. 
The  commodore,  in  his  address  in  the 
morning,  told  them  he  did  not  want  so 


many  lookers-on  to  be  on  deck.  Said 
he,  '  one  watch  go  below  and  sleep  and 
be  ready  to  relieve  the  other  when 
wanted.'  As  I  passed  along  the  birth- 
deck  I  saw  many  of  them  stretched  out 
fast  asleep,  and  not  a  few  playing  back- 
gammon and  checkers. 

"  Finding  that  all  our  shots  fell  short, 
we  weighed  anchor  at  half-past  two,  and 
moved  in  a  little  closer.  Hardly  had 
we  dropped  it  before  a  shot  went  whiz- 
zing in  between  our  smoke  pipes  and  fell 
in  the  water  half  a  mile  the  other  side 
of  us.  Immediately  there  came  another 
and  then  another,  and  while  they  came 
thick  and  fast,  our  guns  returned  the 
compliment.  But  it  was  no  use  ;  our 
shot  all  fell  short.  The  wind  was  too 
strong  and  our  ship  was  dangerously 
near  the  bottom.  The  charges  of  pow- 
der were  increased  to  twenty  pounds, 
five  more  than  the  regular  charge,  and 
finding  that  that  did  us  no  good,  we 
weighed  anchor  and  stood  out.  Even 
after  we  had  moved  out  a  long  distance 
several  of  the  shots  of  this  new  gun 
carne  directly  over  our  quarter.  It 
could  have  been  no  other  than  a  ten- 
inch  columbiad,  or  else  one  of  the  rifled 
one  hundred  and  twenty-pounders,  said 
to  have  been  brought  over  by  the 
Bermuda.  One  of  our  men  says  he 
could  hear  it  say,  'secesh,  secesh,  se- 
cesh  —  sechong !'  as  it  landed  in  the 
water.  Had  one  of  the  secesh  villains 
hit  us  it  would  have  bored  us  through 
and  through.  We  got  out  of  their 
range  at  last,  and  then  we  had  the 
satisfaction  of  watching  the  grand  con- 
flagration." * 

*  Correspondence  Providence  Evening  Press.  Dec.  12, 1861 


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